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Windows7 and External Monitor

I wonder if you can use external monitor on BootCamp. I have a MacBook that installed Windows7 on BootCamp. And recently I bought a Dell monitor. But I can't make it work on Windows mode. When I start the Windows mode, my computer doesn't seem to recognize the external monitor. Can anyone help me where I am going wrong?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8), Mongolian Key

Posted on Sep 30, 2010 9:45 PM

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3 replies

Oct 1, 2010 7:56 AM in response to generalbatzorig

batzorig Chimeddorj wrote:
I wonder if you can use external monitor on BootCamp. I have a MacBook that installed Windows7 on BootCamp. And recently I bought a Dell monitor. But I can't make it work on Windows mode. When I start the Windows mode, my computer doesn't seem to recognize the external monitor. Can anyone help me where I am going wrong?


Yes Windows 7 does dual monitors. In Windows click on Help and Support to open the Windows help pages. In the help search panel type dual monitor then click the search icon. The help page index opens then click on setting up multiple monitors. Here is the introductory text:

+Move windows between multiple monitors+

+You can easily extend your Windows desktop across more than one monitor by plugging two or more monitors into a desktop computer or one or more monitors into a laptop. Most laptops allow you to connect one external monitor. A desktop that spans two or more monitors significantly increases your desktop area so that you can drag windows, program icons, and other items to any location on the extended desktop.+

+By default, when you connect an external monitor to a laptop, the same image (mirror image) of your desktop appears on the external monitor. Before you can drag a window from your laptop screen to the external screen, you must extend your display by changing your display settings. By contrast, when you connect another monitor to a desktop PC, the display is set to "extended" by default, and you should be able to drag a window from one screen to the other without changing any settings.+

The help page goes on to provide the steps necessary to do this.

Oct 4, 2010 8:08 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Thank you for your guidance. After reading your message I went back to Windows system on my MacBook and tried to check if I missed anything. But I went through the same routine as I did earlier. Surprisingly my computer doesn't recognize the external monitor on Windows mode. When I turn on the Macintosh mode it has no problem detecting the monitor. The only problem is that once the computer goes to sleep, it doesn't wake up again with the external monitor attached. My computer starts in Mac mode by default. But when I start the Windows mode with external monitor nothing shows up but a dark screen. As the windows help menu told me the system should recognize the external monitor and is able to detect it. But on my computer it doesn't detect the external display. Even if I go to Displays Menu and try to detect the display, nothing shows up. I think it is missing some driver or something.

Oct 27, 2010 7:48 AM in response to generalbatzorig

I've had the same problem with my MBP on Win 7. And you are right. It is a missing driver. It's easily attainable here http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us for free. It'll ask you for a product type, series, product, OS, and language. All of this can be found in the tech specs specifically under Graphics and video support. Hope this helps anyone out with this problem. It actually solves a lot of problems especially regarding video games.

Windows7 and External Monitor

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