ForceWare
nView 3.0 Desktop Manager
User’s Guide
Version 52.14
for Windows
NVIDIA Corporation
November 2003
Second Edition
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Published by
NVIDIA Corporation
2701 San Tomas Expressway
Santa Clara, CA 95050
Copyright © 2002 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.
This software may not, in whole or in part, be copied through any means, mechanical, electromechanical, or
otherwise, without the express permission of NVIDIA Corporation.
Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, NVIDIA assumes no responsibility for the
consequences of use of such information nor for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties, which
may result from its use. No License is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of
NVIDIA Corporation.
Specifications mentioned in the software are subject to change without notice.
NVIDIA Corporation products are not authorized for use as critical components in life support devices or systems
without express written approval of NVIDIA Corporation.
NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, Digital Vibrance Control, GeForce, nfiniteFX, nForce, Quadro, RIVA, TNT, TNT2,
TwinView, and Vanta are registered trademarks or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries.
Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel. DirectX, Microsoft, Microsoft Internet Explorer logo, Outlook,
PowerPoint, Windows, Windows logo, Windows NT, and/or other Microsoft products referenced in this guide are
either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. OpenGL is a
registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc.
Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which
they are associated.
NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
About this Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Other Related Documentation . . . . . . . . . 1
nView vs. NVIDIA Display Properties . . . . . . . 2
Why do I need Desktop Management? . . . . . . 3
About nView Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . 3
Multi-Display Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Single-Display Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Release 50: Access Options for the nView
Desktop Manager Control Panel . . . . . . . 4
Release 50: New Features and Support. . . . 6
Release 50: Performance Improvements and
Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Release 40: Features and Enhancements . . 7
Feature Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . 7
New Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Key Terms and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
child window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
desktop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
dual-card configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
GPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
keystoning (NVKeystone) . . . . . . . . . . 9
modal dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
modeless dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
multiple-card configuration . . . . . . . . . . 10
multi-display configuration . . . . . . . . . . 10
parent window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
properties panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
single-display configuration . . . . . . . . . 10
skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
window class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Desktop Management Panel . . . . . . . . . . 12
Windows Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
About the Desktops Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Application Management . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
About the Profiles Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Types of Data Saved and Restored by a
Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Saving Profiles for Different Operating Modes
15
About the User Interface Panel . . . . . . . . 15
About the Tools Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
About the Zoom Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
About the Hot Keys and Effects Panels. . . . 16
About the Mouse Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Setup Wizard and Online Help. . . . . . . . . 18
Application Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Examples of Incompatible Applications . . . . 18
Skinning Utilities: Known Issues . . . . . . . . 19
Notes on Feature and Configuration Support . . 19
Feature Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Multi-Display Setup: Tips and Requirements. 20
Multi-Display Configuration: Tips and
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support . . . 20
Examples in this Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2. Installing and Uninstalling
NVIDIA Display Driver Software
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
About the NVIDIA Display Driver Installation . . 23
File Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Preserving Desktop Manager Settings Before
Upgrading Your Software . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Uninstalling the NVIDIA Display Driver Software 24
Using the NVIDIA Display Driver Menu. . . . . . 25
NVIDIA Settings Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3. System Requirements
Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Minimum Hard Disk Space . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Software: NVIDIA Display Driver . . . . . . . 32
Optional Software: Internet Explorer . . . . . 32
Optional: System Administrator Access
Privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Hardware: Supported NVIDIA Products . . . 33
Supported Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4. Using the Desktop Manager
Setup Wizard
About the Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Multi-Display Auto-Launch Wizard: Multi-Display
vs. Single-Display Setup . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Manually Starting the Wizard Using the Wizard
Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
NVIDIA Corporation i
User’s Guide Table of Contents
Enabling nView Desktop Manager From the
Windows Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Starting the Wizard from the nView Desktop
Manager Desktop Management Panel . . . 40
About Using the Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Notes Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Auto-Launch Wizard Pages After First-Time
Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Desktop Management Wizard Pages . . . . . . . 50
Desktop Management Wizard Pages for NVIDIA
Quadro GPU-based Graphics Cards. . . . . . . 55
5. Accessing and Enabling the
nView Desktop Manager Control
Panel
Overview of Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Accessing and Enable nView Desktop Manager
from the Windows Control Panel . . . . . . . . . 60
Enabling and Accessing Desktop Manager from the
nView Display Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . 61
Enabling Desktop Manager from the NVIDIA
Settings Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Using the NVIDIA Settings icon. . . . . . . . . 65
Accessing Windows Display Properties Settings.66
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6. Working With Profiles
About Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
About Saving and Restoring Your Display Mode
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
About Saving Open Application States: For
Quadro-based GPUs only . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Benefits of Using Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Profiles Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
List of Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Current Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Loading a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Creating a Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Saving a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Deleting a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Copying Profiles for Use on Another Computer .76
7. Managing Windows
About Windows Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Windows Panel Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Window Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Enable Window Spanning Across Displays . . 79
Enable child window spanning across
displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Open window on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Prevent windows from opening off-screen 80
Limit taskbar to a single display . . . . . . 80
Dialog Box Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Enable dialog box repositioning . . . . . . . . 80
Move to display n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Move to display where cursor appears . . 81
Move to display where application appears 81
Center dialog box on display . . . . . . . . 81
8. Managing Desktops
About Desktops Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Accessing the Desktops Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Notes Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Desktops List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Creating Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Using the “Add” Option . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Activating or Switching Desktops . . . . . . . . . 86
Activating Desktops from the NVIDIA
Settings icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Activating Desktops From the Windows
Desktop Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . 87
Activating Desktops from Desktop Explorer88
Activating Desktops With Hot Keys . . . . 88
Renaming Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Removing Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Properties: Changing Wallpaper and Desktop Icons
88
Selecting a Background for the Desktop . . . 89
Selecting Separate Backgrounds Per Display 90
Selecting a Desktop Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Multiple Desktop Global Options . . . . . . . . . 91
Show Desktop Name When Switching . . . . 91
Enable Desktops in Windows Explorer . . . . 92
Using nView Desktop Explorer . . . . . . . 93
Creating Desktops from Desktop Explorer 93
Renaming, Deleting, and Activating Desktops
from Desktop Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Enhancing the Desktop Explorer
“Thumbnails” View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using the Thumbnail Styles. . . . . . . . . 96
Moving Applications Between Desktops or to
a New Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Accessing Other Application Settings from
Desktop Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Advanced Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Maximize Desktop Switching Speed . . . . .101
Show Command Prompt Windows on All
Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
ii NVIDIA Corporation
User’s Guide Table of Contents
Force Desktop to Redraw in One Step. . . . 101
Allow Desktop to Use Different Resolutions. 101
Reset Desktops to the Current Resolution . 101
9. Using the User Interface Options
About User Interface Options . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Accessing the User Interface Tab . . . . . . . . 103
General Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Enabling General Options . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Enable nView Options in the Windows Right-
click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Show Notification Messages on Taskbar . 104
Enable nView Task Switcher. . . . . . . . 104
Enable nView Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Enable Display Gridlines . . . . . . . . . . 112
Windows and Applications Options . . . . . . . 114
Adding the nView Desktop Manager Title Bar
Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Show Button for nView Options . . . . . . 114
Show button for full-desktop maximize . . 115
Show button for single-display maximize 116
Show button for “Collapse to Title Bar” . . 117
About the Title Bar Buttons LED Status
Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
About the nView Options Menu . . . . . . . . 119
Add nView Options to System Menus . . . . 119
nView Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
nView Menu: Description of Options . . . . . 122
nView Maximize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Send window to. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Send application to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Transparent (alpha blended). . . . . . . . 122
Always on top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Visible on all desktops . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Collapse to desktop. . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Individual Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Individual Settings: Clear all . . . . . . . . 125
Individual Settings: Other Methods of
Clearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
About this Application … . . . . . . . . . . 125
Application-specific nView Menu Options 125
10. Using Effects
About Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Accessing the Effects Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Window Drawing Enhancements. . . . . . . . . 128
Make Windows Minimize and Maximize Faster
128
Make Windows Transparent When Dragged.128
Require Shift key to be held down . . . . . 129
Enable Taskbar Transparency . . . . . . . . .129
Transparency Level . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Windows Color Keying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Enable Windows Color Keying . . . . . . . . .130
Manipulating Color-Keyed Windows Using
Hot Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Automatically Assign Colors to Windows .130
Colored Application Window Borders . . . . . 131
11. Using Zoom Options
About Zoom Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
Accessing the Zoom Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Zoom Features: Display Properties vs. Desktop
Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Zoom Window Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Magnifying Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Centered on Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Fixed Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Using the Mouse Wheel to Change Zoom Levels .
137
Showing the Cursor in a Zoom Window . . . . .138
Automatically Moving Zoom Window to the Next
Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Enabling Bi-Directional Editing . . . . . . . . . .138
Inverting the Colors of the Zoomed Image . . . .139
Zooming Video Playback (disables overlay) . . .139
Showing the Zoom Window . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Zoom Window Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Zoom Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
Zoom Refresh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
Zoom Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Using Cursor Style Zoom . . . . . . . . . . 142
Using Magnifying Glass Style Zoom . . . . 143
Using Fixed Frame Zoom . . . . . . . . . .143
Full Screen Video Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
12. Using Hot Keys
About Hot Key Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Accessing the Hot Keys Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Selecting an Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Windows and Applications Actions . . . . . .150
Desktop Management Actions . . . . . . . . .151
Window Management Actions . . . . . . . . .151
Display Mode Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Display Settings Actions . . . . . . . . . . . .152
Miscellaneous Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Adding a Hot Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
NVIDIA Corporation iii
User’s Guide Table of Contents
Examples of Actions Requiring Additional
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
“Move window to display…” . . . . . . . . 154
“Show color-keyed window” . . . . . . . . 155
Removing a Hot Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Removing All Hot Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Active Hot Keys List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
13. Configuring Mouse Effects
About Mouse Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Mouse Panel Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Enable Throw Window Actions . . . . . . . . 159
Jump Dead Screen Areas . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Toggle Window Z-Order with Middle Mouse
Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Automatically Activate Windows Under Cursor
160
Change window Z-order when activating . . 160
Kinematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Enable Mouse Gestures . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Gesture Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Require Shift key to be held down . . . . . . 161
Operate on Window Under Cursor . . . . . . 161
Shake Mouse Horizontally. . . . . . . . . . . 161
Shake Mouse Vertically . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Rotate Mouse Clockwise . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Adding a Window Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Disabling an nView Desktop Manager Function .177
Individual Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
Launch Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
Application Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
Internet Explorer Options . . . . . . . . . . . .179
Add Microsoft Internet Explorer Double Right-
click and Shift-left-click Extensions . . . .180
Add Microsoft Internet Explorer Popup
Preventer Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Add Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Show Extension
182
14. Using Tools Options
About Tools Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Accessing the Tools Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Display Quality: NVKeystone . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Enable NVKeystone Display Correction . . . 165
Enable NVKeystone Option in Desktop Menu .
166
Accessing NVKeystone . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
NVKeystone Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
NVKeystone Adjustment Screen . . . . . . . 167
NVKeystone Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Display Quality: Show Flat Panel Calibration
Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
15. Managing Applications:
For Advanced Users
Accessing the Applications Panel . . . . . . . . 170
About the Applications Panel . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Adding an Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Removing an Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
About Windows Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
iv NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Table 3.1 Operating System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Table 3.2 Hard Disk Space Requirements — English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Table 3.3 Hard Disk Space Requirements — Non-English Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Table 3.4 Hard Disk Space Requirements — Full International Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Table 3.5 Supported NVIDIA GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
NVIDIA Corporation v
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Windows 2000 Control Panel with nView Desktop Manager Item (icon) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 1.2 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Tabbed Control Panel vs. Menu Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 2.1 NVIDIA GPU Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Figure 2.2 NVIDIA Display Properties Menu: Expanded with Scroll Bar and Hidden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 2.3 NVIDIA Display Properties: NVIDIA Menu (Windows XP/2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 2.4 NVIDIA Display Properties: NVIDIA Menu (Windows 9x) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 4.1 nView Desktop Manager Enabled: nView Properties Appear on Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 4.2 Default Desktop Managment Panels: Tabbed and Menu Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 4.3 Desktop Managment Panels After Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 4.4 Auto-Launch Wizard Welcome Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 4.5 Auto-Launch Wizard Setup Option: “Typical Setup” Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 4.6 Auto-Launch Wizard Setup Option: Display Settings for Typical Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 4.7 Auto-Launch Wizard Setup Options Page: “Custom Setup” Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 4.8 Auto-Launch Wizard: Multi-Display Mode Page: Dualview Mode Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 4.9 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Dualview Mode ( 2 CRT Example) . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 4.10 Auto-Launch Wizard: Multi-Display Mode Page: Span Mode Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 4.11 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 4.12 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 4.13 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 4.14 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 4.15 Auto-Launch Wizard Multi-Display Mode Page: Clone Mode Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 4.16 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Clone Mode (2 CRT Example) . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 4.17 Auto-Launch Wizard Page: NOT Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 4.18 Auto-Launch Wizard Completion Without Enabling nView Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 4.19 Auto-Launch Wizard: Enabling nView Desktop Manager l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 4.20 Auto-Launch Wizard Completion Without Enabling nView Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 4.21 nView Desktop Manager Control Panel Launched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Figure 4.22 Desktop Management Wizard: Welcome Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 4.23 Desktop Management Wizard: Profiles Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 4.24 Desktop Management Wizard: Window Management Page (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 4.25 Desktop Management Wizard: Window Management Page (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 4.26 Desktop Management Wizard: Window Management Page (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 4.27 Desktop Management Wizard: Enabling nView Desktop Manager Page (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 4.28 Desktop Management Wizard: Window Transparency Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Figure 4.29 Desktop Management Wizard: Completion Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Figure 4.30 Desktop Management Wizard: Profiles Page for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs (1) . . . . . . . . . 55
NVIDIA Corporation vi
User’s Guide List of Figures
Figure 4.31 Wizard Window Management Page for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Figure 5.1 nView Desktop Manager Enabled: nView Properties Appear on Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Figure 5.2 nView Desktop Manager Disabled: nView Properties Removed from Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . 58
Figure 5.3 Desktop Management Panel After Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Figure 5.4 nView Desktop Manager Enabled on the nView Display Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Figure 5.5 Windows Control Panel With NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Figure 5.6 Desktop Managment Panel: Before and After Desktop Manager is Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Figure 5.7 Accessing Desktop Manager from the nView Display Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Figure 5.8 nView Desktop Manager Enabled on the nView Display Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Figure 5.9 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 5.10 NVIDIA Settings Icon on the Windows Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 5.11 NVIDIA Settings icon: nView Desktop Manager Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 5.12 Desktop Managment Panel: Accessing the Windows Display Properties Settings Panel . . . . . . . 66
Figure 6.1 Profiles Panel for NVIDIA GeForce-based GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Figure 6.2 Creating a New Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 6.3 Profiles Panel After Adding a Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 6.4 Deleting a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Figure 7.1 Windows Panel in nView Dualview Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Figure 7.2 Windows Panel Options for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Figure 8.1 Desktops Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Figure 8.2 Creating a Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Figure 8.3 Viewing the Added Desktop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Figure 8.4 NVIDIA Settings icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Figure 8.5 Accessing Desktops Through the NVIDIA Settings icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Figure 8.6 Changing Properties for Multiple Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Figure 8.7 Desktop Explorer Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Figure 8.8 Desktop Explorer Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Figure 8.9 Desktop Explorer Nodes in Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Figure 8.10 Desktop Explorer: Main Pop-up Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Figure 8.11 Entering a Desktop Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Figure 8.12 Desktop Explorer: Desktop Pop-up Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Figure 8.13 Desktop Explorer: nView Desktop Thumbnails Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Figure 8.14 Desktop Explorer: “Send to Desktop n” Application Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Figure 8.15 Desktop Explorer: After Setting “Visible on all desktops” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Figure 8.16 Desktop Explorer: “Collapse to Desktop n” Application Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Figure 8.17 Desktop Explorer: After Setting “Collapse to Desktop n” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Figure 9.1 User Interface Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Figure 9.2 Appearance of the Enabled “Default” nView Toolbar: “Show title” mode.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Figure 9.3 Actions: Show Text Enabled; Profiles: No Text/Title Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
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Figure 9.4 Actions and Profiles: Show Text and Show Title Are Both Disabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Figure 9.5 ScreenTips text for an Action Toolbar Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Figure 9.6 Appearance of Profiles, Actions, and Desktop Menus in nView Toolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
Figure 9.7 nVIew Toolbar: View Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Figure 9.8 nView Toolbar: Toolbars Menu.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Figure 9.9 nView Toolbar: Attach Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Figure 9.10 nView Toolbar: Actions Menu with Show Text/Title Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Figure 9.11 Customize Toolbar Dialog Box: Available from the Actions Menu Only.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Figure 9.12 nView Toolbar: Desktops Menu with Show Text/Title Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Figure 9.13 nVIew Toolbar: Profiles Menu with Show Text/Title AND Show Text Only Enabled. . . . . . . . . 110
Figure 9.14 nView Toolbar: Actions Menu with Show Text/Title AND Show Title Only Enabled. . . . . . . . . 111
Figure 9.15 nView Toolbar: Profiles Menu with Show Title Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Figure 9.16 Edit Display Gridlines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Figure 9.17 Gridlines Setup (1): Grid and Anchor Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Figure 9.18 Gridlines Setup (2): Use Grids With . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Figure 9.19 Accessing the nView Desktop Manager Options Menu Using the nView Options Menu Button . . 115
Figure 9.20 User Interface Panel Options (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Figure 9.21 Application Title Bar (Full Desktop or Single Display) Maximize Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Figure 9.22 Window Appearance Using the “Collapse to Title Bar Button” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Figure 9.23 nView Desktop Manager Button Bar: LED Indicator and nView Options Menu Button . . . . . . . 118
Figure 9.24 Accessing the nView Desktop Manager Options Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
Figure 9.25 nView Menu Options Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Figure 9.26 Individual Application Settings Dialog Box: 2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Figure 9.27 Prompt for Clearing Individual Settings for an Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Figure 9.28 Sample “About this Application” Information Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Figure 10.1 Effects Panel for NVIDIA GeForce-based GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Figure 10.2 Effects Panel for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Figure 10.3 Color Key Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Figure 10.4 Sample Colored Application Window Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Figure 11.1 Zoom Panel for Magnifying Glass and Center on cursor Zoom Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Figure 11.2 Zoom Panel for Fixed Frame Zoom Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Figure 11.3 Zoom Level Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
Figure 11.4 Zoom Refresh Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Figure 11.5 Zoom Style Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Figure 11.6 Cursor Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Figure 11.7 Cursor Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Figure 11.8 Magnifying Glass Style Zoom Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Figure 11.9 Magnifying Glass Style Zoom Window Over Zoom Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
Figure 11.10 Magnifying Glass Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
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Figure 11.11 Magnifying Glass Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Figure 11.12 Zoom Window-Fixed Frame Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Figure 11.13 Magnified Area in Zoom Window: Zoom Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
Figure 12.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Hot Keys Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
Figure 12.2 Hot Keys Properties Dialog Box Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Figure 12.3 Hot Keys Properties Dialog Box: for “Move window to display…” Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Figure 12.4 Hot Keys Properties Dialog Box: for “Show color-keyed window” Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Figure 12.5 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Active Hot Keys List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Figure 13.1 Mouse Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160
Figure 14.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Tools Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
Figure 14.2 NVKeystone Option in Windows Desktop Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166
Figure 14.3 NVKeystone Adjustment Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
Figure 14.4 NVKeystone Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Figure 15.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Applications Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Figure 15.2 Add Application Dialog Boxes (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Figure 15.3 Add Application Dialog Boxes (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Figure 15.4 Add Class Dialog Boxes (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176
Figure 15.5 nView Desktop Manager Properties (Applications): Disable nView Desktop Manager Functions . .177
Figure 15.6 Individual Application Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
Figure 15.7 Application Extensions Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Figure 15.8 Internet Explorer Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Figure 15.9 Internet Explorer Popup Preventer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
Figure 15.10 Internet Explorer Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
C HAPTER
I
NTRODUCTION
The following major topics are discussed in this chapter:
• “About this Guide” on page 1
• “nView vs. NVIDIA Display Properties” on page 2
• “Why do I need Desktop Management?” on page 3
• “About nView Desktop Manager” on page 3
• “Key Terms and Concepts” on page 8
• “Features and Benefits” on page 11
• “Application Compatibility” on page 18
• “Notes on Feature and Configuration Support” on page 19
• “Examples in this Guide” on page 21
About this Guide
This is a user’s guide addressed to end users of the NVIDIA® nView™ Desktop
Manager, which is a desktop and application management tool that runs on
Windows operating systems.
O
ther Related Documentation
• If you are primarily using the NVIDIA display properties features for
NVIDIA GeForce-based graphics processing units (GPUs), see the NVIDIA
ForceWare Release 50 Graphics Drivers User’s Guide.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
• The document titled NVIDIA ForceWare Driverss: Release 50 Notes enables
add-in-card (AIC) producers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
to monitor performance improvements and bug fixes in the driver.
nView vs. NVIDIA Display Properties
The NVIDIA Display Driver software includes two software components:
nView and NVIDIA Display Properties.
• nView represents a collection of multi-display technologies encompassing
driver support, multi-display GPU architecture, and desktop management
support. The primary nView component is the Desktop Manager, which is a
user-level application utility that focuses on making you more productive
when working on your Windows desktop.
Note: Desktop Manager is now a separate item on the Windows Control
Panel group (Figure 1.1). You can click this item to access the nView
Desktop Manager properties panel.
Figure 1.1
Windows 2000 Control Panel with nView Desktop Manager Item (icon)
• NVIDIA Display Properties refers to the NVIDIA Windows Control Panelbased user interface, which you can access from the Windows Display
Properties > Settings > Advanced option and configure the advanced
display properties of the current release of the NVIDIA Windows Display
Driver software.
Note: The NVIDIA Display Properties also includes the nView Display Mode
option, which lets you configure multi-display support for Clone and/or
Span modes if you are using an NVIDIA GPU-based card that supports
multiple displays. See Table 3.5, “Supported NVIDIA GPUs”.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Why do I need Desktop Management?
As users run more and more applications and process even more information,
their screen sizes are getting larger and larger. Larger screen area simply makes
users more productive.
One of the more cost effective and common ways of increasing screen area is to
use multiple displays and/or multiple desktops (for single-display users), which
allow you to place your applications on multiple displays having ready and
immediate access to the information they contain.
While large screens and multiple displays and desktops are a great way of
increasing your visible work area, these larger desktops start becoming more
difficult to manage. Once simple operations such as finding your mouse cursor
or even a window can become very time-consuming when you have to hunt
through several screens.
In addition, using multiple displays results in additional issues such as the
screen split between two displays – windows that are placed on this screen split
are extremely difficult to read. So, while larger desktop areas promise to
dramatically increase your productivity, there are user interface issues that can
make it difficult to use at times.
A “desktop manager” manages your large desktop and takes care of many of the
user interface issues that result from moving to a larger desktop area. You can
think of a desktop manager as being an extension of the windows user interface
tailored for large desktops.
About nView Desktop Manager
nView Desktop Manager supports both single-display and multi-display
configurations running with single-display, multi-display, or multiple graphics
cards based on NVIDIA GPUs.
Multi-Display Support
The Desktop Manager feature set primarily focuses on multi-display use by
workstation users in finance, corporate, digital content creation (DCC) and
similar organizations as well as in the mobile (laptop) markets. Therefore, to
take advantage of the full feature set of the Desktop Manager, you need a multidisplay configuration. With multiple displays, you can view a single application
as a large window stretching across several displays, or you can display
different applications on each monitor. Using a multi-display configuration is an
efficient and cost-effective way to increase the size of your computer display
area, commonly called the “desktop”.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
Single-Display Support
Desktop Manager is designed for broad applications across the wide range of
NVIDIA product lines and markets. Therefore, single-display users can also
take advantage of many of its features. Although you cannot use multi-display
features in a single-display configuration, you can create multiple desktops and
use hot keys, NVKeystone, and windows effects.
Release 50: Access Options for the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel
Note: Starting from this current release (Release 50) of the NVIDIA display
driver, all nView Desktop Manager features accessible from the nView
Desktop Manager control panel are also accessible from the NVIDIA
display properties menu, shown in Figure 1.2.
In the previous Release 40 NVIDIA drivers, the nView Desktop Manager
control panel was a standalone user interface with feature-specific tabs to access
a variety of configurable Desktop Manager options.
In the current Release 50 NVIDIA display driver, the nView Desktop Manager
control panel can be opened as a standalone user interface and the exact options
can be accessed from the NVIDIA display properties menu because the Desktop
Manager control panel options have also been integrated into the NVIDIA
display properties control panel menu (Figure 1.2).
Once nView Desktop Manager is enabled, its control panel is easily accessible
from a variety of areas on your desktop, as explained in “Accessing and
Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel” on page 57, For example,
it is available from:
• the Windows Control Panel group
• the desktop (right click) properties menu
• the NVIDIA Settings taskbar icon
• the NVIDIA display properties control panel menu
When you first open the nView Desktop Manager control panel, the default
Desktop Management tab is displayed. Once you enable the Enable nView
Desktop Manager option, the remaining tabs (or menu items) are available and
configurable, as described in “Features and Benefits” on page 11.
Note: Individual chapters in this guide describe the various categories of
features to configure.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 1.2
nView Desktop Manager Properties: Tabbed Control Panel vs. Menu Style
nView Desktop Manager
control panel
Options as tabs
- Desktop Management,
- Profiles
- Windows
- Applications
- Desktops
- Tools
- Hot Keys
- Mouse
- Zoom
- Effects
- User Interface
Options as menu items
within the NVIDIA display
properties menu
NVIDIA Corporation 5
Chapter 1 Introduction
Release 50: New Features and Support
•nView toolbar lets you dock hot keys and other actions — such as desktop
switching, mode switching, and profile loading — on a toolbar for easy
access.
• Profiles can store and load the open application state.
• Kinematic mouse actions such as switching to the next or previous desktop
can be accomplished by specific mouse movements such as shakes or
circular motions. Mouse features also include throw-action detection for a
more interactive “movie style” user interface.
• Resolution per desktop support allows each desktop can be set to a
different resolution.
• Application display exclusions and inclusions allows the user to set up
applications to always launch on a specified monitor, or never launch on a
specified monitor.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer pop-up prevention
• Monitor grids allows display devices to be divided into subgrids which—for
the purposes of geometric operations such as application window
maximizing—act as separate display devices.
• NVKeystone luma compensation
Release 50: Performance Improvements and Enhancements
• Desktop switching speed has increased by 40%.
• Integrated control panels -- The nView Desktop Manager control panel is
now consolidated with the NVIDIA display properties control panel.
• New nView Desktop Manager Setup Wizard includes mode set support for
nView Standard, Clone, Spanning, and Dualview modes.
• Driver independence allows nView to be installed independently of the
graphics drivers, with no version interdependencies.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Release 40: Features and Enhancements
Feature Enhancements
The following features have been enhanced in the previous Release 40 NVIDIA
nView Desktop Manager:
• Operating System Support includes Windows NT 4.0, Windows 9x/Me,
and Windows 2000/XP.
• Profile feature. Display modes are now saved to and loaded from each
profile.
• Multiple desktop support contains the following new features:
• Support for multi-display wallpaper selection. (See “Properties: Changing
Wallpaper and Desktop Icons” on page 88.)
• Graphical display in Windows Explorer shell extension
• Support for icons to represent desktops. (“Properties: Changing Wallpaper
and Desktop Icons” on page 88.)
• Support for arbitrary positioning of windows on the desktops
• Zoom support includes:
• New fixed-frame zoom (See “Fixed Frame” on page 137.)
• Bi-directional zoom editing capability (See “Enabling Bi-Directional
Editing” on page 138.)
New Features
The following are features that have been added to the new version of NVIDIA
nView Desktop Manager:
• nView Task Switcher. When enabled, nView adds a desktop switcher in
addition to the standard application tab switcher. By default, this additional
“switch desktop” functionality is accessed through a Alt-~ keystroke
combination which you can change through options in the Hot Key panel.
See “Enable nView Task Switcher” on page 104.
• Color-keyed windows allows the user to color key windows for easy
identification when activating them on the desktop. See “Enable Windows
Color Keying” on page 130.
• NVKeystone™ allows real-time image correction on portable projectors and
heads-up displays.
For example, NVKeystone can be set to compensate for keystoning effects
on your windows display, allowing you to fix distorted projection images.
This feature is primarily for laptop (mobile) computers.
2
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Chapter 1 Introduction
See “Accessing NVKeystone” on page 166.
• Taskbar and Menu Transparency. See “Using Effects” on page 127.
• New window actions, such as‚ Collapse
• New applications settings, including a full set of application launch and
disable settings. See “Managing Applications: For Advanced Users” on
page 170.
Key Terms and Concepts
Desktop Manager can manage and control many items on your desktop.
Generally, it operates on two types of desktop objects – “windows” or
“applications”.
application
An application (or program) can have any number of windows. Some
applications have only a single window such as Calculator or Notepad. Other
applications can have many windows such as Outlook where you can open
several E-mail windows, have your Inbox open, open calendars, etc.
Desktop Manager can perform operations on applications as well as windows.
In the case of applications, the operation is performed on every window that is
part of that application only if the operation is enabled through the Individual
Settings feature of that application.
If you run multiple copies of an application, any operation you perform on a
copy of the application will apply to every copy of the application that is
running.
child window
A child window refers to any “sub” window of the main or “parent” application
window. For example, in the Microsoft Excel application, you can open several
worksheets at once inside the main Excel window. Each worksheet is a child
window of Excel.
2
NVKeystone is not supported on graphics cards based on the TNT, TNT2 or Vanta product
families.
Control Panel
Refers to the Windows Control Panel group, which you can access by clicking
Start > Settings > Control Panel from the Windows desktop. NVIDIA nView
Desktop Manager is a clickable icon in this group of icons. When you click
this icon, the nView Desktop Manager properties panel (shown in Figure 1.2)
appears.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Note: The nView Desktop Manager properties panel in earlier revisions of the
this document was called the nView Desktop Manager control panel.
desktop
A “desktop” is the on-screen work area on which windows, icons, menus, and
dialog boxes appear. You can create multiple desktops on single-display
systems or multi-display systems, thereby increasing your work area.
dialog box
Dialog boxes are user-input windows that contain command (buttons) and
various kinds of options through which you can carry out a particular command
or task. For example, in a Windows application “Save As” dialog box, you must
indicate the folder to contain the document to be saved and the name of that
document when saving it.
Also see the definition of “modal dialog box” and “modeless dialog box” on this
page.
dual-card configuration
A setup where two or more display devices are connected to two NVIDIA GPUbased graphics cards installed in the computer.
GPU
graphics processing unit (GPU). NVIDIA graphics chip products are called
GPUs. Supported NVIDIA GPUs are listed in “Supported NVIDIA GPUs” on
page 33.
keystoning (NVKeystone)
Keystoning describes the distortion that occurs when your display is projected
onto a curved surface or is projected at an oblique angle to a surface.
For example, if a projector were used to project an image on a flat wall, the
projector would ideally be set up to point straight at the wall. If you then angled
the projector right or left, you would see the image on the wall distort.
As a second example, if you projected your image onto a curved wall instead of
a flat wall, you would also see your image distorted. This type of distortion is
called “keystoning.”
The nView Desktop Manager feature called NVKeystone that can compensate
for this effect. For details on using this feature, see “Using Tools Options” on
page 164.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
modal dialog box
A dialog box that puts you in the state or “mode” of being able to work only in
the dialog box. You cannot make a modal dialog box inactive. It can only be
closed by clicking one of its buttons.
modeless dialog box
A dialog box that resembles a document window without a collapse box. You
can make a modeless dialog box inactive and active again without closing it.
multiple-card configuration
A setup where two or more display devices are connected to two (or more)
NVIDIA GPU-based graphics cards in the computer.
multi-display configuration
A setup where two or more display devices are connected to either a multidisplay NVIDIA GPU-based graphics card in the computer; or two (or more)
NVIDIA GPU-based graphics cards in the computer.
parent window
A “parent” window refers to the “main” default launch window that you see
when an application opens. For example, in the Microsoft Outlook application,
the main window is your “Inbox”, since that’s the first window that launches
when you open Outlook.
properties panel
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager is a clickable icon in the Windows Control
Panel group of icons. When you click this icon, the nView Desktop Manager
properties panel (shown in Figure 1.2) appears.
Note: The nView Desktop Manager properties panel in earlier revisions of the
this document was called the nView Desktop Manager control panel.
single-display configuration
A setup where only one display device is connected to the NVIDIA GPU-based
graphics card in your computer.
skin
A file that customizes the “look and feel” of the Windows graphical user
interface.
10 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
tab
Individual Desktop Manager “tabs” (i.e., Profiles, Effects, Windows, Hot Keys,
and Desktops) are available from the nView Desktop Manager properties panel.
window
A “window” is any independent window on your desktop. Applications such as
Outlook or Explorer may have several windows, which are all part of the same
application. Windows can be dragged around the screen, opened and closed, and
resized. Desktop Manager allows you to do even more with windows such as
make them transparent or force them always to be on top of other windows.
window class
(For advanced users only.)
Every type of window shown on your desktop has what is called a “window
class” that describes the type of window it is. These window classes are shared
between different applications. Normally, this window class information is
hidden from users as there is no need to know it. nView Desktop Manager,
however, allows you to perform operations on window classes as well as
applications. This allows nView Desktop Manager to be set up to treat certain
types or classes of windows differently. Because window classes are shared
between applications, by individually configuring a particular window class,
you can modify behavior for all applications that use windows of that class.
For example, all dialog boxes have a window class of #32770. nView Desktop
Manager can be set up to disable transparency for all #32770 class windows.
The effect of this would be that no dialog boxes from any application would
ever be transparent.
For details on using this feature, see “Managing Applications: For Advanced
Users” on page 170.
Features and Benefits
The Desktop Manager application engine consists of several features that
manage windows, desktops, displays, applications, hot keys, and window
effects. This section provides an overview of the key functions in terms of these
features.
For details on these features and how to use them, refer to individual chapters in
this guide.
Note: A few features may be restricted to users with System Administrator
access privileges under Windows XP/2000 and Windows NT 4 and will
be noted as such, where applicable in this guide.
NVIDIA Corporation 11
Chapter 1 Introduction
Desktop Management Panel
When you first launch nView Desktop Manager, the Desktop Management
panel appears. It provides the following information and features:
• nView Desktop Manager file name, description, and version information
• Lets you toggle between enabling and disabling nView Desktop Manager
• Gives you quick access to the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
• Gives you quick access to the Windows Display Properties Settings panel
Windows Management
The windows management features are available on the Windows panel of
nView Desktop Manager properties.
Multi-display features allow you to:
• Configure your system to prevent windows from stretching across (spanning)
displays
• Configure where dialog boxes pop up on your desktop. You can have them
appear centered on the display device on which your cursor is displayed
• and much more...
For complete details on using Windows Management features, see “Managing
Windows” on page 77.
About the Desktops Panel
Using the Desktops panel of nView Desktop Manager properties, you can
• Create up to 32 different desktops, each with its own background. Use
multiple desktops to reduce the clutter on your desktop – you can group
similar applications on different desktops and quickly switch between them.
• Open and move applications between different desktops and switch between
desktops with a single keystroke
• Configure multiple-desktop options including,
• Set per desktop resolutions
• Show the desktop name while switching desktops
• Show your desktops, including a graphical birds-eye view of each desktop
within Windows Explorer
• and more. . .
12 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
• Manage your desktop in several ways to suite your style. You can access and,
therefore, switch between desktops using various methods, including:
• Use hot keys
• Right click on any desktop
• Your folder tree in Windows Explorer
• Options from an NVIDIA Settings icon on your Windows taskbar
• A desktop toolbar (enabled from the User Interface panel) that can be
floating or docked to your Windows taskbar
• nView task switcher (enabled from the User Interface panel)
For complete details on using Desktops Management features, see “Managing
Desktops” on page 82.
Application Management
The application management functionality of nView Desktop Manager is
available from the Applications panel. You can use the options on the
Applications panel to do the following tasks:
• Perform operations on entire applications, such as moving an entire
application to a desktop or to a monitor.
• Set up your Window Manager to function differently for different
applications. For example, you may never want a Word window to span
multiple displays; however, you may want a spreadsheet, such as Excel
windows, to span multiple displays so you can see all the columns.
• Save all your customized Desktop Manager settings for an application when
you close it and restore them when you reopen the application.
For example, if you enable the Individual Settings feature, the application
manager can remember if you closed the Microsoft Word application on your
second desktop and whether or not the Word window was transparent when
you closed it. When you re-open Word, it automatically opens on your
second desktop and have transparency enabled.
Using this feature, you can also specify that Word always launches on a
specific desktop with a specific state (such as Transparent or Always on
top).
• Extend certain applications. While every window under Desktop Manager
has an extended menu giving options such as transparency or desktop
visibility, certain applications such as Internet Explorer 5.0 have additional
nView menu options allowing you to be more productive with the
application.
NVIDIA Corporation 13
Chapter 1 Introduction
About the Profiles Panel
You can quickly set up the Desktop Manager using the Profiles panel on nView
Desktop Manager properties.
Desktop Manager lets you save a snapshot of all desktop management settings
to the disk, including all individual application, NVKeystone, and other
settings to a data file called a “profile”. In addition, profiles can save and
restore display mode, system power profile, and Windows taskbar location.
Display mode information includes the number and position of enabled display
device, each display device’s refresh rate, resolution, color depth, etc. For
details, see Types of Data Saved and Restored by a Profile below.
Note: Beginning with the current NVIDIA Release 50 driver, profiles can also
save and load the open application states under NVIDIA Quadroseries GPUs only.
You can then reload your profile on any computer at any point in the future. If
you switch computers, upgrade your operating system, or are configuring an
office, you can simply save all your settings to a profile and then load those
settings on any computer that you want.
Note: If you are using an NVIDIA Quadro-based graphics card, the nView
Desktop Manager installation comes with several pre-defined profiles to
get you started quickly. These profiles contain the basic settings for
different user levels and industries. You can start with one of these predefined profiles and tailor it to your own needs.
Types of Data Saved and Restored by a Profile
Specific types of NVIDIA display driver and display mode settings that can be
saved in a profile are:
• NVIDIA Display Driver Settings
• Desktop colors
• Performance and quality settings, including OpenGL and Direct3D
• Overlap and edge blending settings (applies to Quadro FX series of GPUs)
• Overlay and full screen video settings
• Desktop Management Settings include:
• Open application state
• Desktop Management
• Display mode information
• Taskbar position
14 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
• Computer power state
Saving Profiles for Different Operating Modes
If you use a notebook (laptop) computer, you may want Desktop Manager to be
set up differently when you are docked than when you are not docked. Using
profiles, you can create a docked and undocked profile and switch between
them. You can even set up a hot key to load a profile so you can switch with a
single keystroke.
Profiles management features are discussed in “Working With Profiles” on
page 68
About the User Interface Panel
The nView Desktop Manager User Interface options let you customize the user
interface that is used on your desktop. Using the User Interface features, you
can do the following:
• Control nView Desktop Manager access and notification messages
• Switch between desktops
• Dock profiles, actions, and desktops on an nView toolbar
• Define gridlines on each of your monitors, which divides your display area o
function as sub-monitors for easily performing tasks involving dialog box
repositioning, window spanning and window maximize operations, etc.
• Add application title bar buttons that give you quick and easy access to
nView features and also provide feedback about the application state.
For example, the application title bar “maximize” button maximizes an
application window to full desktop in Dualview, Clone, and Single-Display
mode or a single display screen in nView Horizontal or Vertical Span mode.
• The nView options menu on each application window let you access nView
options (features), which can also be customized for individual applications.
The User Interface features are discussed in “Using the User Interface Options”
on page 102.
About the Tools Panel
For details on using the Tools features, see “Using Tools Options” on page 164.
The nView Desktop Manager toolbox includes several utilities designed to
solve specific user problems. You can use tools, such as “NVKeystone” and
“flat panel calibration” to improve your display quality. Utilities include anti-
NVIDIA Corporation 15
Chapter 1 Introduction
keystoning support and flat panel monitor calibration screens are designed to
improve windows multi-display features.
The Tools panel contains the following key features:
• NVKeystone can be set to compensate for keystoning effects on your
windows display, allowing you to fix distorted projection images. This
feature is primarily for laptop (mobile) computers.
• Analog flat panel calibration displays a screen on your display optimized
for your flat panel’s auto-calibrate feature allowing for improved image
quality during the “auto-sync” process.
• Automatically align displays will snap multiple displays into alignment if
they are slightly misaligned. This also fixes certain Windows issues where
Windows can sometimes leave small gaps between displays.
About the Zoom Panel
The Zoom panel shows you a user-definable zoom area of your desktop. Basic
Zoom styles include
• Cursor – window shows area around cursor.
• Magnifying Glass – you can drag the zoom window around to zoom the
area of the desktop on which you place the zoom window.
• Fixed Frame – lets you define a fixed zoom source for the window.
Other zoom features include:
• Using the mouse wheel to dynamically change zoom levels
• Using the auto-move feature to keep the zoom window out of your way.
• Using bi-directional zoom editing to edit through your zoom window.
• Inverting colors of the zoomed image for better visibility.
• For additional details,
About the Hot Keys and Effects Panels
The Effects and Hot Key panel options offer additional enhancements,
including:
• Faster opening and closing of windows
• Making windows transparent when dragged and making the taskbar
transparent
16 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Note: The transparency level is a global level affecting all applications. Note
that this value is one which can be individualized for an application
• A “zoom” tool that lets you see a zoomed view of the area around the cursor.
You can even use the zoom tool like a magnifying glass and drop it on top of
what you want to magnify on the desktop
• A full set of hot keys. Virtually every action from toggling a window to be
transparent to jumping to a different desktop can be assigned to a hot key.
• For NVIDIA Quadro-based cards, the color keying feature allows you to
color windows with different borders, which is most useful with individual
application settings and hot keys
For details on using the above features, see the following chapters, as
appropriate:
• “Using Zoom Options” on page 134
• “Using Effects” on page 127
• “Using Hot Keys” on page 148.
About the Mouse Panel
The Mouse panel of the nView Desktop Manager properties lets you configure
a variety of mouse-related actions for easier navigation.
A few key features are described here:
•The throw window action allows you the “throw” a window to a screen
edge using your mouse.
• Throw Sensitivity can be adjusted using a slider
•The Jump dead screen areas option will cause the mouse to jump dead
areas in non-rectangular multi-display configurations as long as you are
moving your mouse at a reasonable speed.
• Toggle window Z-order with middle mouse button option does the same
as the hot key only with the mouse and to the window that contains the
cursor.
• Auto-activate windows under cursor – does just that
• Kinematics and gestures features allow you to
• Assign mouse movements to trigger different actions (same actions as hot
keys)
• Adjust the gestures with a Gesture Sensitivity slider
• Use a key press to control these actions
NVIDIA Corporation 17
Chapter 1 Introduction
Setup Wizard and Online Help
•A Setup Wizard helps you get started with Desktop Manager.
• On-line Help displays context-sensitive help when using Desktop Manager
configuration options.
Application Compatibility
While the vast majority of applications are compatible with desktop and
windows management, there are some applications that are not. If Desktop
Manager detects these types of applications, it will not attempt to manage them.
Depending upon the level of compatibility of the application, Desktop Manager
may offer varying levels of functionality.
Functionality that may be disabled for these applications includes support for
Transparency and Individual Settings features, window position management,
nView Desktop Manger menu options, and/or multiple desktop support.
If an application window supports the nView Options Menu, but does not
support certain Desktop Manager functions, a menu item called About this
app... is added to the application’s nView option menu. In this case, you can
click on this menu item to display information about the features that have been
disabled for the application.
If you have any nView title bar buttons enabled, then an nView application
status indicator appears to the left of the nView buttons. If the application does
not support certain nView functions, this indicator will be red; otherwise it will
be black. If the indicator is red, you can click it to display information about the
features that have been disabled for this application. For further details, see
“Using the User Interface Options” on page 102.
Examples of Incompatible Applications
Examples of application windows that do not support certain Desktop Manager
features include:
• Command prompt (DOS window) under all operating systems. (All
desktop management features are disabled.)
• Solitaire and Freecell under Windows Me. (All window management
features are disabled.)
• Microsoft PowerPoint. (The transparency feature is disabled.)
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Skinning Utilities: Known Issues
If you use skins, Desktop Manager has been tested with several commonly
available “skinning” utilities with no known compatibility issues other than
those listed below.
Some skins do not expose the application window’s system menu on its window
frame (title bar). As a result, the nView options menu can only be accessed from
either a title bar button (see “Show Button for nView Options” on page 114) or
a hot key but not from the application window’s system menu.
However, you can still access the nView options menu by right clicking the
application on the taskbar. For details on the methods available for accessing an
application’s system menu, see “Add nView Options to System Menus” on
page 119.
Notes on Feature and Configuration Support
• “Feature Support” on page 19
• “Multi-Display Setup: Tips and Requirements” on page 20
Feature Support
• To access NVIDIA nView-based features using the nView Desktop Manager
driver, you need
• a multi-display graphics card based on any of the NVIDIA GPUs that
support multiple displays on a single graphics card, as indicated in Table
3.5, and
• at least two display devices connected to the card.
• Other non-nView features are supported by either single-display or multidisplay NVIDIA GPU-based cards; i.e., you can connect only one display
device, such as a monitor, and access these features, provided the NVIDIA
GPU supports these features.
• The options shown in the NVIDIA properties panels may vary depending on
the specific NVIDIA GPU you are using. For example, one or more options
that are available for a specific GPU-based card, such as a GeForce4 Ti or
GeForce4 MX, may not be available on a GeForce2 Pro or other types of
products.
NVIDIA Corporation 19
Chapter 1 Introduction
Multi-Display Setup: Tips and Requirements
• When using a multi-display setup under Windows 2000/XP, running
Windows in “Dualview” mode is strongly recommended.
• When running Windows with multiple cards (i.e., two or more NVIDIA
GPU-based graphics card are installed in your computer), note the following:
• Using cards based on the same NVIDIA GPU is strongly recommended.
• The same NVIDIA driver (version) must be installed for each card.
Note: For details on using multi-display modes, see the ForceWare Release 50
Graphics Drivers User’s Guide.
Multi-Display Configuration: Tips and Requirements
• When running Windows XP or Windows 2000 with more than two active
displays, using “Dualview” mode is strongly recommended.
• When running Windows with multiple cards (i.e., two or more NVIDIA
GPU-based graphics card are installed in your computer), note the following:
• Using cards based on the same NVDIA GPU is strongly recommended.
• The same NVIDIA driver (version) must be installed for each card.
Note: For details on using multi-display modes, see the ForceWare Release 50
Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support
Table 1.1 lists details of supported operating system modes and Desktop
Manager features for Windows 2000, XP, and 9x.
Table 1.1
Supported Modes and
Features
Is there nView Dualview
support (default) for up to nine
(9) display devices?
Is nView Clone mode
supported?
Are nView Span (Horizontal/
Vertical) modes supported?
Note: In Span mode, a
maximum of two (2) display
devices are supported.
Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support
Graphics Drivers User’s Guide.
Windows XP
Windows 2000 Windows NT 4.0 Windows 9x
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yes
Yes Yes
NA
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Table 1.1
Supported Modes and
Features
Does switching between
nView Span/Clone mode and
nView Dualview mode require
restarting your computer?
Are all nView Desktop
Manager features supported?
Hardware Acceleration?
• DirectX operations are
accelerated if window is
constrained to a single
monitor otherwise
operation is redirected to
the software.
• OpenGL support
Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support (continued)
Windows XP
No
Yes
Yes
Examples in this Guide
• For example purposes, most of the NVIDIA panels shown in this guide
feature the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra GPU-based graphics card. You
may be using a different NVIDIA GPU-based graphics card, in which case
you will see the exact name of the GPU you are using reflected in the
NVIDIA GPU tab.
Windows 2000 Windows NT 4.0 Windows 9x
Yes Yes
Yes Yes, except
transparency, mouse,
application bar,
gridlines, and
NVKeystone features
Yes DirectX: Yes
OpenGL: Acceleration
is disabled in Multiview
mode.
NA
Yes, except
transparency,
gridlines, and
mouse features.
Yes
Note: As noted earlier, in the current Release 50 NVIDIA display driver, the
nView Desktop Manager control panel can be opened as a standalone
user interface and the exact options can be accessed from the NVIDIA
display properties menu.
• The example Desktop Manager panels in this guide will show the tabbed
version of the control panel instead of the NVIDIA menu version. See Figure
1.2, “nView Desktop Manager Properties: Tabbed Control Panel vs. Menu
Style” on page 5.
• The Windows XP panels shown in this document apply also to Windows
2000 functionality, unless noted otherwise.
• The Windows Me panels shown in this document also apply also to Windows
98/95 functionality, unless noted otherwise.
NVIDIA Corporation 21
Chapter 2 Installing and Uninstalling NVIDIA Display Driver Software
C HAPTER
I
NSTALLING AND
U
NINSTALLING
NVIDIA D
This chapter contains the following major sections:
• “Before You Begin” on page 22
• “About the NVIDIA Display Driver Installation” on page 23
• “Uninstalling the NVIDIA Display Driver Software” on page 24
• “Using the NVIDIA Display Driver Menu” on page 25
Before You Begin
In order to access the NVIDIA Display Properties tabs, the latest version of the
NVIDIA Display Drivers software for your Windows operating system must be
installed on your computer.
• If you do not have System Administrator access privileges, it is assumed that
the appropriate person with System Administrator access in your
organization will set up and install the NVIDIA Display Driver software on
your computer.
• This chapter discusses the installation process but does not provide step-bystep instructions on how to perform an actual installation.
ISPLAY
D
RIVER
S
OFTWARE
• For details on configuring and using the nView Desktop Manager application
component of the NVIDIA Display Driver, see the NVIDIA nView Desktop
Manager 2.0 User’s Guide.
22 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
About the NVIDIA Display Driver Installation
The nView Desktop Manager feature is part of your NVIDIA Display Driver
Installation files and, therefore, is automatically installed when the NVIDIA
Display Driver software is installed.
NVIDIA Driver Installation provides both an
method and an InstallShield Wizard-based installation method.
.inf
file-based installation
File Locations
• The installation process copies all necessary files for operation into the
appropriate directories.
• The nView system files are copied to your
• Predefined nView Desktop Manager (
Windows\nView
Note: Under Windows 2000/XP, new profiles that you create are saved in the
Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\
nView_Profiles
• As part of the installation process, an uninstall is registered in your system.
• Under Windows Me and Windows XP, the NVIDIA driver is installed in
“Dualview” display mode. However, note that the second display is not
activated (turned on) by default. You need to enable it. For details on
enabling Dualview mode, see the ForceWare Release 50 Graphics Drivers
User’s Guide.
• Under Windows 2000, the NVIDIA display driver software is installed in
Span mode for all NVIDIA GPU-based graphics cards, except Quadro the
NVS series cards, which are installed in Dualview mode.
directory.
directory.
Windows\System
.tvp
) profile files are saved in the
directory.
Preserving Desktop Manager Settings Before Upgrading Your Software
You can preserve your Desktop Manager settings by using profiles when you
upgrade your software.
Follow the steps below and/or refer to the NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager 2.0
User’s Guide for details.
1 Before uninstalling or installing software, save your current nView Desktop
Manager settings to a new profile.
For example, name this profile “
NVIDIA Corporation 23
My Settings
”.
Chapter 2 Installing and Uninstalling NVIDIA Display Driver Software
2 Open the Profiles directory.
You should see your new profile
Settings.tvp
3 You can copy this file to a disk in your A: drive or to a different directory on
.
.tvp
file in this directory; for example,
your hard drive.
4 Uninstall the currently installed NVIDIA Display Driver software on your
system. See details in Uninstalling the NVIDIA Display Driver Software
below.
5 Install the new version of the NVIDIA Display Driver software.
6 Copy your profile
7 Start nView Desktop Manager and load your profile.
.tvp
file back into the Profiles directory.
When you load this profile, all your nView Desktop Manager settings,
including Individual Settings you may have set up for applications, are
restored.
Uninstalling the NVIDIA Display Driver Software
Note: It is highly recommended that you follow the steps in this section to
completely uninstall the NVIDIA Display Driver software before
installing a new version of the software.
To uninstall the NVIDIA Display Driver software, follow these steps:
My
1 From the Windows taskbar, click Start > Settings > Control Panel to open
the Control Panel windows.
2 Double click the Add/Remove Programs item.
3 Click the NVIDIA Windows Display Drivers item from the list.
4 Click Change/Remove.
5 Click Yes to continue.
A prompt appears asking whether you want to delete all of the saved nView
profiles.
• If you click Yes, all of the nView software and all of your saved profiles
will be deleted.
• If you click No, the nView software is removed, but the profile file are
saved in the
Windows\nView
directory on your hard disk.
Your system now restarts.
24 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Using the NVIDIA Display Driver Menu
Once your NVIDIA display driver software is installed, you can access the
NVIDIA display driver features that are available on the Media Center menu by
using the procedures that are explained and illustrated in this section.
1 From your Windows desktop, right click to display the desktop menu and
click Properties > Settings (tab) and then Advanced.
You will see the name of your NVIDIA GPU on a tab (Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1
NVIDIA GPU Tab
2
Click the NVIDIA GPU tab, which displays the name of the NVIDIA GPUbased graphics card that is installed on your computer.
The NVIDIA menu appears as shown in Figure 2.2.
3 To toggle between hiding and showing the menu, click the green button on
the NVIDIA menu.
(Figure 2.2 also shows the GPU panel with a hidden menu.)
4 Click the scroll bar (Figure 2.2) and drag it left or right to view the entire
contents of the longer menu names.
Note: You can right-click on the scroll bar to see tool tips (Figure 2.2).
NVIDIA Corporation 25
Chapter 2 Installing and Uninstalling NVIDIA Display Driver Software
Figure 2.2
Click this green button to
NVIDIA Display Properties Menu: Expanded with Scroll Bar and Hidden
hide the NVIDIA menu.
Right click on the
scroll bar to view
this tool tip for using
the scroll bar.
Click this green
button to display
the NVIDIA menu.
26 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
From the NVIDIA menu, you can access all the NVIDIA properties panels
where you can configure the following NVIDIA Display Driver features.
• nView Display Mode. This option does not appear if you have only one
display device attached. It appears only when you have more than one
display device attached.
• Performance and Quality Settings
• Direct3D Settings
• OpenGL Settings
• Overlay Controls
• Troubleshooting
• NVRotate
• Full Screen Video
• NVRotate
• Temperature Settings. This option is available only with the GeForce FX
GPU and only if the feature is enabled on GPUs that are older than the
GeForce FX)
• Screen Menus
• Desktop Manager. For details on using the Desktop Manager features, see
the nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide for the Release 50 driver.
To view any of the properties panels, simply click the choice on the menu.
Figure 2.3 shows a sample nView Display Modes panel for Windows 2000/XP
and Figure 2.4 shows one for Windows Me/9x.
NVIDIA Settings Utility
The NVIDIA Settings is a new application that can be used in place of the
NVIDIA display properties menu described earlier.
You can access NVIDIA Settings by clicking the NVIDIA Settings icon, which
you can optionally add to the Windows taskbar.
This taskbar utility menu items that provide access to the same display settings
that the regular NVIDIA menu contains, in additional to direct access to certain
application-specific options such as those for nView Desktop Manager,
OpenGL and Direct3D customized settings, and others.
For details on enabling the NVIDIA Settings icon, see “Using the NVIDIA
Settings icon” on page 65.
NVIDIA Corporation 27
Chapter 2 Installing and Uninstalling NVIDIA Display Driver Software
Figure 2.3
Figure 2.4
NVIDIA Display Properties: NVIDIA Menu (Windows XP/2000)
NVIDIA Display Properties: NVIDIA Menu (Windows 9x)
28 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
NVIDIA Corporation 29
Chapter 3 System Requirements
C HAPTER
S
YSTEM
This chapter contains the following topics:
• “Operating Systems” on page 30
• “Minimum Hard Disk Space” on page 31
• “Software: NVIDIA Display Driver” on page 32
R
EQUIREMENTS
• “Optional Software: Internet Explorer” on page 32
• “Optional: System Administrator Access Privileges” on page 32
• “Hardware: Supported NVIDIA Products” on page 33
• “Supported Languages” on page 35
Operating Systems
This release of the nView Desktop Manager driver is designed for the
Microsoft
Table 3.1
Operating System Minimum Requirements
Windows XP Home
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Media Center
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004
Windows Server 2003 x64
Windows XP AMD64
Windows 2000
Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6
operating systems listed in Table 3.1:
Operating System Requirements
30 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Table 3.1
Operating System Requirements (continued)
Operating System Minimum Requirements
Windows Me
Windows 98 Microsoft DirectX™ 5
Note: Windows 98 and Me are collectively called Windows 9x in this guide.
Minimum Hard Disk Space
The minimum hard disk space requirements for each operating system are listed
in Table 3.2, Table 3.3, and Table 3.4.
Table 3.2
Operating System Minimum Disk Space Required
Windows XP 19.2 MB
Windows 2000 19.2 MB
Windows NT 15.2 MB
Windows Me 19.3 MB
Windows 98 19.3 MB
Windows 95 19.3 MB
Hard Disk Space Requirements — English
Table 3.3
Hard Disk Space Requirements — Non-English Languages
Operating System Minimum Requirements
Windows XP 24.9 MB
Windows 2000 24.9 MB
Windows NT 24.8 MB
Windows Me 24.8 MB
Windows 98 24.8 MB
Windows 95 24.8 MB
Table 3.4
Hard Disk Space Requirements — Full International Package
Operating System Minimum Requirements
Windows XP 44.1 MB
Windows 2000 44.1 MB
Windows NT 40.0 MB
Windows Me 44.1 MB
Windows 98 44.1 MB
Windows 95 44.1 MB
NVIDIA Corporation 31
Chapter 3 System Requirements
Software: NVIDIA Display Driver
Make sure the current version of the NVIDIA Display Driver software for your
Windows operating system has been installed on your computer.
Consult your System Administrator if you are unsure about the version that is
installed.
For further information on driver installation, see “Installing and Uninstalling
NVIDIA Display Driver Software” on page 22.
Optional Software: Internet Explorer
You must have installed Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later version in
order to access the “Desktop Explorer” feature as well as specific nView Menu
Options that are available for Internet Explorer. See “Internet Explorer Options”
on page 179.
Optional: System Administrator Access Privileges
You can use nView Desktop Manager with or without System Administrator
access privileges.
Note: However, certain Profiles features require System Administrator
privileges under Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000/XP.
32 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Hardware: Supported NVIDIA Products
Table 3.5 lists the NVIDIA products supported by the NVIDIA Display Driver
software and the number of displays the GPU-based card supports.
Note: Some Desktop Manager features support only certain NVIDIA GPUs,
which are noted in this table and where applicable in this guide.
Note: The Desktop Manager “transparency” feature works best with NVIDIA
GPUs that have higher performance than GeForce2 GTS.
Table 3.5
Supported NVIDIA GPUs
Number of Displays
NVIDIA Workstation
NVIDIA Desktop Products
nForce™2 S
nForce2 ST
nForce2 G
nForce2
420/420D
nForce
nForce 220/220D
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 2 — applies to all GPUs
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
GeForce FX 5700
GeForce FX Go5700
GeForce FX Go5750
GeForce FX 5900
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
GeForce FX 5950
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
GeForce FX 5200
GeForce FX Go5100
GeForce FX Go5200
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
GeForce FX 5600
GeForce FX 5600 SE
GeForce FX Go5600
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra
GeForce FX 5800
GeForce4 Ti 4800
GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE
GeForce4 Ti 4200
GeForce4 4200Go
Products
Quadro FX 1100 2 — applies to all GPUs
Quadro FX 3000 2 — applies to all GPUs
Quadro FX 500
Quadro NVS 280 PCI
Quadro FX Go700 2 — applies to all GPUs
Quadro FX 2000
Quadro FX 1000
Quadro4 980 XGL
Quadro4 780 XGL
Quadro4 Go700
Supported Per
Card
2— applies to all GPUs
in this category.
1— applies to all GPUs
in this category.
in this category.
in this category.
in this category.
2 — applies to all GPUs
in this category.
in this category.
2 — applies to all GPUs
in this category.
2 — applies to all GPUs
in this category.
NVIDIA Corporation 33
Chapter 3 System Requirements
Table 3.5
Supported NVIDIA GPUs (continued)
Number of Displays
NVIDIA Workstation
NVIDIA Desktop Products
GeForce4 Ti 4600
GeForce4 Ti 4400
GeForce4 Ti 4200
GeForce4 440 Go
GeForce4 420 Go
GeForce4 410 Go
GeForce3
GeForce3 Ti 500
GeForce3 Ti 200
GeForce4 MX 440
GeForce4 MX 440 SE
GeForce4 MX 420 x
GeForce4 MX 460
GeForce4 MX 440
GeForce4 MX 440-SE
GeForce4 MX 420
GeForce2 Ti
GeForce2 Ultra
GeForce2 Pro
GeForce2 GTS
GeForce2 MX
GeForce2 MX400
GeForce2 MX200
GeForce2 MX100
GeForce2 Go
GeForce 256 Quadro 1 — applies to all GPUs
NVIDIA RIVA TNT2™ Ultra
NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Pro
NVIDIA RIVA TNT2
NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64
NVIDIA Vanta™
NVIDIA Vanta LT
NVIDIA RIVA TNT™
Products
Quadro4 900 XGL
Quadro4 750 XGL
Quadro4 700 XGL
Quadro DCC 1 — applies to all GPUs
Quadro4 580 XGL
Quadro NVS 280
Quadro4 380 XGL
Quadro4 550 XGL
Quadro NVS 200
Quadro NVS 400 4 — applies to all GPUs
Quadro2 Pro 1 — applies to all GPUs
Quadro2 MXR
Quadro2 EX
Quadro2 Go
--- 1 — applies to all GPUs
---
Supported Per
Card
2 — applies to all GPUs
in this category.
in this category.
2 — applies to all GPUs
in this category.
2 — applies to all GPUs
in this category.
in this category.
in this category.
2 — applies to all GPUs
in this category
in this category.
in this category.
1 — applies to all GPUs
in this category.
34 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Supported Languages
The following languages are supported in the NVIDIA panels that are
accessible from the Windows Display Properties > Settings > Advanced
option.
English (USA) German Portuguese (Brazil)
English (UK) Greek Portuguese (Euro/Iberian)
Arabic Hebrew Russian
Chinese (Simplified) Hungarian Slovak
Chinese (Traditional) Italian Slovenian
Czech Japanese Spanish
Danish Korean Spanish (Latin America)
Dutch Norwegian Swedish
Finnish Polish Thai
French Turkish
NVIDIA Corporation 35
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
C HAPTER
U
SING THE
This chapter contains the following major sections:
• “About the Setup Wizard” on page 36
• “About Using the Setup Wizard” on page 40
D
ESKTOP
S
M
ETUP
W
ANAGER
IZARD
• “Auto-Launch Wizard Pages After First-Time Installation” on page 41
• “Desktop Management Wizard Pages” on page 50
• “Desktop Management Wizard Pages for NVIDIA Quadro GPU-based
Graphics Cards” on page 55
About the Setup Wizard
The nView Desktop Manager Setup Wizard is a series of dialog boxes that
guides you in setting the most common global settings for window, desktop, and
application management.
Each Wizard page (window) contains descriptive text for a specific option and,
in some cases, an illustration that shows the effect of the option; for example,
window repositioning or spanning. You can also chose to skip major option
groups.
There are two nView Desktop Manager Wizards.
36 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Multi-Display Auto-Launch Wizard: Multi-Display vs. Single-Display Setup
The Multi-Display Setup Wizard automatically launches after a first-time
NVIDIA driver installation when there are at least two display devices attached.
After this initial wizard launch, you cannot access this particular wizard until
you uninstall the NVIDIA driver and then reinstall.
If you are setup with a multi-display configuration (i.e., you have more than one
display device connected), the first time you start Windows on your computer
after installing the NVIDIA Windows Display Driver software, the Wizard
starts automatically. On subsequent Windows sessions, you can start the
Wizard from the Wizard option on the nView Desktop Manager properties
Desktop Management panel.
Note: If you are setup with only a single display device, the first time you start
Windows on your computer after the installation of the NVIDIA
Windows Display Driver software, the Wizard does not start
automatically. You can start the Wizard option from the Desktop
Management panel on the nView Desktop Manager control panel, as
shown in Figure 4.3.
Manually Starting the Wizard Using the Wizard Option
If you want to use the nView Desktop Manager Wizard after the Multi-Display
Setup Wizard has gone through the auto-launch process, you have to invoke the
nView Desktop Manager Wizard using the Wizard option from the Desktop
Management panel on the nView Desktop Manager control panel, as shown in
Figure 4.3.
This sections contains the following topics:
• “Enabling nView Desktop Manager From the Windows Control Panel” on
page 38
• “Starting the Wizard from the nView Desktop Manager Desktop
Management Panel” on page 40
NVIDIA Corporation 37
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Enabling nView Desktop Manager From the Windows Control Panel
Note: If you haven’t yet enabled nView Desktop Manager (i.e., when you right
click on your Windows desktop, you do not see nView Properties as a
menu option),follow these steps; otherwise, go directly to “Starting the
Wizard from the nView Desktop Manager Desktop Management Panel”
on page 40.
1 From your Windows desktop, click Start > Settings > Control Panel.
2 Locate the NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager icon and double-click it to
display the Desktop Management panel (Figure 4.2).
3 To enable Desktop Manager, click the Enable nView Desktop Manager
check box and click Apply. Figure 4.3 shows the Desktop Manager Desktop
Management panel after Desktop Manager is enabled.
4 From your Windows desktop, right click to display the properties menu,
which will now contain the nView Properties option (shown earlier in
Figure 5.1).
Figure 4.1
nView Desktop Manager Enabled: nView Properties Appear on Desktop
Menu
5
Once you have loaded Desktop Manager, to unload it, uncheck the Enable
nView Desktop Manager check box on the Desktop Manager Desktop
Management tab (shown in Figure 4.2 and Figure 4.3) and click Apply.
38 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 4.2
Figure 4.3
Default Desktop Managment Panels: Tabbed and Menu Views
Desktop Managment Panels After Enabling Desktop Manager
NVIDIA Corporation 39
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Starting the Wizard from the nView Desktop Manager Desktop Management Panel
Note: If nView Desktop Manager is already enabled, follow these steps;
otherwise, see “Enabling nView Desktop Manager From the Windows
Control Panel” on page 38.
1 Right click from your Windows desktop and click nView Properties.
2 From the Desktop Management tab that appears (Figure 4.3), click Wizard.
About Using the Setup Wizard
The figures in this section show a few examples of the step-by-step Wizard
pages you will see when running the Desktop Manager Wizard.
Use the following guidelines when using the Wizard:
• Use the Back and Next options to navigate through the windows.
• Carefully read the content of each Wizard page, which serves as a quick
overview of key Desktop Manager features and lets you enable/disable
certain key features by clicking an option.
• If you enable a feature, note that you can change this setting later through the
Desktop Manager control panel tabs or menu options,
• If you do not want to enable one or more features in a given window, click
Next to go to the next window.
Notes Before You Begin
There may be some variation in the number and type of Wizard windows that
appear, depending on your configuration; i.e., whether you are running
Windows Me/9x (limited Desktop Manager features), multiple displays or
single-display connected, and so on.
• For example, if your system only has one display device connected and no
gridlines defined, Window Management Wizard pages (e.g, Figure 4.24
through Figure 4.26) will not appear.
• Also note that because transparency is not a supported feature under
Windows 9x or Windows NT 4.0, the Wizard page containing this option
(Figure 4.28) will not be available under those operating systems.
40 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Auto-Launch Wizard Pages After First-Time Installation
The auto-launch Wizard pages in this section are automatically launched when
you start up your Windows desktop after a first-time installation of the NVIDIA
display driver software. Use these wizard pages to
• Set up multiple-displays
• Enable and launch the nView Desktop Manager control panel
Note: Based on your display device configuration and the options you choose
on a Wizard page, the Wizard pages you will see may differ from the
examples given in this section.
Figure 4.4
Auto-Launch Wizard Welcome Page
NVIDIA Corporation 41
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Figure 4.5
Figure 4.6
Auto-Launch Wizard Setup Option: “Typical Setup” Selected
Auto-Launch Wizard Setup Option: Display Settings for Typical Setup
42 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 4.7
Figure 4.8
Auto-Launch Wizard Setup Options Page: “Custom Setup” Selected
Auto-Launch Wizard: Multi-Display Mode Page: Dualview Mode Selected
NVIDIA Corporation 43
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Figure 4.9
Figure 4.10
Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Dualview Mode ( 2 CRT
Example)
Auto-Launch Wizard: Multi-Display Mode Page: Span Mode Selected
44 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 4.11
Figure 4.12
Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 1)
Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 2)
NVIDIA Corporation 45
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Figure 4.13
Figure 4.14
Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 3)
Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 4)
46 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 4.15
Figure 4.16
Auto-Launch Wizard Multi-Display Mode Page: Clone Mode Selected
Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Clone Mode (2 CRT
Example)
NVIDIA Corporation 47
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Figure 4.17
Figure 4.18
Auto-Launch Wizard Page: NOT Enabling Desktop Manager
Auto-Launch Wizard Completion Without Enabling nView Desktop
Manager
48 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 4.19
Figure 4.20
Auto-Launch Wizard: Enabling nView Desktop Manager l
Auto-Launch Wizard Completion Without Enabling nView Desktop
Manager
NVIDIA Corporation 49
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Figure 4.21
nView Desktop Manager Control Panel Launched
Desktop Management Wizard Pages
The Wizard pages in this section are available when you click the Wizard
option from the Desktop Management panel of the nView Desktop Manager
control panel, as sown in Figure 4.2 and Figure 4.3.
Note: Based on your display device configuration and the options you choose
on a Wizard page, the Wizard pages you will see may differ from the
examples given in this section.
50 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 4.22
Figure 4.23
Desktop Management Wizard: Welcome Page
Desktop Management Wizard: Profiles Page
NVIDIA Corporation 51
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Figure 4.24
Figure 4.25
Desktop Management Wizard: Window Management Page (1)
Desktop Management Wizard: Window Management Page (2)
52 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 4.26
Figure 4.27
Desktop Management Wizard: Window Management Page (3)
Desktop Management Wizard: Enabling nView Desktop Manager Page (1)
NVIDIA Corporation 53
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Figure 4.28
Figure 4.29
Desktop Management Wizard: Window Transparency Page
Desktop Management Wizard: Completion Page
54 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Desktop Management Wizard Pages for NVIDIA Quadro GPU-based Graphics Cards
Note: The Wizard pages in this section are available only if you have an
NVIDIA Quadro GPU-based graphics card installed.
You can access these Wizard pages when you click the Wizard option from the
Desktop Management panel of the nView Desktop Manager control panel, as
sown in Figure 4.2 and Figure 4.3.
Figure 4.30
Desktop Management Wizard: Profiles Page for NVIDIA Quadro-based
GPUs (1)
NVIDIA Corporation 55
Chapter 4 Using the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
Figure 4.31
Wizard Window Management Page for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs (2)
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
C HAPTER
A
CCESSING AND
D
ESKTOP
This chapter contain the following major sections:
• “Overview of Procedure” on page 57:
• “Accessing and Enable nView Desktop Manager from the Windows
Control Panel” on page 60
M
ANAGER
E
NABLING THE NVIEW
C
ONTROL
P
ANEL
• “Enabling and Accessing Desktop Manager from the nView Display
Properties Menu” on page 61
• “Enabling Desktop Manager from the NVIDIA Settings Icon” on page 63
• “Accessing Windows Display Properties Settings” on page 66
• “Troubleshooting” on page 67
Overview of Procedure
You can access the nView Desktop Manager control panel using any of the
following methods:
• Double-click the NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager item from the Windows
control panel.
• After enabling nView Desktop Manager, right click on your Windows
desktop and choose Properties. Then click Settings (tab) > Advanced >
NVIDIA GPU tab > the Desktop Management menu option.
• After enabling nView Desktop Manager, right click on your Windows
desktop and choose nView Properties (Figure 5.1).
NVIDIA Corporation 57
Chapter 5 Accessing and Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel
Once you have installed the NVIDIA Driver software with the nView Desktop
Manager features, you can enable (load) and disable (unload) the Desktop
Manager control panel using a variety of methods, as discussed in this section:
1 After you enable Desktop Manager (following the instructions in this
chapter), you can right click to display the Windows desktop popup (rightclick) menu, which will now contain the nView Properties option, as shown
in Figure 5.1.
Figure 5.1
nView Desktop Manager Enabled: nView Properties Appear on Desktop
Menu
Figure 5.2
2
Click nView Properties to open the nView Desktop Manager properties
nView Desktop Manager Disabled: nView Properties Removed from
Desktop Menu
panel, which will open on the Desktop Management panel, as shown in
Figure 5.3 and Figure 5.4.
58 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 5.3
Figure 5.4
Desktop Management Panel After Enabling Desktop Manager
nView Desktop Manager Enabled on the nView Display Properties Menu
NVIDIA Corporation 59
Chapter 5 Accessing and Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel
Note: Several Desktop Manager functions such as performing operations on
multiple windows within an application require Desktop Manager to
be loaded before you start the application.
Note: In the current Release 50 NVIDIA display driver, the display
properties options and the Desktop Manager options have been
consolidated to one menu. Therefore, another way to access and enable
nView Desktop Manager is through the Windows Display Properties
Settings tab (as explained in a later section).
Accessing and Enable nView Desktop Manager from the Windows Control Panel
To access nView Desktop Manager settings from the Windows Control Panel,
follow these steps:
1 From your Windows desktop, click Start > Settings > Control Panel.
2 From the Name column, double-click NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager
(Figure 5.5) to display the nView Desktop Manager properties panel (Figure
5.6).
Figure 5.5
Windows Control Panel With NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager Program
Click the Enable nView Desktop Manager option to check the check box
3
and click Apply.
The feature tabs are now all enabled, as shown in Figure 5.6.
4 From your Windows desktop, right click to display the properties menu,
which will now contain the nView Properties option (Figure 5.1).
60 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
In the future, you can click nView Properties to open the nView Desktop
Manager window shown in Figure 5.6.
5 If you disable the Enable nView Desktop Manager check box that you
enabled in step 3, the nView Properties option is removed from your
Windows desktop menu, as shown in Figure 5.2.
Figure 5.6
Desktop Managment Panel: Before and After Desktop Manager is Enabled
Enabling and Accessing Desktop Manager from the nView Display Properties Menu
In the current Release 50 NVIDIA display driver, the display properties options
and the Desktop Manager options have been consolidated to one menu.
Therefore, another way to access and enable nView Desktop Manager is
through the Windows Display Properties Settings tab, as follows:
1 From your Windows desktop, right click to display the properties menu.
Then click Properties > Settings > Advanced > the NVIDIA GPU tab and
the Desktop Management option from the NVIDIA menu that appears
(Figure 5.7).
NVIDIA Corporation 61
Chapter 5 Accessing and Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel
Figure 5.7
Accessing Desktop Manager from the nView Display Properties Menu
Click the Enable nView Desktop Manager check box and click Apply.
2
Notice that the various Desktop Manager features that previously appeared as
tabs now appear as menu options (Figure 5.8).
The Windows desktop menu now also contain the nView Properties option
(Figure 5.1), from which you can access the tabbed-style nView Desktop
Manager properties (Figure 5.6).
If you disable the Enable nView Desktop Manager check box that you
enabled in step 2, the nView Properties option is removed from your
Windows desktop menu (Figure 5.2).
62 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 5.8
nView Desktop Manager Enabled on the nView Display Properties Menu
Enabling Desktop Manager from the NVIDIA Settings Icon
The NVIDIA Settings icon lets you enable and access Desktop Manager and
also easily access the nView Desktop Manager properties windows, including
the feature tabs. Using this icon, you can also access various nView display
properties options such, OpenGL, Direct3D, Color Correction, and NVRotate,
including the Windows Display Properties Settings panel.
Follow these steps to enable the NVIDIA Settings icon from the nView display
properties Troubleshooting panel.
1 Right-click from your desktop to display the properties menu and then click
Properties > Settings > Advanced > the NVIDIA GPU tab >
Troubleshooting option from the NVIDIA menu. Figure 5.9 shows the
Troubleshooting panel.
NVIDIA Corporation 63
Chapter 5 Accessing and Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel
Figure 5.9
Troubleshooting
1
Click the check box Display the NVIDIA Settings icon in the taskbar to
enable the options.
2 Click Apply. The icon is added to the Windows taskbar as shown in Figure
5.10.
Figure 5.10
Windows Taskbar
From the Windows taskbar, simply right click the NVIDIA Settings icon and
3
NVIDIA Settings Icon on the Windows Taskbar
NVIDIA Settings icon
then select the options you want from the menu that appears (Figure 5.11).
64 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Using the NVIDIA Settings icon
To use the NVIDIA Settings icon on the Windows taskbar (Figure 5.11) simply
right click the icon and then select the options you want from the menu that
appears. The Desktop Manager menu is shown in Figure 5.11.
1 To enable Desktop Manager, right click the NVIDIA Settings icon on the
Windows taskbar and click nView Desktop Manager > Enable nView
(Figure 5.11).
Figure 5.11
Click nView
Properties to
open the nView
Desktop Manager
properties panel
Click nView Desktops
to view desktops you
.
have created.
NVIDIA Settings icon: nView Desktop Manager Settings
Click nView Profiles
to view saved profiles.
2
Again, right click the NVIDIA Settings icon on the Windows taskbar and
click Desktop Manager to confirm that the Enable nView option is now
checked (Figure 5.11).
• You can open the nView Desktop Manager control panel by clicking
• You can view saved profiles by clicking the nView Profiles option
• You can view desktops you’ve created by clicking the nView Desktops
3 To disable Desktop Manager, right click the NVIDIA Settings icon on the
Windows taskbar and click Desktop Manager > Disable nView.
4 Again, right click the NVIDIA Settings icon on the Windows taskbar and
click Desktop Manager to confirm that the “Disable nView” option is now
checked.
nView Properties from this menu.
option.
NVIDIA Corporation 65
Chapter 5 Accessing and Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel
Accessing Windows Display Properties Settings
From the Desktop Management panel, click the Display Settings . . option
(Figure 5.12) to access the Windows Display Properties Settings panel.
Figure 5.12
Desktop Managment Panel: Accessing the Windows Display Properties
Settings Panel
Click Display Settings to
open the Windows Display
Properties Settings panel
66 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Troubleshooting
If you have trouble accessing the nView Desktop Manager properties panel,
verify that a current version of the NVIDIA Display Driver software is installed
on your system. You can follow these steps to verify this:
1 From your Windows desktop, right click to display the properties menu and
then select Properties > Settings tab to access the Display Properties
Settings panel.
The “Display” field shows the name of your NVIDIA-GPU based graphics
card; for example, “Monitor name on NVIDIA Quadro2 MXR/EX”.
2 Click Advanced and the NVIDIA GPU tab.
3 Verify that the “Driver Version Information” box lists the most recent
versions of the NVIDIA driver files. Scroll down to confirm that all files
have the same version number. If there’s any discrepancy, make sure you or
your system administrator uninstalls the NVIDIA driver software according
to the instructions in “Uninstalling the NVIDIA Display Driver Software” on
page 24 and then reinstall the software.
Note: Make sure that the file
nvdesk32.dll
does not appear on the Driver
Version Information list of files. This file is now obsolete and can result
in inconsistencies. If you see this file, uninstall the NVIDIA Display
Driver software and then re-install a current version.
NVIDIA Corporation 67
Chapter 6 Working With Profiles
C HAPTER
W
ORKING
This chapter discusses the following topics:
• “About Profiles” on page 68
• “Benefits of Using Profiles” on page 70
• “Profiles Options” on page 71
W
ITH
P
ROFILES
• “List of Profiles” on page 72
• “Current Profile” on page 73
• “Loading a Profile” on page 73
• “Creating a Profile” on page 73
• “Saving a Profile” on page 75
• “Deleting a Profile” on page 75
• “Copying Profiles for Use on Another Computer” on page 76
About Profiles
Profiles features can be used on both single-display and multi-display computer
setups.
Note: Under Windows XP/2000 and Windows NT 4.0, certain options such as
creating, saving and exporting, and deleting profiles are only available to
users with Administrator access rights.
Using Profiles options, you can save all your Desktop Manager settings into a
single file called a profile. To change how your desktop functions, you can
68 NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
subsequently load these profiles with a single “hot key” keystroke or by clicking
Load Profile.
A profile can contain all of the settings for nView Desktop Manager, including
multiple desktops and their backgrounds, individual (application) settings, user
interface settings, NVKeystone settings, window management settings, and
display mode settings (e.g., screen resolution, screen refresh rate, etc.).
A profile can also contain
• Display driver settings (color settings, OpenGL settings, etc).
• A set of applications to launch when loaded (i.e., saving open application
states).
Note: “Open application state” saving is available with GeForce-based
graphics cards, but with a limitation -- up to eight applications states
can be saved and loaded. Quadro-based graphics cards have no limits
to the number of applications that can be saves and loaded.
Profiles are a “snapshot” of all your Desktop Manager settings. There is never
an “active” profile; instead, you can reload your Desktop Manager settings
“snapshot” and then edit it if you need to modify the settings any time in the
future. For example, if you switch computers, upgrade your operating system,
or are configuring an office, you can simply save all your settings to a profile
and then load those settings on any computer that you want.
Note: The profile file is not updated as you change Desktop Manager settings.
Use the Save Profile option to update the profile with your new Desktop
Manager settings.
Note: If you are using an NVIDIA Quadro GPU-based graphics card, the
nView Desktop Manager installation comes with several pre-defined
profiles to get you started quickly. These profiles contain the basic
settings for different user levels and industries. You can start with one of
these pre-defined profiles and tailor it to your own needs.
Note: Under Windows XP/2000 and Windows NT 4.0, several profile-related
options are available to only those users with Administrator access rights.
NVIDIA Corporation 69
Chapter 6 Working With Profiles
About Saving and Restoring Your Display Mode Information
As mentioned previously, profiles can save and restore your display mode
information, including the number and position of enabled display device, each
display device’s refresh rate, resolution, color depth, etc.
Note: Note, however, that unlike desktop management settings, display mode
settings are dependent upon the hardware in your computer and thus may
not work when transferred between computers. For example, if a profile
was saved with display mode information on a computer that had four
displays connected and is then copied to a computer that has only two
displays connected, then loading this profile on the two-display computer
will not restore the display mode because the physical hardware (i.e., four
displays) does not exist on the computer.
About Saving Open Application States: For Quadrobased GPUs only
Note: Beginning with the current NVIDIA Release 50 driver under NVIDIA
Quadro-based GPUs only, profiles can also save and load the open
application states.
• A snapshot of all running applications on the system is taken including size,
position, window state, and desktop. When this profile is loaded, all of these
applications are restored to their proper positions.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, Office, and Exceed
applications can also have their data state saved when a profile is saved and
restored (when the profile is loaded) including the file/URL/Unix application
with which the application may have been working.
Note: If you save with four Internet Explorer windows open and restore while
you have two Internet Explorer windows open, only two new Internet
Explorer windows will load.
Benefits of Using Profiles
Using Profiles features, you can tailor different Desktop Manager modes to
more closely match your operating needs and then easily switch between
profiles with a hot key.
You can use profiles to quickly switch your system configuration, depending on
your needs.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
• For example, if you have a notebook computer that is sometimes docked with
an extra display device and sometimes undocked, you may want to have
dialog boxes pop up on the notebook computer’s screen while undocked but
while docked, have dialog boxes appear on the extra display device. In this
case, you can set up two profiles on your system; a docked version and an
undocked version with different settings. When you switch configuration
(i.e., dock or undock your notebook computer), you can load your
configuration with a single keystroke.
Note: The loaded profile can also include turning on or off an external
display connected to your notebook computer.
• If you work in a company with an IT department, profiles are even more
useful. For example, a System Administrator can define a custom Desktop
Manager mode and roll it out in one step to a department or other defined
group in the company rather than have to configure each workstation
separately. This can help reduce training and support costs since everyone
within a group or department can use a common Desktop Manager
configuration that is tailored for their needs.
Profiles Options
1 If you need help accessing the nView Desktop Manager control panel, see
“Accessing and Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel” on
page 57.
2 Click the Profiles tab or menu option to display the nView Desktop Manager
Windows panel.
Note: Creating (New Profile), saving and exporting (Save Profile) and deleting
profiles (Delete Profile) are only available to users with System
Administrator access privileges.
Note: If you are using an NVIDIA Quadro GPU-based graphics card, additional
pre-defined profiles are provided by NVIDIA and viewable on the
Profiles panel.
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Figure 6.1
Profiles Panel for NVIDIA GeForce-based GPUs
List of Profiles
When you go to the Profiles panel, you will see a list of profiles available for
loading. Each profile in the list may have one of two icons next to it – a lock/
unlock icon (closed or open padlock) and a monitor icon.
•A locked profile cannot have any settings modified when it is loaded. If you
load a locked profile, you will not be able to change your nView settings until
an unlocked profile is loaded. Unlocked profiles have no restrictions.
• If a profile has a monitor icon next to it, this means that there is display
mode information stored in the profile. See Creating a Profile” below for
more information.
• If a profile has a application icon next to it, this means that application
states have been saved within this profile. See Creating a Profile” below for
more information.
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Current Profile
The “Current Profile” label (shown in Figure 6.1) simply displays the name of
the last profile you have loaded or saved.
The Profiles panel example in Figure 6.1 shows the Current Profile as “generic”
because generic is highlighted in the list.
Loading a Profile
You can select a profile from the list and select Load Profile to load the profile.
Note: You may see additional profiles set up specifically for your company or
organization if your System Administrator has set up custom profiles and/
or if you are using an NVIDIA Quadro GPU-based graphics card.
Creating a Profile
Click New Profile to create, name, and add a new profile that contains all of the
current nView settings. Once saved, you can reload this profile at any time.
Figure 6.1 show the New Profile dialog box. You can include many NVIDIA
display driver options and nView Desktop Management options in the profile
by enabling those options in the New Profile dialog box.
If nView Desktop Manager cannot locate the hardware to support the display
mode stored in the profile (for example, the profile mode information is to turn
on four display devices but the computer that is loading the profile only has two
display devices connected), then the display mode loading will silently fail.
However, note that the nView Desktop Managements settings in the profile will
be loaded.
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Figure 6.2
Figure 6.3
Creating a New Profile
Profiles Panel After Adding a Profile
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Saving a Profile
Note: Under Windows NT 4.0 or Windows XP/2000, only users with System
Administrator privileges can save (export) profiles.
The Save Profile option lets you overwrite the existing selected profile with
your current nView Desktop Manager settings.
• Predefined nView Desktop Manager (
Windows\nView
• Under Windows 2000/XP, new profiles that you create are saved in the
Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\
nView_Profiles
• Once saved, you can reload this profile at any time.
• When you are saving to the profile selected from the list, a warning message
indicates that you are about to overwrite the selected profile.
Click Yes to continue; otherwise, click No.
Deleting a Profile
The Delete Profile option lets you to delete the selected profile.
Note: Under Windows NT 4.0 or Windows XP/2000, only users with System
Administrator privileges can delete profiles.
Note: When you are deleting the profile, a warning message indicates that you
are about to lose all the settings in the selected profile you are about to
delete. Click Yes to continue with the deletion process; otherwise, click
No.
Figure 6.4
directory.
directory.
Deleting a Profile
.tvp
) profile files are saved in the
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Copying Profiles for Use on Another Computer
A profile is simply a Desktop Manager data file. Therefore, it can be copied and
pasted like any other file. Profile files are located in the
directory on your hard disk and have a
.tvp
extension.
To copy a profile file for use on another system, follow these steps:
Windows\nView
1 From the
Windows\nView
directory on your hard disk, copy the
.tvp
profile file you want to a desired location, such as a diskette (in drive A:) or
other network location.
2 Then, be sure to paste this file to the
Users\Application Data\nView_Profiles
Documents and Settings\All
directory directory on the
computer where you plan to load this profile.
3 When you access the Desktop Manager Profiles settings on this new
computer, you will see the name of the profile you just copied.
4 Select the profile and click Load Profile to load this profile.
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C HAPTER
M
ANAGING
This chapter discusses the following major topics:
• “About Windows Options” on page 77
• “Windows Panel Options” on page 78
• “Window Settings” on page 79
W
INDOWS
• “Dialog Box Settings” on page 80
About Windows Options
The nView Desktop Manager Windows panel contains features that only apply
to multi-display configurations.
Note: The options on this panel will be disabled (grayed) if you are using only
one display.
A key benefit of using windows management features is that you no longer have
to spend your time resizing, relocating, or searching for windows because you
can specify how you want your windows to function. You can specify how you
want windows to operate on your desktops and/or display devices.
For example, when you maximize an application under Span mode, it stretches
across all display devices, which can be quite inconvenient. Using Windows
management features, you can change this functionality to make the window
only maximize to a single display device. Conversely, under Dualview mode,
where windows normally maximize to a single screen, you can make
applications maximize to the entire desktop.
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Chapter 7 Managing Windows
Windows Panel Options
1 If you need help accessing the nView Desktop Manager control panel, see
“Accessing and Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel” on
page 57.
2 Click the Windows tab or menu option to display the nView Desktop
Manager Windows panel.
Note: Under nView Standard and Clone modes, the options on the Windows
panel will be disabled (grayed out) because they do not apply in those
nView modes.
Figure 7.1
Options available in nView Dualview mode
Windows Panel in nView Dualview Mode
Additional option available in nView Span mode
Option for nView
“Dualview” mode
Figure 7.1 shows the nView Desktop Manager Windows panels. The panel
image on the right shows an option specific to nView Horizontal or Vertical
Span mode.
Note: Windows options do not apply, and therefore are not available, in nView
Clone mode.
Figure 7.2 shows options that are specific to NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs.
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Figure 7.2
Windows Panel Options for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs
NVIDIA Quadro-specific
option
Window Settings
Note: Be sure to click apply after enabling any of the below settings.
Enable Window Spanning Across Displays
This option allows windows to span (appear across) displays. When the option
is disabled, all windows are prevented from spanning displays.
Default: Option is enabled (checked).
Enable child window spanning across displays
To access this option, you must first activate the Enable window spanning
across displays option.
Note: If you disable this option, all child windows are prevented from spanning
displays even if the parent window does.
Default: Option is enabled (checked). This means that child windows can span
displays.
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Chapter 7 Managing Windows
Open window on
This option allows you to set the display device on which you want applications
to open, by default.
To select the display on which you want to open application windows, click the
list and select an item.
• Default display
• Last display is the display upon which you closed the application.
Note: If you select Last display, the application state (including the
application window maximize or collapse state) is also restored when
the application opens.
• Start display is the display containing the Start button.
Prevent windows from opening off-screen
Enable this option to prevent windows from opening off the screen.
Limit taskbar to a single display
Note: This option is available only when your nView Display Mode panel is set
to nView Horizontal or Vertical Span mode. It does not apply under
nView Dualview mode and therefore is not available.
When this option is enabled, you can limit the taskbar to a single display instead
of having it stretched across displays.
Default: The option is disabled (unchecked).
Dialog Box Settings
Note: Be sure to click Apply after enabling any of the below settings.
Enable dialog box repositioning
This option lets you specify the location of dialog boxes.
Default: Option is disabled.
Move to display n
Enable this option and then specify the display device (click the up/down arrow
to specify the display device number) to which you want to move dialog boxes.
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Move to display where cursor appears
Enable this option if you want to move dialog boxes to the display device that
contains your cursor.
Move to display where application appears
Enable this option if you want to move dialog boxes to the display device that
contains your application.
Center dialog box on display
Enable this option (check box) to force dialog boxes to be centered on their
target display.
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Chapter 8 Managing Desktops
C HAPTER
M
ANAGING
The following major topics are discussed in this chapter:
• “About Desktops Options” on page 82
• “Accessing the Desktops Tab” on page 83
• “Notes Before You Begin” on page 84
D
ESKTOPS
• “Desktops List” on page 84
• “Creating Desktops” on page 84
• “Activating or Switching Desktops” on page 86
• “Renaming Desktops” on page 88
• “Removing Desktops” on page 88
• “Properties: Changing Wallpaper and Desktop Icons” on page 88
• “Using nView Desktop Explorer” on page 93
• “Advanced Options” on page 101
About Desktops Options
You can use the Desktop Manager “Desktops” tab to create and configure up to
32 different “virtual” desktops whether you are using a single monitor or
multiple monitors.
If you are using a single monitor, you can create a lot of space by distributing
one or more applications among different desktops to prevent application clutter
on your window. Desktop Manager reduces your desktop clutter by letting you
easily move applications to other desktops thus avoiding the need to open/close
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or minimize/maximize applications in order to navigate between them. So,
window clutter is reduced without compromising performance or using extra
keystrokes.
You can assign customizable names to desktops you create and easily switch
between desktops using assigned hot keys, the Windows Explorer-based
Desktop Explorer, or even the NVIDIA Settings icon, as explained later in this
chapter.
A variety of methods to create, customize, manage, rename, remove, and switch
between multiple desktops, as well as easily move applications from one
desktop to another are discussed in this chapter.
Accessing the Desktops Tab
1 If you need help accessing the nView Desktop Manager control panel, see
“Accessing and Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel” on
page 57.
2 Click the Desktops tab or menu option to display the nView Desktop
Manager Desktops panel (Figure 8.1).
Figure 8.1
Desktops Panel
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Notes Before You Begin
• Desktop options Add, Properties, Rename, and Remove take immediate
effect when clicked.
• Each desktop is identified by a name and can have optional customizations,
such as independent backgrounds or icons that identify the desktop in menus
and in the Desktop Explorer.
• Windows Control Panel-based nView (Desktop Manager) Properties,
command prompt windows, and modal dialog boxes are visible on all
desktops. All other applications, by default, launch only on the active desktop
unless you have set up individual settings for the application.
• nView does not support different resolutions per desktop. All desktops are
automatically set at the same resolution.
• The type of background (wallpaper) selected for your desktop can
significantly affect how fast you can switch from one desktop to another. For
further details, see the “Note” in “Properties: Changing Wallpaper and
Desktop Icons” on page 88.
Desktops List
The Desktops list box displays a list of all currently available desktops.
• Desktop Manager maintains a minimum of one desktop and a maximum of
32 desktops. By default, there is always one desktop named “Default”; this is
the desktop on which you start up.
• The Default desktop is listed first, followed by all other desktops in
alphabetical order.
Note: If you disable Desktop Manager, you are returned to the Default desktop
and all open windows are moved to the Default desktop.
Creating Desktops
Multiple desktops can be created either from Desktops panel using the “Add”
option, as explained below, or the Explorer shell extension.
Each desktop can be assigned a unique name.
Note: You cannot add duplicate desktop names.
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Using the “Add” Option
1 From the Desktops panel (Figure 8.1), click Add. The “Create a new
desktop” dialog box prompts for a name of the new desktop (Figure 8.2).
2 If you want to add a Wallpaper background and/or assign the desktop a
unique “Icon”, go the next steps.
Otherwise, click OK to complete adding the desktop and return to the
Desktops panel where you will see the new desktop added to the Desktops
list.
3 After you enter the desktop name, optionally, you can assign the desktop a
Wallpaper background and/or assign the desktop a unique icon.
For details, see “Selecting a Background for the Desktop” on page 89,
“Selecting Separate Backgrounds Per Display” on page 90, or “Selecting a
Desktop Icon” on page 90
Figure 8.2
Creating a Desktop
Enter a name for the
desktop.
Note: If you have checked the Enable Desktop Explorer option from the
Multiple Interfaces tab, you can also use the Desktop Explorer node in the
Windows Explorer to create desktops. See “Creating Desktops from
Desktop Explorer” on page 102.
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Chapter 8 Managing Desktops
Figure 8.3
Viewing the Added Desktop
Viewing the added
desktop.
.
Activating or Switching Desktops
From the “Desktops” tab, double-click the desktop you want to activate from
the list of desktops.
Note: The type of background (wallpaper) selected for your desktop can
significantly affect how fast you can switch from one desktop to another
For further details, see the “Note” in “Properties: Changing Wallpaper and
Desktop Icons” on page 88.
You can also use a variety of other methods to switch between desktops as
discussed in these sections:
• “Activating Desktops from the NVIDIA Settings icon” on page 87
• “Activating Desktops From the Windows Desktop Properties Menu” on
page 87
• “Activating Desktops from Desktop Explorer” on page 88
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• “Activating Desktops With Hot Keys” on page 88
Activating Desktops from the NVIDIA Settings icon
To activate desktops from the NVIDIA Settings icon (Figure 8.4), follow these
steps:
Figure 8.4
Right click the NVIDIA Settings icon from the Windows taskbar, choose
1
Desktop Manager > nView Desktops to display the list of your desktops.
Figure 8.5 shows an example of a list of desktops.
Note: If nView Desktop Manager is disabled, you cannot access the nView
2 Choose the desktop you want to activate.
Figure 8.5
NVIDIA Settings icon
NVIDIA Settings icon
Desktops option. In this case, right click the NVIDIA Settings icon
from the Windows taskbar, click Desktop Manager > Enable nView.
Again, right click the NVIDIA Settings icon from the Windows
taskbar, then click nView Desktops.
Accessing Desktops Through the NVIDIA Settings icon
Activating Desktops From the Windows Desktop Properties Menu
1 Confirm that Desktop Manager is enabled.
2 Right click from your Windows desktop to display the properties menu.
3 Choose nView Desktops to view a list of your desktops.
4 Choose the desktop you want to activate.
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Activating Desktops from Desktop Explorer
See “Renaming, Deleting, and Activating Desktops from Desktop Explorer” on
page 94.
Activating Desktops With Hot Keys
See “Using Hot Keys” on page 148.
Renaming Desktops
Click Rename to rename the selected desktop from a text-input dialog box
where you can type in a new name for the selected desktop.
Note: You cannot rename the Default desktop.
You can perform the same function from the Desktop Explorer; see “Renaming,
Deleting, and Activating Desktops from Desktop Explorer” on page 94.
Removing Desktops
Click Remove to remove the selected desktop from the list.
Once you delete a desktop, it is removed from the list of desktops. The
applications on the deleted desktop now move to the Default desktop.
Note: You cannot remove the startup (or default) desktop.
You can perform the same function from the Desktop Explorer; see “Renaming,
Deleting, and Activating Desktops from Desktop Explorer” on page 94.
Properties: Changing Wallpaper and Desktop Icons
The Properties option lets you change the background of the selected desktop
and assign an icon to represent the desktop.
1 From the Desktops panel, select the desktop for which you want to change
the background and/or icon.
2 Click Properties to open a dialog box where you can set or change the
background wallpaper and icon. From this dialog box, you can perform the
following optional tasks, as shown in Figure 8.6:
• Browse for different wallpapers (graphics files)
• When using multiple display devices, choose separate wallpapers for each
display device.
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