How do I restore the display settings

I just had a client who double-clicked the "Displays" icon in system preferences and inadvertantly changed his display setting to a really low resolution that left him unable to operate his computer. Here are the steps I took to correct it, and we repeated the entire process to verify that they work and are repeatable ...

Either log in through the network using ssh (which is what I had to do), or reboot in single user mode by holding down the shift key while booting.

Remove the windowserver preference files using the following commands ...

rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist

rm /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.*

(On that second one, you need to replace the [username] with the name of the user's home folder who made the change. If the user that made the change wasn't an admin user, you may be able to skip the first step. Also, if you have multiple displays, the 2nd command will remove the settings for all of them. If you want to be more specific, you can navigate to the user's Library/Preferences/ByHost folder and list the com.apple.windowserver.* files to see which one was recently updated, so you can delete just that file.)

Finally, after removing the com.apple.windowserver preference files, you'll need to shutdown or restart and reset the PRAM by holding down Option-Command-P-R while the system is booting and waiting for it to reboot (you should hear a 2nd chime, then you can release the keys). There are detailed instructions on resetting the PRAM in Apple's knowledgebase.

Once you've done all of these steps, your display settings should reset to their defaults when you log back in.

Maybe you turned something on in Universal Access. System Preferences>Universal Access>Seeing tab and make sure Zoom is off.

I had an issue with the display with my recently purchased iMac. Somehow the display settings under system preferences was inadvertantly changed to scaled instead of "Best for built-in display".

I had same problem on my Macbook Air. I accidently changed the display and the screen immediately went blank, leaving me troubled for hours together.

I could see a 600X800 resolution that too only when I connect an external display. If I change it manualy to the default, it goes back to the blank screen whever I remove the external display connection. I tried restarted in safe mode and then setting up the settings to default. no use, whenever I restart to normal mode, the display again goes blank. I tried zapping PRAM, no use. manually deleting some display settings files left the job useless.

Here is the solution I found.

I connected an external display to bring back my 600X800 resolution, installed team viewer and connected using my iPhone to my Macbook. Then I removed the external display resulting a blank screen again. But the teamviewer display on my iPhone told me the right story. I managed to change the settings back using my iPhone and I got my display back!

Cheers

This worked for me, thanks! I was playing around with my external monitor settings, trying to figure out why I could not display the full 1600x1200 (I guess the MBA VGA adaptor doesnt support such a high resolution?). The settings got messed up and I got the "signal out of range" message on my monitor. The strange thing is that the external monitor worked fine when i opened the lid of the MBA, but as soon as I closed it it would give me that message again. Yes the MBA is plugged in an on after I close the lid, I checked. So somehow the settings for the external monitor for sole monitor versus extended monitor got messed up.

Hi I have tried the ZPRAM reset but it's not working.

1) shut down the laptop

2) cmd > p > r, all at the same time

3) PRESS the ON button

4) gray screen appears and the OSX reset settings option is displayed.

Another step I have taken;

1) shut down the laptop

2) cmd > shift > p > r, all at the same time

3) PRESS the ON button

4) gray screen appears and the OSX reset settings option is displayed.

Same result.

I have tried the

sytem preferences > display icon > best for display > brightness in the middle > mirroring options is checked

Another option:

sytem preferences > display icon > scaled > best (retina) > mirroring options is checked

Same result.

The display got mucked up/or is not now in the right resolution when we decided to install Warcraft 3 folder in the Application Folder

run the script

when warcraft ran, we modified the video settings inside the game to reflect 800 x 600 x 32 resolution.

What I have done again:

Played Warcraft > video settings > bring back the settings to the highest in the option.

Same result.

Please do help if you have any other option that I can use.

I had a similar issue and the only thing that worked for me was deleting the com.apple.windowserver(UUID).plist type files, similar to what is discussed here:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/43682/reset-external-monitor-settings-l ion

Resetting SMC, etc did not help.

Zap the PRAM and Reset the SMC

Thanks for the feedback. I assumed from your original posting that none of those display settings would work. Glad you sorted things out.

To what are you mirroring? The "best for display" has to use the lowest resolution of the mirrored displays. If you turn off mirroring, the "best" option might pick a more optimal setting.

Thanks! (Y)