How canI use an external display and close the laptop lid?

[CEaton]

Just got a 24" monitor to use with my laptop, but when I close the lid on the laptop, the external screen goes black. I've changed the settings to do nothing when the lid closes, but this still happens. Ideas please? I'm using Windows 8.1.

 

[pm4]

Try to set your external display as main display with desktop on it.
Also try (Win button) + P it should bring out menu for external device (be it projector or monitor) which should allow you to turn off laptop display and let only projector on. But what will happen when you close lid after that i do not know. I know it should be possible as my colleague use his laptop like that (it's win 7 but should be +- same)
Double check settings on that lid closed too if everything is set to do nothing too.

 

[CEaton]

It works to set the display to the external monitor only. I had assumed/hoped I could use both, but if this works, so be it!

Thanks!!

 

[pm4]

It works to set the display to the external monitor only. I had assumed/hoped I could use both, but if this works, so be it!

Thanks!!

I dont get it. If you want to close lid you can't use both anyway .

Problem was that you had it set on laptop screen as main and external screen as extension so when main close (turn off) extension goes off too ofc.
If you set external as main and laptop as extension it should work way that external will be always on, but when you open lid it should load laptop screen as extension too. But you have to test it.

 

[geo1230]

hello! i have somehow the same problem... almost. i have a second monitor as an extension to the right. So far, i could drag a movie in the second monitor, close the lid (which the laptop screen is my primary as i want it to be) and the second monitor could still be an extension. Suddenly, that changed, now whenever i close the lid my second monitor becomes primary (which is annoying). when i open the lid, it goes back to being an extension to the right but the identification numbers are upside down, meaning that the laptop screen became primary again but No. 2 and the second monitor became extension (as it was) but No. 1. I can't find what's wrong with that. The only thing i can think of is that i tried to force a game to open in fullscreen to the second monitor while having plugged ps3 controller (with MotionInJoy) and i got a BSOD. I think that after that it happened. I didn't take seriously the BSOD because i had it a couple of times with another game and with no second monitor. I uninstalled the game. I re-installed it today and to my surprise i saw that when i launched it, it started in fullscreen mode in my second monitor. somehow is like it remembered it even though i completely uninstalled it. i tried forcing it the same way to play im the laptop screen but nothing came from that. When i say force i mean that i changed it to windowed mode, dragged it to the other monitor, and then changed it back to fullscreen mode. When i first installed the game it worked (and probably messed my monitors), now that i tried to do the same but backwards hoping it will undo whatever happened, it just crashed. tried to open it again but it started in the second monitor as before. Sorry for the long post! Any ideas? I searched all over but nothing seems to help or being at least relevant to my case. Thank you in advance and sorry for the long post again!