Batch command to change the resolution of a computer - windows

I want to write a command in a batch file which changes the resolution of a computer. I am using Windows XP.
I need to set the resolution as 1024*768.


I needed more options, so I developed ChangeScreenResolution.exe to change the screen resolution in a batch file.
Examples:
Change screen resolution of all monitors to 800x600px
ChangeScreenResolution.exe /w=800 /h=600
Change screen resolution of all monitors to 800x600px with refresh rate of 60Hz and 32bit color depth
ChangeScreenResolution.exe /w=800 /h=600 /f=60 /b=32
Set resolution of display with index 1 to 800x600px
ChangeScreenResolution.exe /w=800 /h=600 /d=1
To list all available displays (and their indexes):
ChangeScreenResolution.exe /l


You can use either of the following two tools.
MultiRes
QRes
Using MiltiRes:
multires.exe /800,600,32,75
Using QRes:
QRes.exe /x:800 /y:600


I haven't tried MultiRes, but note that Qres will only run on 32-bit machines.
DisplayChanger II from 12noon.com also works beautifully and is free for personal use.
DisplayChanger is designed to be called via command line or batch script, and has both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. It can also generate editable config files specifically for multi-monitor (or projector) setups. You manually set the displays up how you want, "create" a config for it, then call that configuration up at any time.


I have written a script which uses the program provided by Alexander Taubenkorb in his answer to fix monitor black screen issue due to "screen resolution out of monitor range" caused by StarCraft not reverting my desktop resolution back to its original settings on exit.
Here's the .bat content - feel free to use it.
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
%~dp0%\Starcraft.exe
start explorer.exe
REM *change below /w=XXX & /h=XXX values that reflect your monitor's needs*
ChangeScreenResolution.exe /w=800 /h=600
REM *this is the minimum resolution of monitor - brings desktop back to life*
ChangeScreenResolution.exe /w=1024 /h=768
REM *this is the recommended & preferred resolution I like to run my monitor at*
exit


you can also use wmic desktopmonitor
like here

Related

Is there a way to specify paper tray when using the lpr command to print PDF files through Windows batch scripting?

I am trying to set up an automatic printing solution on a Windows 2012 R2 Server.
So far I have written a .bat file that loops through and prints all pdf files that are in a folder. The main command looks something like this :
lpr -S 100.100.100.100 -P printQ %%F
(Where %%F is the file name)
Looking at Microsoft's documentation on this page, there doesn't seem to be anyway to specify the printer tray.
I could specify the printer tray through the control panel, but the batch script needs to dynamically assign different paper trays for different files.
I've come across some commercial command line printing solutions that use lpr and that are able to specify paper tray. Would I be correct to assume that it is therefore possible to dynamically specify paper tray using lpr?

I worked around the lpr limitations by creating 2 instances of the same printer in the control panel > Devices and Printers. And setting up both instances with a different paper tray source.
The lpr command seemed to ignore different printers set using the "-P" argument, probably because the "-S" argument was the same IP for the same printer. So I ended up using the PDF-XChange command line printing function instead.
"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Viewer\PDFXCView.exe" /print:printer=!printer! "%%F"
I'm not sure if this is the best solution, but it works for now.

Qt Creator "too big" on 3840x2160 and 150% scaling on Windows 10

I installed Qt 5.10 SDK on Windows 10. I thought that the HiDPI issues were fixed in Qt 5.6, but Qt Creator still seems to be "too big":
Am I missing something? My resolution is 3840x2160 with the "recommended" 150% scaling. Visual Studio in the background is of the correct size.

I guess the default HighDpiScaleFactorRoundingPolicy of QtCreator is Round. so you can only scale to 1 or 2 not 1.5.
The correct solution is set the environment variable:
export QT_SCALE_FACTOR_ROUNDING_POLICY=PassThrough
./qtcreator.exe

It probably has its own hidpi functionality, unlike the legacy windows stuff that's just a direct upscale, so it appears to look bigger on your display which is amplified by the scaling you have applied.
From the information here it seems that you can go about to either set a custom scale factor or a custom DPI awareness scheme.
You can set those as system environment variables or use some cmd basic scripting to set them at a per application level:
#echo off
set QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1
qtcreator.exe

I had the same problem with the nextcloud-client on Windows 10 and a scaling of 150%, solved by
(a) setting a global enivronmental variable in Windows 10 called QT_SCALE_FACTOR_ROUNDING_POLICY with the value PassThrough:
Windows-dialogue for setting variables
You can do so by hitting the Windows-key and search for variables...
or
(b) a batch-file containing:
#echo off
set QT_SCALE_FACTOR_ROUNDING_POLICY=PassThrough
start C:\path\to\nextcloud.exe
exit
and then starting that batch-file. (Of course you have to adapt the path to your actual nextcloud.exe location.)
[If you want this to be run on startup, hit the keys windows and r , enter shell:startup and leave a link to your batchfile in the now opened folder. (Deactivate "run at startup" inside the Nextcloud-App to be sure the batchfile really runs.)]
(a seems to be more convinient for me.)

Windows - Auto play video and image in fullscreen

I am currently working with a projector at a museum, where the server, running Windows XP, automatically should play a video upon startup in fullscreen.
Furthermore, at 2PM and 4PM the projector have to show an image instead for an hour or so in fullscreen as well.
Is this possible to do with Task Scheduler or do I have to make an AutoHotkey script or similar?

You can accomplish this with a couple tools including VLC Media player. I don't have XP here to test this with, but the following should work.
Copy the VLC Media Player shortcut into Startup.
Edit the Target to be something like the following:
"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" "c:\path-to-video\example.mp4" --fullscreen --loop"
To close VLC on a schedule, create a Scheduled Task.
Click next. See if taskkill is in the list. If not browse to it (should be in the system32 folder).
Select Daily for the frequency and give it a name.
Set 2PM for the time. Click Next.
Check Open Advanced properties for this task when I click finish and click finish
Enter the following for the Run command.
"C:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /F /IM vlc.exe /T"
Save the Task.
Repeat the above tasks but set the time to 4PM
Now you just need to create the tasks to open the images. Basically use the process above with a couple key differences:
Select for your program you're running.
When you open the advanced options for that task set the target to be something like this:
"explorer.exe" "C:\path-to-file.jpg"
I can't test this one, so I'm not sure it will work. You may have to play with it a little to get it opening an image full screen. Once you have it figured out via the command prompt, just place it in the target box and you should be good to go.
Make sure you create two of these at 2PM and 4PM. You could make it 2:01 and 4:01 if you want to be sure VLC is closed first. Or you could try setting their names to something that is after your first set of tasks alphabetically. I'm not sure how primacy is calculated.
That should be it. Hopefully this will at least get you started.

Reduce/compress screensaver file size

I have to produce a screensaver for a client who wants to install it across branches. Due to bandwidth limitations the screensaver needs to be below 500KB filesize. Actual screensaver content is about 200KB. Most of the screensaver utilities I tried seem to add a over head of 1-1.5MB over and above the actual content.
They have shared a .SCR done by other developer which is 400KB in size. Can anyone please share the info about achieving this?

You could try compressing the .scr file with UPX.

.scr files are just renamed .exe files, so you don't have to use a special tool - you can create one by writing a windows program in whichever programming language you prefer.
They have to accept certain command line parameters:
/s – Start the screensaver in full-screen mode.
/c – Show the configuration settings dialog box.
/p #### – Display a preview of the screensaver using the specified window handle.
There's an example C# project here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms686421.aspx

As a developer, what changes do you make to a vanilla Windows install?

When I get a vanilla Windows system, there's a bunch of stuff I change to make it more developer-friendly.
Some of it I remember every time, other stuff I only do as and when.
Examples:
Show extensions of all file types
Make hidden and system file visible
Turn off Windows Defender
I seem to remember a blog post from Jeff on this topic, but can't locate it!
What else do you do, and do you have any tools that automate this process?

Indeed I do the above, plus deactivating Zip support (regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll), activating the underscore on Alt shortcuts (Advanced Appearance), replacing Courier New by Andale Mono (replace with your favorite font) in all program settings (after installing it, of course), installing my favorite utilities (UnxUtils, Sysinternals', SciTE, FileMenu Tools which has Command line here and lot of other goodies, etc.) and so on.
Oh, and indeed also deactivate dual keyboard support (French/English), deactivate task grouping, install VirtuaWin (4 desktops), CLCL (clipboard manager), AutoHotkey and my favorite macros, and lot of other freewares, more or less must have.
No automation, alas.

I install Cygwin to have *nix command line tools and Xemacs to have a useful editor.

I install:
The usual suspects: Visual Studio, Sql Management Studio, Firefox, Chrome, etc...
Paint.Net
Notepad++
Launchy

The first thing I do is open a command prompt and then open the properties for it:
Switch on Quick Edit. Why is this off by default?
Increase the window size. Why limit it to the size of a postage stamp?
Increase the vertical buffer to the maximum possible. Why limit it to a few hundred lines?
Change the foreground colour to white instead of grey. Why make it less readable than it could be?
In summary: WHY?

Using the Add\Remove Windows Components in Control Panel, I always remove...
Games
Document Templates
MSN Explorer
Outlook Express
For the look and feel I...
Revert to the classic start menu; however, if it's Vista, I leave it as is because I like the indexed search feature.
Revert to a classic desktop with large icons and make sure that My Computer is the first icon (versus My Documents)
I also perform the things you mentioned above
Before installing any software I...
Install any outstanding Windows updates
Run a Disk Clean Up
Run Disk Defrag
Setup scheduled tasks for Clean Up, Defrag, and other personal tools
For tools (outside of my IDEs and other necessary development tools), I install..
TweakUI
IE6, IE7, Safari, Chrome, Opera, and Firefox
Install the set of Firefox plug-ins I always use for development
'Open Command Prompt Here' shell extension
Install Consolas and set it as the default font for my editors (IDEs, Notepad++, etc)

I wipe it and install Linux. Everyone is always amazed by how productive I can be. It's because I don't spend half my time fighting with the machine.

Install Consolas font and turn on (and tune) ClearType.
Install ZoomIt to magnify display during presentations.
Install FireFox/Firebug
Install XYplorer Win Explorer alternative (can't live without it!)
Install DeskPins to be able to make any Window temporarily topmost.
Make sure OneNote got installed with Office.
Install Visio.
Install favorite editor (whatever it is at the time, currently SCiTE).
Install 7Zip.
Fix Windows colors to suit me and put picture of RatPack (Dean's my hero) as wallpaper.

Disable shortcuts to FilterKeys, StickyKeys, and ToggleKeys - nothing frustrates me more than having to deal with that cruddy feature because I push the shift key down several times while I'm thinking or hold it down for eight seconds (again, while thinking) before I start typing!
Change the default action for Folder to explore instead of open.

over the years i have arrived to the decision that i do as little customization as possible since workplaces change and computers change (both at home and at work).
i used to do all kinds of crazy tweaks with litestep, setting up partitions, etc. these days i pare it down to the basics, and it does not take me long to setup a machine and have a familiar environment.
in addition to the usual "win32dev" setup (classic scheme, optimized for performance, no special effects, show all files, details in explorer views, blue background, etc) i have the following stack:
cygwin (gcc, vim, curl, wget, perl/ruby/python, svn, git, ssh, netcat, etc; rxvt for terminal)
ffox + adblock + dev plugins
clipx for simple stack-like clipboard with previews
textpad + a few basics syntax highlighters
virtuawin - the only minimal window manager that does all i need and nothing more
autoHotKey for basic app shortcuts
procexp to replace task manager
all other sysinternals tools
tortoise svn
putty + agent + keys
7zip
keepass
wireshark
everything i install by hand goes into c:\programs (for easy no-space, lowercase paths).

Regarding:
Show extensions of all file types
Make hidden and system file visible
I don't like making hidden files visible all the time (it makes two desktop.ini visible on my windows Vista desktop for starters) so I use an explorer extension to make it easy to toggle this on and off. There's also a corresponding one for file extensions:
HiddenFilesToggle Context-Menu Shell Extension
FileExtensionToggle Context-Menu Shell Extension

Command line scripts
For storing scripts that I use from the command line I create a Command Line Scripts directory under Program Files and add it to the PATH environment variable. I use the following batch file for listing and editing those scripts:
#echo off
setlocal
set UTILPATH=C:\Program Files\System Tools\Command Line Utilities
if not "x%1"=="x" (
start "" "notepad" "%UTILPATH%\%1.bat"
) else (
dir /b "%UTILPATH%" | grep -v com.bat | grep -P "(exe|bat|cmd)" | sed "s/\.\(exe\|bat\|cmd\)//"
echo.
)
(note that the filtering of the directory listing depends on some unix commands I have installed via Cygwin)
I give it the name com.bat, (short for command) then I can:
list the scripts in that directory by typing com at the command prompt
edit any script in the list by typing com script-name at the command prompt*, similarly:
create new scripts in that directory by typeing com new-script-name at the command prompt*
and if I ever need to edit com.bat I just type com com
* As I'm running Vista I have to use an elevated command prompt as directories under Program Files are protected.
For a quick way to launch an elevated command prompt, simply press the Win key; type cmd; press Ctrl+Shift+Enter; and then hit Alt+C to confirm the elevation prompt. Six keystrokes to an elevated command prompt! ([via][4])
Startup Script
One of the scripts I store in my Command Line Scripts directory is a script that is run when I log in to windows (via the Task Scheduler, type Task in the Vista start menu). I use that script to set up several virtual drives using the subst command to directories I access frequently or want a quick way to access on the command prompt or for shortening path names in compiler warnings, logs or debug output.
My Startup script looks something like this:
#setlocal
#set _MYDOCS_=%USERPROFILE%\Documents
#REM Note: first delete the drives so I can run script again
#REM to fix drives that failed to get mapped
subst /d W:
subst /d T:
subst /d S:
subst /d R:
subst /d N:
subst /d L:
subst /d H:
subst W: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy\Website\trunk\www"
subst T: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy\project 1\trunk"
subst S: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy"
subst R: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy\project 2\branches\12.50"
subst N: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy\project 2\trunk"
subst L: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\"
subst H: "%_MYDOCS_%\My Projects\Haslers.info\Working Copy"
Note that subst can be a little temperamental and occasionally the drives don't get created and I have to run the startup script again manually.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned ClipX. I find that I can't develop without this clipboard history tool.

Step 1: Fix windows
Turn off System Restore
Turn off Windows Defender
Uninstall any OEM-supplied antivirus or other crapware if it's an OEM box
Get SysInternals AutoRuns and lay the smackdown to all the 8000 useless startup items and services vista inflicts upon you, including the slow and useless vista search indexing service.
Step 2: Install stuff.
Now that my shiny new Core 2 Duo PC isn't bogged down with useless crap running like a 386, I can build it up again
Install Firefox
Install FlashPlayer firefox plugin (why oh why isn't this bundled with FF?)
Run windows update and let it do it's download/reboot cycle 50 times until it's happy
While this is happening I can use firefox to browse stackoverflow and read reddit :-)
Get UnixUtils and either unzip them to system32, or otherwise make sure they are in the path.
This is neccessary because I can't stand cygwin, yet my muscle memory keeps typing ls when I try to type dir, and windows still hasn't heard of grep yet
Install Droid Sans Mono and Monaco fonts for programming
Install E-TextEditor
If I'm installing visual studio, do that. If not install the .NET framework runtime instead
Install Firefox addons (firebug, fission, web developer, adblock)

I add Wordpad to the Send To context menu. Instructions for XP here. Works in Vista, as well.

Someone gave me a 'Delete all SVN folders' registry script - that is a must have for me, now (it's somewhere on this thread).
I leave UAC on - last thing I want is to write code that works with UAC off, but fails miserably with it on. Before I started to use Virtual PC to set up test environments for my code, I tried to leave my desktop as 'vanilla' as possible - I wanted to test under conditions reasonably similar to an everyday non-developer user.
All of the above is for my home development system. I try to do the same at work, within reason. Except for the SVN stuff, because we use TFS at my office.

I always install the following to make it easier to manage and interact with windows
Taskix - Reorder buttons in your Windows taskbar
KatMouse - scroll the window directly beneath the mouse cursor
WinSplit Revolution - organize your windows by tiling, resizing and positioning them
allSnap - windows automatically snap to window edges and (optionally) the edges of other windows

I like to:
Make the taskbar larger so that it can hold two rows of applications
Disable personalized menus in the start menu
Disable grouping of similar taskbar items
I also randomly open a lot of PuTTY sessions to various machines, so I like to create a "bin" directory in my home folder, add it to the PATH, and then create a shortcut to PuTTY in it named "p" (among other shortcuts). I can then easily Windows-R (run) and type p [putty-session-name] to open the session. This has saved me tons of time / mouse clicks.

I follow the extensive recipe for making a Windows system useful built and maintained by Simon Peyton Jones.

Turn off Autorun so that I'm not accidentally installing malware or crapware.
Here's a couple of links, out of many:
http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/ht/autorun.htm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-9894970-33.html?tag=mncol;txt

Couple of things no-one else mentioned
Install Console2 for tabbed cmd windows
Install Powershell
Completely replace Notepad with Notepad2

Install the full IIS.
Set the resolution high enough.
Set the background to Grey.
Show hidden and system files.
Toolbar 2 or 3 high (I run one monitor sideways).
Always show file extentions.

I install some set of *nix command utilities and process explorer at a bare minimum.
Also, on XP systems I disable any theming and use the windows classic coloration. Vista just doesn't look or work right without the Aero theme so I can't do that on Vista without going almost completely nuts.
Also forgot, I install Chrome. (Used to be Firefox but Chrome is nicer out of the box)

I use nLite to prepare the windows installation disk in order to have some typical settings already set right after the installation.
For example:
Explorer-Associate additional file types with Notepad
Explorer-Classic Control Panel
Explorer-Disable Beep on errors
Explorer-Disable Prefix: Shortcut to
Explorer-Show extensions of known file-types
Explorer-Show hidden files and folders
Explorer-Show the full path in the Title Bar
Performance-Disable Info Tips on Files and Folders
Performance-Disable Last accessed Timestamp on files
Taskbar-Disable Group similar Taskbar buttons
Taskbar-Disable Language-Bar
Taskbar-Lock the Taskbar-Yes
You can also remove useless parts of the system:
Accessibility Options
Briefcase
ClipBook Viewer

I install all of the shell extensions I normally use (TortoiseSVN and CommandHere for example).
Also, one of the first things I do after I reimage a machine is make sure it's hooked to all of my network shares properly. Few things derail my work as quickly as having to fight with the network to get a file at an inopportune time.

Install emacs + a selection of gnuwin32 packages.
Also proexp to replace task manager.

Edi Weitz has a nice writeup of his customizations: Making Windows usable for old Linux farts

Switch to classic menu
Increase the taskbar hight to have more shortcuts & lock the taskbar
Performance options -> Adjust for best performance
Copy all the backed up shortcuts files to Favorites folder
Install necessary software (JDK, DBMS stuff, Editplus, MS Office etc.)
Driver for soundcard
New network connection for Broadband ...

I generally leave Windows Defender online but I don't use an antivirus so....
I set my start menu to display small icons and to have no "most recently used programs" active. Instead I pin everything to my start menu:
My start menu http://www.robpaveza.net/pub/startmenu.png
I also make sure that all the extension menus are actual menus, not just links, and that my computer and user files icons are shown on the desktop.

I download and install Cygwin and Xming.

Wow, this is a really good thread... I'm going to have to go through all the suggestions and see what I'm mission out on :)
Off the bat, I install:
Google Chrome
Visual Studio 2008
aShampoo CD Burning suite (or whatever my current favorite burning suite is)
IZArc (or whatever my current favorite is)
RocketDock - I use it to replace Quick Launch.
Songbird
When I used XP (I'm on Vista now) I'd always install Tweak UI and tweak everything to my liking. Like listing My Computer before My Documents.
I remove the Help icon from the start menu.
I make it so Network Neighborhood was displayed in the start menu.
I have it show file extensions and show hidden files/folders.

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