Check on remote Machine if Display is turned off

Question

I use Teamviewer or Windows Remote Desktop to access my work machine.

The Machine is always turned on and i switch off the monitor when leaving work. Is there any way to check remote that the monitor is really turned off?

The reason is, that i have have to log in remotely sometimes and don't want everybody to immediately see it. (It's not really secret, but you never know who is watching ^^)

Solution

It's not possible in general (or at least not for sure). There might be some hardware combinations allowing you to do this (e.g. some screens got their own USB drivers with utility functionality).

But there's actually a built-in function to black out the remote screen, if remote input is disabled during an active session. You can find the option in the advanced options:

English UI language:

German UI language:

Once the setting is activated, connect to the remote machine and then disable remote input through the Actions menu (there are entries to disable remote input as well as to show black screen specifically).

Comments

[LPChip]

This doesn't answer the question, but it is the alternative, given that the answer is: no, you can't check if a monitor is powered on or off. You should edit your answer to include this.

[Sebastian Schmitz]

could you edit: To activate it go to action -> disable display on remote machine? Or similar, i only have the german version installed here, so i can't check for the exact wording. I'm going to accept afterwards ;)

[Sebastian Schmitz]

@LPChip: You are right, but it solves my problem. Just shows that my Question wasn't well worded.

[Mario]

Ah lol, I explicitly changed the language to English - since it's in German by default. Adding a second screen. :) And yes, LPChip is right, your question has been fine, I just skipped noting that, since it's clearly not possible (might be possible with some screen/graphics card combination though).

[Sebastian Schmitz]

@Mario You misinterpreted my comment a bit, but i have edited your post myself now :D. It might be possible to check the display when we get Variable Refresh Rates for displays: anandtech.com/show/8008/…