Is it possible to make consoles full screen?

Question

Is it possible on to switch a console to full-screen in Windows XP on a single monitor? Meaning on a dual monitor that only the left (or right) screen displays the console while the other one remains on Windows. By full-screen I mean true-fullscreen mode, not just resizing (maximize) to fill in the screen.

Solution 1

Windows 7 (and I believe Vista) doesn't support the full-screen feature for MS-DOS or Command Prompt console. It doesn't even allow full-screen when using the Command Prompt via Windows 7's Windows XP Mode. On Windows XP, it can be set to full screen via Alt + Enter or right-clicking the console title bar and selecting Full Screen.

A possible workaround on Windows 7: With Command Prompt open, right click the console title bar, then select Properties. Within the Layout tab, you can adjust the width and height. My suggestion is: Adjust only the width to match the width of your screen. Once the adjustments are made, double click the console title bar. Using this workaround gives it the closest full-screen effect that can be achieved.

Solution 2

Is it possible to make consoles full screen?

Why yes; yes it is, but only up to Windows XP, it is no longer supported in Vista and up. You can get basic full-screen functionality with just Alt+Enter, but for better compatibility and to resolve some issues, you can install the Full screen video driver for console:

1. Open the Add Hardware applet in the Control Panel
2. Click Next, then select Already Connected
3. Select Add a new hardware device at the bottom of the list
4. Choose Manually Select (Advanced)
5. Select Show All Devices
6. Under Manufacturer, select Microsoft Corporation
7. Under Model, select Full screen video driver for console
8. Next, Next, Finish (reboot if prompted)

Now you can press Alt+Enter in console windows to switch them to fullscreen mode (it displays in whichever monitor is set to the primary).

NB: this works best for the command-prompt (ie, text-mode) while graphics-mode games and such tend to have problems (eg hanging). If you want to get games working in full-screen (or at all), then you need to use various hacks to get them to work such as using the nolfb^[1] and cli2nop^[2] tools and VDMSound.

Comments

[SgtOJ]

Windows Vista/7 or XP?

[Wernight]

Windows XP (no choice in office)

[surfasb]

This is correct. The newer display drivers no longer suppport full screen console programs. Now if you switch back to XP drivers. ..

[Wernight]

How is DualMon actually related to having a console full-screen on only one monitor? ShiftWindow may kind of resize to fill in the screen but that seem to be for EVE only.

[TiCL]

@Wernight ShiftWindow will work for any application, you just need to define a Rule with proper window title.

[n611x007]

run devmgmt.msc menu action, add legacy hadrdware for me in windows7 x64. But I have no "Full screen video driver" there. Also I have no fsvga.inf on my system drive C:

[Synetech]

@naxa, because it is no longer supported in Windows Vista and up; it only works up to Windows XP (which is what this question is about).

[n611x007]

ah. there was some hackery where you could supposedly turn full screen on 7 back on, most likely due to a windows bug but I cannot find it.

[Synetech]

@naxa, the closest you can get is to simply maximize the console window; there’s no way (that I’ve been able to find in my quest) to make it actually fullscreen in 7 like you could in XP (where the screen actually changes to text-mode). ◔̯◔