How to Switch Monitor 1 and 2? Switch Monitors Easily

When you are using more than one monitor to increase the productivity of your work or enhance your gaming or multimedia experience, you often need to switch between the screen.

The most common method is dragging your mouse around between the extended displays and clicking on the desired tab across the multimonitor setup, which can get pretty annoying, especially if you are multitasking.

There are plenty of ways this can be made a lot easier for you, and that’s what we are here for. But wait? Did you know that you could use dual monitors or even more than two on your desktop computer?

If you didn’t, then let us shortly tell you how to use dual monitors in Windows 10. Although it might seem really simple, often people face this issue and don’t know what to do. The following steps will show you a simple trick to do the job.

If you can’t trigger it using the shortcut, you can also go to display settings from the control panel and change it from there.

1. Connect the external monitor or monitors to your laptop or desktop through HDMI or VGA cable.
   
2. After the monitor is connected, turn it on.

How to Switch Monitor 1 and 2 in Windows 10?

We have to make one thing clear here. There are two different meanings of switching between monitors. The first one is that you are using two or more than two monitors and you want to switch between screens in order to access a certain window.

The second one implies that you want to change your main or primary monitor to a different screen than your current display.

If it’s the first one, then the process is pretty simple and easy. There is a shortcut that can help you quickly switch between the screens, without the need of dragging the mouse across the extended display.

Simply press the left Ctrl Key + Windows Key + Left or Right arrow, and you can move between multiple displays.

You can also use a keyboard shortcut to switch between multiple open windows quickly so that there is no need to use the mouse at all. For this purpose, you will need to press Ctrl + Alt + Tab button and then use Arrow keys to shift between multiple opened windows.

However, if in actuality, switching monitors means the second idea for you. Then you will need to go to settings to change the main display. There is no shortcut for that.

How to Change Primary Monitor in Windows 10?

Changing the primary monitor in Windows 10 is a pretty simple process. Here are the steps that can help you do that easily.

A prompt will ask whether you want to keep your changes or revert back to older settings.
Click on Keep changes and now you have a new primary monitor.

You can also do this primary display switching from the settings of your graphic driver. The drop-down list that appears after right-clicking also shows NVIDIA or AMD Radeon Control Panel. However, the process is similar.

How to Change Monitor 1, 2, and 3?

If you are using extended displays, then there is also another common issue you might come up with. The extended screen on the left of your actual monitor might be the right display in the settings.

So, when you use your mouse, you get annoyed because the screen arrangement is messed up. We will help you in rearranging that. You just need to go through the following steps.

Right-click on the desktop and open Display Settings from the drop-down list.

You have successfully rearranged the displays.

How to Switch Monitors 1 and 2 on Mac

If you are using a MacBook, then the process will be a bit different for you as both operating systems have different settings and navigations.

However, if you go through the following steps, you will be able to easily do switch between your dual monitor setup or multi-monitor setup.

Here are the steps to do that:

Go to the Apple menu and open system preferences.

Click on the Display option, and a new window will open in front of you.

There will be 3 tabs at the top. Select the one in the middle-named Arrangement.
From here, it’s just a similar click-and-drag interface.

You can click on Detect Display button to identify which display is which, and then you can click and drag them to get them in proper order.

You can also change the main screen by moving the white bar. There will be a white bar on the main screen. Click on it and drag it to whichever screen you want as your primary one.

Once you are done, click on OK and close settings to save your new settings.

How to Switch Monitor in Windows 11

Windows 11 provides you with the most advanced interface that comes with easier settings and hence the monitor switching is also a bit easier. You can do that by going through the following steps.

FAQs

Final Words

This guide clears up your confusion about switching between monitors and shares several methods that you can use to switch between multiple monitors. The process is pretty much simple and easy. We have shared several ways you can go about it. We hope the guide is helpful to you. Adios.