In this post, I will tell you what you should do if your Screen resolution is stuck and you can’t change the display or screen resolution in Windows 11/10.
Many times, mostly after an Update to Windows or installing a new graphics card, you may not be able to adjust the Display or Screen Resolution on your PC running on Windows 11/10. Sometimes, you would be unable to find an option to change the screen resolution because the drop-down freezes or it always reverts to the old resolution. Even worse, the monitor doesn’t display the native resolution.
Screen resolution stuck in Windows 11
Just before you start, let’s try some basic tips. Open Settings where you will get to change the screen resolution. Go to Settings > System > Display. You should see a drop-down menu under the label Resolution. See if you can change it to a resolution that either you want to is better than this. Sometimes, because of some issue, the display drivers automatically change the screen resolution. If this doesn’t solve your problem, let’s try other methods.
Can’t change Screen Resolution in Windows 11/10
The primary reason for this issue is driver misconfiguration. Sometimes Drivers aren’t compatible, and they choose a lower resolution to stay safe. So let’s first update the Graphics driver or maybe roll back to the previous version.
Note: Try this fix if only your apps are blurry.
1] Update or Roll Back Graphics Driver
- Open Device Manager ( WIN + X + M)
- Expand Display Adapters, and select the GPU listed there.
- Note down the OEM, and Model no, and download the latest driver from their website.
- Run the driver program that you just downloaded and install it.
- If it’s an INF file or some other format, you can right-click on the CPU, and update the driver.
- It will ask you to locate the INF file, and then install it.
If your driver has already been updated to the latest version, you can try rolling back to the old driver. This is only possible if you have a backup for your driver before the update, which you can find on the OEM website.
These tools can also help you:
- Dell Update utility will help you download or update Dell Drivers
- Lenovo System Update enables you to download Lenovo Drivers, Software, Firmware, and Update BIOS.
- AMD users may use AMD Driver Autodetect.
- Intel users may use Intel Driver & Support Assistant.
- HP users can use the bundled HP Support Assistant.
Read: Screen resolution setting greyed out in Windows 11
2] Turn on GPU Scaling
If you own an AMD graphics card or NVIDIA, you may want to check GPU scaling option. It allows scaling the image so it fits the screen both vertically and horizontally, i.e., no black borders.
AMD:
- Open your AMD Radeon settings
- Click on ‘Display’
- Find GPU Scaling there and enable it
NVIDIA:
Open NVIDIA Control Panel. Here, you have two options:
a) Change Resolution or Create New Resolution: Here, you can create a custom resolution for your display but keep the refresh rate the same.
You can test before finalizing. This is useful when you know a particular resolution was there, but the monitor resolution not listed now.
b) Adjust Desktop Size: You can choose between Full Screen, Aspect Ratio, or no scaling. Scaling can be on the GPU level or just monitor. Here is a bit of warning, though. While it might not show any visible signs during regular work, including video playback, you might see noticeable lag when playing a video game.
If your problem is only limited to a particular app, you may want to give it access to GPU. Go to Settings > System > Display > Graphics Settings.
These are the only possible solutions we have noticed when Windows 11/10 won’t let you change the resolution of your display. Sometimes, the resolution is stuck at a lower resolution, and there is no way to fix it. If these don’t solve the problem for you, I would suggest one last thing before reinstalling Windows: Create a new account and see if it works for you. Sometimes, accounts get corrupted, and profiles cannot be fixed.
Related: Fix Screen Resolution problems in Windows 11
Let us know if any of these tips helped you.
Why won’t Windows 11 let me change Display resolution?
The inability to change display resolution in Windows 11 can often be attributed to outdated or incorrect graphics drivers. To resolve this, update your graphics driver and see. If this does not help, follow the other solutions mentioned in this post.
How to fix Screen resolution stuck in Windows 11?
If your Screen resolution is stuck at 1024×768, 640×480, 1280×720, 800×600, 1366, 798, 1280×1024, etc., you need to update or reinstall the Display Drivers, check Display Mode (Duplicate, Extend, Second screen only) and adjust if necessary, and check the Display Settings. It is best to use the Recommended settings.
How do I force 1920×1080 resolution in Windows 11?
To force a 1920×1080 resolution in Windows 11, right-click on the desktop and select ‘Display Settings.’ Scroll down and click on ‘Advanced display settings.’ Choose the desired display, and under ‘Resolution,’ select 1920×1080 from the dropdown menu. Confirm by clicking ‘Keep changes’ to apply the new resolution.
Related: How to get 1920×1080 resolution on 1366×768 screen.
