DPI - Change for Modern UI in Windows 8

How to Change DPI Scaling for Modern UI in Windows 8​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to change the DPI scaling of only the Metro Start screen and apps in Windows 8.

You may sometimes feel the Start Screen tiles and it's apps UI is too big or too small for your monitor size. By modifying registry you can change the DPI (which controls the size of the Start Screen UI) by changing the monitor size detected by Windows.

   Warning

Modifying the registry incorrectly may cause Windows to be corrupted. Be careful while modifying registry entries.

   Tip

Consider this, you have set a HTPC setup with Windows 8 on an 42" TV. Because of its size, the Start Screen tiles may appear too small. By doing this you can pretend the installed monitor was a 10.1" monitor, and it will resize the UI to be bigger because it have less DPI.

   Warning

This doesn't work in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1. There is no known way yet to disable the automatic detection of Monitor Size.

To get started, do the following steps:


1. Press the Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and click/tap on OK.

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2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below.
NOTE: If you don't have Scaling, right click on Explorer, point to New, then select Key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Scaling​

​

3. Create new string value, name it MonitorSize.
NOTE: If you already have the MonitorSize string value, go to step 4.

4. Double-Click on the MonitorSize value, then enter the desired monitor size.
NOTE: Use periods instead of commas, and don't insert the inch symbol (").

​

5. Close Registry Editor, then restart your computer.

   Tip

You can restart only the Windows Explorer instead.

That's it,
Your Start Screen DPI settings should change, sizing to the same as the Monitor Size you've specified.

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Turn "Make everything on your screen bigger" On or Off in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Change Display DPI Size in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change DPI Scaling Size for Displays in Windows 8.1
• How to Change Screen Resolution of Displays in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Change Number of Apps Rows on Start Screen in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Restart "Windows Explorer" in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Change Your Main Display in Windows 8 and 8.1

 

[thatmanbrian]

Great tweak, thanks. After experimenting I set a value of 45 for my 23" screen and now the 'metro' tiles are far less clunky. It looks less like a Fisher-Price toy screen now! Incidentally I didn't have the scaling key so wonder why not?

 

[MrShowdown]

Great tweak, thanks. After experimenting I set a value of 45 for my 23" screen and now the 'metro' tiles are far less clunky. It looks less like a Fisher-Price toy screen now! Incidentally I didn't have the scaling key so wonder why not?

You're welcome!
Yup, on my 11,6" i set it to 12.1", makes the tiles smaller and fits 4 rows! Finally for 1366x768.

 

[vlad7777]

Thanks for everyone's help and contributions.

I was trying to get more rows in the Metro UI on my Sony Vaio Duo 11 - this is 1920X1080, 11.6" screen and should default to 6 rows, but it would not allow me to go above 3 rows.

I did the Registry mod - did not help.

But changing screen size helped - I created the key for monitor size and used 12.1" first - it did not work, then I used 13" and I got my rows fixed!

I wonder why the difference in behavior of different computers? I got my rows fixed by using fake screen size, but I am not sure if this affects something else....

Vladimir

 

[MrShowdown]

Thanks for everyone's help and contributions.

I was trying to get more rows in the Metro UI on my Sony Vaio Duo 11 - this is 1920X1080, 11.6" screen and should default to 6 rows, but it would not allow me to go above 3 rows.

I did the Registry mod - did not help.

But changing screen size helped - I created the key for monitor size and used 12.1" first - it did not work, then I used 13" and I got my rows fixed!

I wonder why the difference in behavior of different computers? I got my rows fixed by using fake screen size, but I am not sure if this affects something else....

Vladimir

Because Windows uses EDID to know the monitor size.
Less Screen Size = Less DPI = Less Tiles shown.

A 19" screen with 1366x768 resolution will give different amount of tiles from 11.6" screen with the same resolution.

 

[gayxq]

Thanks for everyone's help and contributions.

I was trying to get more rows in the Metro UI on my Sony Vaio Duo 11 - this is 1920X1080, 11.6" screen and should default to 6 rows, but it would not allow me to go above 3 rows.

I did the Registry mod - did not help.

But changing screen size helped - I created the key for monitor size and used 12.1" first - it did not work, then I used 13" and I got my rows fixed!

I wonder why the difference in behavior of different computers? I got my rows fixed by using fake screen size, but I am not sure if this affects something else....

Vladimir

Because Windows uses EDID to know the monitor size.
Less Screen Size = Less DPI = Less Tiles shown.

A 19" screen with 1366x768 resolution will give different amount of tiles from 11.6" screen with the same resolution.

Could you please tell the details about screen size, resolution ratio and monitor size? how to set for the different screen size and resolution ratio?

 

[MrShowdown]

Thanks for everyone's help and contributions.

I was trying to get more rows in the Metro UI on my Sony Vaio Duo 11 - this is 1920X1080, 11.6" screen and should default to 6 rows, but it would not allow me to go above 3 rows.

I did the Registry mod - did not help.

But changing screen size helped - I created the key for monitor size and used 12.1" first - it did not work, then I used 13" and I got my rows fixed!

I wonder why the difference in behavior of different computers? I got my rows fixed by using fake screen size, but I am not sure if this affects something else....

Vladimir

Because Windows uses EDID to know the monitor size.
Less Screen Size = Less DPI = Less Tiles shown.

A 19" screen with 1366x768 resolution will give different amount of tiles from 11.6" screen with the same resolution.

Could you please tell the details about screen size, resolution ratio and monitor size? how to set for the different screen size and resolution ratio?

?
But btw this is the rough details:
Screen Resolution 1366x768
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Monitor Size 18.5"

My Laptop:
Screen Res. 1366x768
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Monitor Size 11.6"

Both at default settings:
19" gets 4 rows
11.6" gets 3 rows only.

 

[Hopachi]

Great tutorial, Mr. Showdown!

What is a good value for 1366x768...?
Here it's a 15.6" monitor if I measure it.

From what I see, we need a bigger value for smaller tiles and a smaller value for bigger tiles?

Thanks

 

[MrShowdown]

Great tutorial, Mr. Showdown!

What is a good value for 1366x768...?
Here it's a 15.6" monitor if I measure it.

From what I see, we need a bigger value for smaller tiles and a smaller value for bigger tiles?

Thanks

Correct, specify a smaller value for a bigger size of tiles, and bigger value for a smaller size of tiles.
But when I tested specifying the value to 19, 21, 24, 29, 32, 36, 40, and 42, all of them shows the same results.
I guess 4 rows and its size are the max for 1366x768.

 

[thatmanbrian]

I simply tried different values till I found one that looked best. Simple and no maths!!

 

[Hopachi]

Thanks guys. I'll keep that in mind.

There are already 4 rows here so I think I'm good.
Bigger tiles don't interest me for now, but maybe I'll see how it looks in Fisher-Price mode.

Great tweak, thanks. After experimenting I set a value of 45 for my 23" screen and now the 'metro' tiles are far less clunky. It looks less like a Fisher-Price toy screen now! Incidentally I didn't have the scaling key so wonder why not?

 

[leorockmdi]

Guys I've been trying to get four rows of tiles, I changed the scaling to 12.1, 13, 15.4, 19 but nothing happened. I edited the registers like Layout_MaximumRowCount etc but the rows are still three. I've got an Acer Iconia W510 (screen res 1366x768, 10.5''). maybe the problem is the touch screen? is there any other register that I've got to change?
I won't surrender. Thanks

 

[MrShowdown]

Guys I've been trying to get four rows of tiles, I changed the scaling to 12.1, 13, 15.4, 19 but nothing happened. I edited the registers like Layout_MaximumRowCount etc but the rows are still three. I've got an Acer Iconia W510 (screen res 1366x768, 10.5''). maybe the problem is the touch screen? is there any other register that I've got to change?
I won't surrender. Thanks

Have you tried tweaking these settings:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...-your-screen-bigger-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

Some Panels especially tablets have the Global DPI (Tutorial above) being set to high settings.
Notable cases: DPI being set to 125% out-of-the-box in Surface Pro.

 

[leorockmdi]

Have you tried tweaking these settings:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...-your-screen-bigger-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

Some Panels especially tablets have the Global DPI (Tutorial above) being set to high settings.
Notable cases: DPI being set to 125% out-of-the-box in Surface Pro.

I don't have that option. It's dimmed and it says "Your display doesn't support this setting."

 

[MrShowdown]

Have you tried tweaking these settings:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...-your-screen-bigger-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

Some Panels especially tablets have the Global DPI (Tutorial above) being set to high settings.
Notable cases: DPI being set to 125% out-of-the-box in Surface Pro.

I don't have that option. It's dimmed and it says "Your display doesn't support this setting."

Hmm, have you tried option two on this tutorial:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...etro-apps-change-number-rows-windows-8-a.html

 

[leorockmdi]

Hmm, have you tried option two on this tutorial:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...etro-apps-change-number-rows-windows-8-a.html

yep, didn't work. It says "maximum 3". and also option three didn't work, as I said...

 

[MrShowdown]

Hmm, have you tried option two on this tutorial:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...etro-apps-change-number-rows-windows-8-a.html

yep, didn't work. It says "maximum 3". and also option three didn't work, as I said...

hmm, that's odd, it shouldn't be like that.

 

[leorockmdi]

hmm, that's odd, it shouldn't be like that.

I know!

 

[bigjezza]

Thank you so much! The problem I was experiencing was a weird, large on screen virtual keyboard in portrait mode on my Lenovo X230 Tablet. This registry fixed the issue for me.
I'm a happy man.

 

[tprothro1]

is there a similar registry setting for application text size? for example the menu text in photoshop cs6 is absolutely tiny on my large display (2560x1440) - screen resolution > make text and other items larger or smaller does not solve the issue nor does photoshop's text setting (small, medium, large) feature. thankfully most applications i use show very well on my display, the text is very legible and icons are very recognizable, but photoshop and a few others fail miserably, the text is just too small.