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SetRes

Download a program that enables you to set screen resolution, colour depth and refresh rate from shortcuts and scripts

Screen resolution, colour depth and refresh frequency can easily be changed in the Windows user interface. Sometimes, though, it is convenient to be able to do it from a script or a shortcut. SetRes makes this possible.

There are two versions. The most recent is version 3 and controls multiple displays. It is equally happy with most single-display systems.

Most users will find the multi-monitor version works fine.

SetRes Single Monitor is version 2 and, you guessed it, works only with a single monitor. It is the original program I wrote many years ago and has been downloaded a massive number of times. There are no known issues.

However, under some circumstances the older SetRes is the preferred option. One example is when used in conjunction with Bart PE where problems have been reported with Multi Monitor.

For that reason, it continues to be listed as a current version even though it is actually superseded.

Instructions are included in each package but the screen grab below gives an idea of how screen parameters are passed to the program.

Image illustrating SetRes command line parameters

Remarkably, although the core code was written just after the last ice age for a version of Windows that roamed the Earth before some of you were born, it still works on modern versions of the OS. I have tested it up to Windows 8.1.

Downloads

SetRes_Multi_V3_0.zip

Version 3.0, November 2009

Compatibility Windows 98, Me, 2K, XP, Vista, 7, 8.x. May not work with Bart PE

Description / note Ground-up rewrite with multiple display support. The EXE is 32-bit but works on 64-bit Windows. I'll do a 64-bit version of the EXE one day.

SetRes Single_V2_3 GPL3.zip

Version 2.3, April 2010

Compatibility Windows 98, Me, 2K, XP, Vista, 7, 8.x

Description / note Much older than the date suggests but it still works. Just tidied up for GPL release.

Professional services

I offer professional services in software development, databases, data manipulation and writing. Find out more at IanSharpe.com.

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About this site

This is the personal web site of Ian Sharpe, a software developer and writer based in Bath, United Kingdom.

Before taking up software development full-time I had a career in computer magazine publishing. A hobbyist obsession with programming diverted me into magazines from an even earlier career in railway civil engineering. That was in 1986 and for the next 16 years I was a writer and editor on high-profile titles. Some visitors may remember me from publications of yore such as PC Plus, PC Answers, PC Today and CPC Computing.

Much of the material on this site originates from that period and was written to fill column inches to short dealines. I created the software as an adjunct to the writing so not a lot time was spent on it!

There used to be a lot more (I reckon I wrote over a million words over my magazine career) but I drop items that become too outdated. The remainder survives while it stays popular, which remarkably it does.

And so the articles do not represent current interests or recent experience although I occasionally refresh them with new material.

There is no binding theme, just whatever came into my head to publish. Hence '@random'. That said, several pages deal with aspects of randomness. I don't know how that came about and it certainly wasn't a plan.

Some of my publishing experiences were exceptionally satisfying and many were great fun. But the world changed and the tide turned against the big-circulation magazines of the eighties and nineties. The gravy train was running out of juice and it was time to disembark, re-invent and move on.

I had an ambition to write software professionally. I also had some ability, always having done it as a sideshow to my writing. I got my first magazine job partly on the strength of my ability to crank out publishable code in Z80 assembly language and Basic. Over the years I edited reams of programming tutorials in a variety of languages written by some very capable people.

So I switched career once more and spent five years as a developer at a busy digital printing outfit.

Now I work freelance, dividing my time between projects at local technical software/electronics company Dot Software and whatever else I am engaged in. My professional services site is www.iansharpe.com.

Because my personal site is mostly old material, writing emails about it is not my favourite activity. Even 'quick' questions can take longer to answer than you might expect. It feels rude not to reply and sometimes I will respond, but forgive me if I do not.

If there is a real problem (or opportunity!) my address is ian@iansharpe.com.