The Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) is the graphics display driver architecture introduced in Windows Vista (WDDM v1.0). WDDM is required starting with Windows 8 (WDDM v1.2). The WDDM design guide discusses WDDM requirements, specifications, and behavior for WDDM drivers.
WDDM provides the functionality required to render the desktop and applications using Desktop Window Manager, a compositing window manager running on top of Direct3D. It also supports new DXGI interfaces required for basic device management and creation. The WDDM specification requires at least Direct3D 9-capable video card and the display driver must implement the device driver interfaces for the Direct3D 9Ex runtime in order to run legacy Direct3D applications; it may optionally implement runtime interfaces for Direct3D 10 and higher.
This tutorial will show you how to find the current Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) version you have in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Miracast is a wireless technology your PC, laptop, or tablet can use to project your screen to wireless TVs, projectors, and streaming media players that also support Miracast. You can use this to share what you’re doing on your PC, present a slide show, or even play your favorite game on a larger screen.
You will see a control banner at the top of your screen when you are connected to a wireless display. The banner keeps you informed of the state of your connection, allows you to quick disconnect or reconnect to the same sink and allows you to tune the connection based on what you are doing. This tuning is done via the settings gear, which optimizes the screen to screen latency based on one of the three scenarios:
By default, all connections start off in working mode.
This tutorial will show you how to wirelessly connect your Windows 11 PC to a TV, projector, another PC, or other kind of external display that supports Miracast.
The battery saver feature helps conserve power when a system is running on battery. When battery saver is on, some Windows features are disabled or behave differently. Using battery saver is the easiest way to extend battery life.
Battery saver will turn on automatically when your battery falls below 20% by default.
Display brightness is automatically reduced to 30% by default when using battery saver. You can specify the percentage value to scale brightness to when battery saver is turned on. You can also turn on or off Lower screen brightness when using battery saver.
Battery saver can only be turned on while your PC is running on battery power.
Battery saver is turned off automatically while your PC is plugged in.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off battery saver for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The battery saver feature helps conserve power when a system is running on battery. When battery saver is on, some Windows features are disabled or behave differently. Using battery saver is the easiest way to extend battery life.
Battery saver will turn on automatically when your battery falls below 20% by default.
Display brightness is automatically reduced to 30% by default when using battery saver. You can turn on or off this Lower screen brightness when using battery saver setting.
Battery saver can only be turned on while your PC is running on battery power.
Battery saver is turned off automatically while your PC is plugged in.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Lower screen brightness when using battery saver for your account in Windows 11.
Some PCs can let Windows automatically adjust screen brightness based on the current lighting conditions.
This automatic setting helps make sure your screen is readable wherever you go. Even if you use it, you can still move the Brightness slider to fine-tune the brightness level for a built-in display.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Adaptive Brightness for all users in Windows 11.
Some PCs can let Windows automatically adjust screen brightness based on the current lighting conditions.
Some Windows 11 PCs can automatically adjust the screen brightness and contrast based on content that’s displayed on your built-in screen. For example, if you’re watching a video that has a dark scene, followed by a brighter scene (for example, one that shows a bright sunny day), the brightness and contrast may change. This is normal.
Content adaptive brightness control (CABC) provides ideal brightness and contrast levels, while saving power and providing longer battery life at the same time. If these sudden brightness changes are distracting, or if you work in photo and video apps where color accuracy is important to you, you can turn this off any time. When you turn it off, it can result in shorter battery life.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) for all users in Windows 11.
You can change the display orientation in Windows to landscape, portrait, landscape (flipped), or portrait (flipped).
Tablet and 2-in-1 type devices are designed to automatically rotate the built-in display to a portrait or landscape orientation as you turn it so that what you see on the screen is always right side up.
This tutorial will show you how to change the display orientation in Windows 11.
A tablet and some hybrid laptop (ex: 2-in-1) devices are designed to rotate the built-in display automatically in a portrait or landscape orientation as you turn it so that what you see on the screen is always right side up.
If you like, you can turn on or off rotation lock in Windows 11 to allow (off) or prevent (on) the auto-rotation of your screen as needed.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off screen rotation lock in Windows 11.
Your display emits blue light—the kind of light you see during the day—which can keep you up at night. To help you get to sleep, turn on the night light and your display will show warmer colors at night that are easier on your eyes.
You can turn on Schedule night light. Then, either select Sunset to sunrise, or select Set hours and enter custom times for the night light to automatically turn on and off.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Schedule night light for your account in Windows 11.
Your display emits blue light—the kind of light you see during the day—which can keep you up at night. To help you get to sleep, turn on the night light and your display will show warmer colors at night that are easier on your eyes.
The night light strength level is for the color temperature in Kelvin. You can set a strength level between 0 (6500K) to 100 (1200K) for whatever is comfortable to your eyes.
This tutorial will show you how to change the night light color temperature strength for your account in Windows 11.
Your display emits blue light—the kind of light you see during the day—which can keep you up at night. To help you get to sleep, turn on the night light and your display will show warmer colors at night that are easier on your eyes.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off night light for your account in Windows 11.
If you have more than one display connected to your PC, then you will be able to select which display you want to use as the main display by default for all users.
The display set to be the main display will act as the active desktop, show the clock and taskbar corner icons. The sign-in, lock, Ctrl+Alt+Del screens, and most items will open on the main display by default when you initially open them.
This tutorial will show you how to set a display to be the main display when you have multiple displays connected to your Windows 11 PC.
Dots per inch (DPI) is the physical measurement of number of pixels in a linear inch of a display. DPI is a function of display resolution and size; a higher resolution or a smaller size will lead to higher DPI, and a lower resolution or a larger size will lead to lower DPI. When a display has a higher DPI, pixels are smaller and closer together, so that the user interface (UI) and other displayed content appears smaller than intended.
Windows ensures that everything appears on the screen at a usable and consistent size by instructing applications (including the Windows desktop shell) to resize their content by a scale factor. This number depends on the display DPI as well as other factors that impact the user’s perception of the display. Almost all desktop displays and most current laptop displays are in the range of 95-110 DPI; for these devices, no scaling is required, and Windows sets a scale factor of 100%. However, there are a number of new devices, particularly in the premium laptop and tablet markets, which have higher displays with over 200 DPI. For these devices, Windows sets higher scale factors to ensure that the user experience is comfortably viewable.
You can adjust the display DPI scaling level in Windows 11 to change the size of text, apps, and other items to appear larger or smaller until comfortable to see for you.
When you increase the display DPI scaling level, everything will appear larger on the display.
When you decrease the display DPI scaling level, everything will appear smaller on the display.
The default DPI scaling level is 100% (96 DPI).
This tutorial will show you how to change the DPI scaling level for all or specific displays to make everything appear smaller or larger on the display(s) for your account in Windows 11.
The refresh rate of a display is the number of times per second that the image refreshes on the screen. For example, a 60Hz display will update the screen 60 times per second.
Overall, the refresh rate determines how smoothly motion appears on your screen. For example, if you’re playing a game that has a lot of fast-moving action, a higher refresh rate can help improve your overall gaming experience to keep up with the action. A higher refresh can also help you get a better experience with smoother motion when you’re browsing the web or using a digital pen to write or draw.
A higher refresh rate can also reduce battery life because it uses more power. So if you’re using a laptop or tablet and want to save some battery, you could lower the refresh rate. However, that might also reduce the overall experience when you’re using your device.
The available refresh rates of a display will depend on the monitor, its driver, and the set resolution.
This tutorial will show you how to change the refresh rate of a display for all users in Windows 11.
HDR content offers better brightness and color capabilities compared to traditional content (sometimes called standard dynamic range [SDR] content). Traditional content typically shows details in a bright part of a scene or a darker part of a scene but not in both parts at the same time. For example, if the shot focuses on a bright window in the scene, details in the shadow are lost.
Whereas HDR can show a wider range of colors and light and more details in between the extremes. Colors are more vivid and unique in HDR content. Additionally, bright parts of a scene are brighter while dark parts can be darker, and you don’t lose any details.
This tutorial will show you how to check your display capabilities for HDR support in Windows 11.
You can specify a screen timeout for how long the PC is inactive before all connected displays automatically turn off.
When your display turns off, you would just need to move the mouse, touch the touchpad or touchscreen, click a mouse or touchpad button, or press a key for the display(s) to turn back on.
By default, the screen timeout is 5 minutes on battery and 15 minutes when plugged in.
This tutorial will show you how to specify how long your PC is inactive before your display turns off automatically in Windows 11.
Display resolution refers to the clarity of the text and images displayed on your screen. At higher resolutions, such as 1600 x 1200 pixels, items appear sharper. They also appear smaller so more items can fit on the screen. At lower resolutions, such as 800 x 600 pixels, fewer items fit on the screen, but they appear larger.
The resolution you can use depends on the resolutions your monitor supports. Old CRT monitors generally display a resolution of 800 Ă— 600 or 1024 Ă— 768 pixels and can work well at different resolutions. Modern LCD or LED monitors and laptop/tablet built-in displays support higher resolutions, such as 4K and 8K, and work best at their native resolution.
You don’t have to set your monitor to run at its native resolution, but it is recommended in order to ensure you see the sharpest text and images possible.
This tutorial will show you how to change the resolution of each separate display for all users in Windows 11.
You may need to occasionally adjust the brightness level of your external or built-in display. For example, if you want to use your laptop outdoors on a sunny day, you might need a brighter screen to see the display clearly. Or, if you’re in a dark room, you might want to make the screen less bright.
Some PCs can let Windows automatically adjust screen brightness based on the current lighting conditions when you check the Change brightness automatically when lighting changes setting. Even if you use Change brightness automatically when lighting changes, you can still adjust the brightness for the built-in display to fine tune the brightness level.
A brighter display uses more power, which reduces battery life.
A laptop, tablet, or 2-in-1 type PCs will have a built-in display, and a desktop PC will have one or more external displays connected to it by default.
This tutorial will show you different ways to change the brightness level of a built-in display and external displays in Windows 11.
The refresh rate is the number of frames per second your monitor can display. Hertz frequency is used as the measurement at which the screen is redrawn.
Dynamic refresh rate is a new feature that can be found in Windows 11 on supported devices. Like the name suggests, DRR lets your device set the refresh rate dynamically. This means that Windows 11 will seamlessly switch between a lower refresh rate and a higher refresh rate based on what you’re doing on your PC. This helps to balance performance and power consumption. For example, with a Dynamic (60 Hz or 120 Hz) mode, your display will refresh at 60 Hz for everyday productivity tasks, such as email, writing a document, and so forth to conserve battery life. It will then seamlessly switch to 120 Hz for tasks such as inking and scrolling, to provide a smoother and more responsive experience.
To use DRR, you’ll need a laptop with a display that supports Variable refresh rate (VRR) and a refresh rate of at least 120 Hz.
Additionally, DRR requires a graphics driver (WDDM 3.0) that supports it (available through Windows Update). Microsoft is working with their graphics display partners to bring updated graphics drivers that support DRR to the Windows Insiders Program. Therefore, some people might need to wait a little longer to use DRR.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable Dynamic Refresh Rate (DRR) for a display for all users in Windows 11.
You will see the Rearrange your displays option available in Settings > System > Display when Windows 10 detects more than one display currently connected. Each display will be numbered to help you identify them more easily.
If you have multiple displays, you can change how they are arranged. This is helpful if you want your displays to match how they are set up in your home or office.
This tutorial will show you how to rearrange the layout of multiple displays in Windows 10.