How To Fix Games Won’t Run In Fullscreen | Windows 10 | New in 2024

Are you having trouble playing games in fullscreen? While not a common issue for most PC gamers, this problem can become very annoying especially if you badly want to enjoy a bigger monitor space to enjoy your games. In this guide, we’ll give you the fixes that you can try if your games won’t run in fullscreen for some reason.

Causes why games may not go on fullscreen mode

There is a long list of possible reasons why your games refuse to run in full screen. Some of the common causes include the following: 

• incorrect display settings
• Windows OS bugs
• outdated graphics drivers

Your case may be different from others depending on the software environment of your PC so make sure to try all the solutions in this guide to know which one will work for you.

How to fix games won’t run in fullscreen on Windows 10?

If you’re playing a game and it won’t go full screen, these are the solutions that you can try to fix it:

Fix #1: Check for updates.

Keeping the software environment of your PC is very important, especially if you play games. You want to ensure that your games, Windows OS, other apps and drivers are running their latest version all the time. 

Speaking of drivers, make sure that you install the latest graphics drivers all the time to lessen the chances of bugs. 

Fix #2: Set Display Scaling to 100%.

Some games may crash or won’t load if your computer’s display scaling is set to something lower than 100%. Make sure that Display Scaling is properly set to its default percentage (100%) before running your game again. Here’s how:

1. Press the Windows key on the keyboard or the Start button on the lower left portion of the screen.
2. Navigate to Settings.
3. Go to System.
4. Click on Display.
5. Make sure to change the size of text, apps, and other items and set each of them to 100%.
6. Click Apply. 

You may be asked to sign out of your Microsoft account and sign back in before the changes take effect. Afterwards, load the game again and see if it can play in full screen mode.

Fix #3: Run the game in Windowed Mode.

Some older games have a separate config file or configuration file that a user can manipulate to change display settings. If your game has a config file that you can access, try to see if you can reconfigure it to load in Windowed mode instead of the default full screen mode.

The exact steps on how to do this depends on the game you’re having an issue with so we cannot give you any further details in this guide.

Fix #4: Use another main screen.

If you have a multiple monitor setup, try to see if changing your main screen will allow running the game on full screen. 

To select the screen that you want, follow these steps:

1. Press the Windows key on the keyboard or the Start button on the lower left portion of the screen.
2. Navigate to Settings.
3. Go to System.
4. Click on Display.
5. In the Display settings screen, click on the Identify button. A number should be displayed on your screens. Make sure to select the numbered monitor that you want to use as the new main screen. 
6. Once you’ve selected the new monitor, scroll down to the Multiple Displays section and make sure that you put a checkmark on the box that says Make this my main display.

Fix #5: Change NVIDIA Control Panel Settings.

If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, you can consider changing some settings the desktop size and position in the NVIDIA Control Panel app.  Here’s how:

1. Launch NVIDIA Control Panel app.
2. Navigate to Display > Adjust desktop size and position.
3. Under Apply the following settings section, in the Scaling tab, select No scaling.
4. Click Apply.

If you have an Intel graphics as well as a discrete NVIDIA card, you can also tell your PC to use the NVIDIA graphics card instead of the Intel one. 

Fix #6: Turn on DirectPlay option.

If your game still won’t play in full screen mode, you can also try to use Legacy components of  Windows to see if that will help. 

Here’s what you must do:

1. Press the Windows key on the keyboard or the Start button on the lower left portion of the screen.
2. Type in “Turn Windows feature on & off” and open the “Turn Windows feature on & off.”
3. In the Windows features screen, find Legacy Components and put a checkmark beside it.
4. Then, click the + sign in the box of Legacy Components and enable DirectPlay.
5. Click OK to save the changes.
6. Play your game and check if it now plays in full screen.

Fix #7: Use Compatibility Mode.

If the game you’re playing is several years old, it may not be optimized to play with Windows 10. You’ll have to make sure that you run it in Compatibility mode so it works properly. Here’s how to do that:

1. Find the shortcut of the game you’re having a problem with and right-click on it.
2. Select Properties.
3. Go to Compatibility tab and check Run this program in compatibility mode for an option. 
4. Select the desired version of Windows.
5. Click on Apply and OK to save changes.

OTHER INTERESTING ARTICLES:

• How To Fix PS4 Spotify Not Working in 2024 | NEW & Updated
• How To Fix Nintendo Switch 2137-8006 Error | NEW & Updated 2021
• How To Fix Discord RTC Connecting Error in 2024 | NEW & Updated
• How To Delete Your Discord Account in 2024 | NEW & Updated

Visit our TheDroidGuy Youtube Channel for more troubleshooting videos and tutorials.