Resolve If Windows 10 Does Not Detect Second Monitor After Upgrade

In this post, we will walk you through the steps to resolve If Windows 10 Does Not Detect Second Monitor After Upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.1. These days, it is quite common to see a multi-display setup. Desktop monitors are more affordable than ever before and multiple monitors are no more confined to workplaces only. As the bezels become thinner, scaling across monitors becomes nicer. Windows 10 should automatically detect the new monitor as soon as you connect it. However, in a lot of scenarios, this does not work as expected. You might encounter this when you upgrade from an earlier version of Windows. A lot of users from the online forums have complained about various issues and we thought to address it here. Read along to know more about what to do when Windows 10 Does Not Detect Second Monitor.

What To Do When Windows 10 Does Not Detect Second Monitor

Before we get into the troubleshooting steps, first you would need to check and confirm that all physical connections are in place. Here is a quick checklist below:

• Check what type of cable are you using to connect your second screen. For example, DVI, VGA, HDMI or (Mini)DisplayPort.
• Ensure that all the cables are firmly attached on both ends and avoid any loose ends.
• Refer to your device manual to ensure that the correct type of cables is connected.

Once you have confirmed the physical setup, you can now jump into your Windows 10 environment. Windows 10 supports 4 different display modes and they are as follows:

1. PC screen only — By default Windows defaults to a primary monitor. In this setting, Only the primary monitor is used.
2. Duplicate — Duplicates the primary monitor screen on all Secondary monitors.
3. Extend — Extends the primary monitor screen to all secondary monitors in order to combine and show an extended desktop.
4. Second screen only — Primary monitor is disabled temporarily when a secondary monitor is connected. Here, Only the secondary monitor is displayed.

In order to activate your secondary monitors, you can press the “Windows + P” button. This will trigger your multi-monitor menu as you can see in the screenshot (Right).

In an event where toggling between the options is not helping you to fix the problem that you are facing, you would need to start troubleshooting the problem.

Troubleshooting When Windows 10 Does Not Detect Second Monitor

Typically, when you are a mobile worker and connect to various secondary sources like Projector, Desktop Monitors etc, Windows creates and saves profiles for them. When these profiles get corrupted, the Windows 10 display modes starts to malfunction or does not work as intended. In order to fix this, follow the steps below to troubleshoot the issue:

• Ensure that the latest Display drivers for the display adapter are installed in Windows 10.
• In order to Update the “Display Adapter” go-to Start>Type Device Manager>Expand “Display Adapters“
• Right Click on “Display Adapters“> Select “Update Driver Software” and Select the first option which says “Search Automatically for Updated Driver Software“
• Reboot the PC if prompted.

Here are the screenshots below for your reference.

When there are multiple display profiles stored on your Windows 10 PC, updating the driver does not always fix the problem. In such situations, uninstalling the default display driver will refresh/erase all the past settings. In order to do this, follow the steps given below:

• Go to Start>Type Device Manager>Expand “Display Adapters“
• Right Click on “Display Adapters“> Select “Uninstall“
• Once uninstalled, Reboot the PC if prompted.

Once rebooted, go back to your Windows Desktop, “Right-click” on an empty area on your Windows desktop, and select “Display Settings“. Click to select “Multiple Displays” drop-down menu list, and select “Duplicate these displays” or “Extend these displays” or Show only on 1(Primary) based on your preference.

In most of the cases, these steps should resolve your issue with Windows 10 Does Not Detect Second Monitor. If this does not, we recommend contacting the Microsoft support team for further assistance. For any comments or questions, please use the comment section below.