Screen AutoRotation - Lock or Unlock in Windows 8

How to Lock or Unlock Screen AutoRotation in Windows 8 and Windows RT

information   Information
You can lock screen rotation, which prevents Windows from automatically rotating the screen from landscape and portrait mode as you turn the tablet. When unlocked, the screen automatically rotates.

This tutorial will show you how to lock and unlock screen autorotation for your Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1 tablet (ex: Surface RT or Surface Pro).

Note   Note
Autorotation is automatically locked by Windows when you connect an external display.

Some tablets may have a button that allows you to quickly disable the auto-rotate function. You will need to check your tablet's manual to see if it has a button for that function.

See also: Screen rotation | Autorotation not working | Lock autorotation


EXAMPLE: Screen AutoRotation

Screen_Auto-rotate.png





OPTION ONE

Lock or Unlock Screen AutoRotation using Keyboard Shortcut



1. Press the Win + O (letter) keys to toggle to lock or unlock autorotation.





OPTION TWO

Lock or Unlock Screen AutoRotation in Charm Settings



1. Open the Charms bar, and click/tap on Settings.

2. Click/tap on the Screen button. (see screenshot below)

Charm_settings-1.jpg

3. Click/tap on the screen icon above the brightness slider to toggle to lock or unlock autorotation. (see screenshot below)

Note   Note
A lock symbol appears next to the screen icon when autorotation is locked. The screen will not rotate when you change the orientation of the tablet.

If there’s no lock symbol next to the screen icon, the screen will autorotate as you turn the tablet.



Charm_settings-2.jpg





OPTION THREE

Lock or Unlock Screen AutoRotation in Screen Resolution Settings



1. Do step 2 or 3 below for how you would like to open Screen Resolution.

2. Right click or press and hold on an empty area on your desktop, click/tap on Screen resolution, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)

Display_Orientation-1.jpg

3. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Display icon.

A) Click/tap on the Change display settings link in the left pane, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)

Display_Orientation-2.jpg

4. Do step 5 or 6 below for what you would like to do.

5. To Lock Screen AutoRotation

A) Uncheck the Allow the screen to auto-rotate box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

6. To Unlock Screen AutoRotation
NOTE: This is the default setting.

A) Check the Allow the screen to auto-rotate box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

screen-rotation_Screen_Resolution.png





OPTION FOUR

Lock or Unlock Screen AutoRotation using a REG File



Note   Note
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option.


The .reg files below are for the registry key and value below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AutoRotation

Enable DWORD

0 = Lock screen autorotation
1 = Unlock screen autorotation



1. Do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.

2. To Unlock Screen AutoRotation
NOTE: This is the default setting.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Unlock_Screen_AutoRotation.reg

download

3. To Lock Screen AutoRotation

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Lock_Screen_AutoRotation.reg

download

4. Save the REG file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded REG file to merge it.

6. Click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK when prompted to approve the merge.

7. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn


 

Attachments

  • Lock_Screen_AutoRotation.reg
    626 bytes · Views: 4,235
  • Unlock_Screen_AutoRotation.reg
    626 bytes · Views: 11,963
  • Screen_Orientation.png
    Screen_Orientation.png
    980 bytes · Views: 365
Last edited:
Back
Top