How to Fix Small GUI In Apps On High Resolution Screens
If you are running your Windows computer on a high resolution display, for instance one of those brand new 4K displays, you may have noticed that some text does not scale well. At such resolutions, Windows automatically turns on DPI scaling so everything on your screen becomes larger. However, there are some third party apps, which don't render properly on high DPI screens. They look too small for the screen resolution.
Typically, such apps were written before high DPI displays appeared. They appear too small on the screen with impossible to read fonts and they don't scale properly.
Let us see how to fix them if Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 does not scale them properly.
This fix is applied on a per-app basis so you won’t have to worry about it affecting apps that don’t suffer from a small GUI.
1. Open the Windows registry editor by typing regedit.exe into Start Menu and navigate to the following location:
2. Create a new DWORD value and name it PreferExternalManifest. Double click it and set its value to 1.
3. First, open the application folder for the application you need to fix the GUI for.
4. Copy below codes and paste it in notepad.
6. Save the manifest file with manifest extension. For example, Photoshop has a small GUI and Photoshop executable file is called Photoshop.exe. Note the name for the executable file. Next, rename the manifest file you just downloaded to Photoshop.exe.manifest. Copy this file to the same location as the Photoshop.exe file.
You will need administrative rights to do this. That’s all you need to do.
Typically, such apps were written before high DPI displays appeared. They appear too small on the screen with impossible to read fonts and they don't scale properly.
Let us see how to fix them if Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 does not scale them properly.
This fix is applied on a per-app basis so you won’t have to worry about it affecting apps that don’t suffer from a small GUI.
1. Open the Windows registry editor by typing regedit.exe into Start Menu and navigate to the following location:
Code:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide2. Create a new DWORD value and name it PreferExternalManifest. Double click it and set its value to 1.
3. First, open the application folder for the application you need to fix the GUI for.
4. Copy below codes and paste it in notepad.
Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
<dependency>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity
type="win32"
name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
version="6.0.0.0" processorArchitecture="*"
publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
language="*">
</assemblyIdentity>
</dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity
type="win32"
name="Microsoft.VC90.CRT"
version="9.0.21022.8"
processorArchitecture="amd64"
publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b">
</assemblyIdentity>
</dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
<trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
<security>
<requestedPrivileges>
<requestedExecutionLevel
level="asInvoker"
uiAccess="false"/>
</requestedPrivileges>
</security>
</trustInfo>
<asmv3:application>
<asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">
<ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware xmlns:ms_windowsSettings="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">false</ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware>
</asmv3:windowsSettings>
</asmv3:application>
</assembly>6. Save the manifest file with manifest extension. For example, Photoshop has a small GUI and Photoshop executable file is called Photoshop.exe. Note the name for the executable file. Next, rename the manifest file you just downloaded to Photoshop.exe.manifest. Copy this file to the same location as the Photoshop.exe file.
You will need administrative rights to do this. That’s all you need to do.