Run Windows 8 in 1024 x 600 Screen Resolution

Tips & Tricks, Windows 8, Windows 8.1

Windows 8, despite all the flak it has received for forcing it’s tiles-based Modern UI on to users, is actually a very good upgrade to Windows 7 – it’s faster, lighter and it offers a good set of new features – but it comes with a catch: you need a display resolution of at least 1024×768 to install it. This isn’t a problem for most people, but a sizable chunk of the computing crowd own netbooks, most of which come with a 1024×600 display, such as the Asus Eee PC 1005HA.

In order to resolve this issue, users can log on to the Windows 8 computer with administrator credentials and modify the registry settings. Modifying the registry enables Windows 8 to open the apps even when the screen resolution is low.


Note: Modifying Windows registry requires in-depth knowledge of Windows and strong hands-on on Windows registry. Therefore users are strongly recommended to follow the steps exactly the way they are given in this section in order to avoid system failure or crashing of the operating system. If users are not sure about the process described in this section, they must NOT modify the registry, as it may cause permanent system failure.

If you try to run the Windows 8 or 8.1 setup from within Windows XP or Windows 7, it tells you your resolution isn’t high enough and doesn’t let you proceed. That’s a shame, because the lighter Windows 8 is a perfect match for the low-power Atom processor in most netbooks.

Using this guide, you’ll be able to upgrade your old netbook to 8 or 8.1!

How to Configure Windows 8 to Run in 1024 x 600 Screen Resolutions?

To configure Windows 8 to run in 1024 x 600 screen resolution, follow the simple instructions below:

1.     Log on to Windows 8 computer with the account that has the elevated privileges.
2.     Click Desktop tile from the Start screen to go to the desktop window.
3.     Once on the desktop screen, press Windows + R keys simultaneously to initiate the Run command box.
4.      In the opened Run command box, type REGEDIT.EXE command in the available field and press Enter key.Resolution
   
5.   On the User Account Control confirmation box, click Yes to provide the administrative consents to open the Registry Editor window.
6.  On the opened Registry Editor window, from the menu bar, go to Edit.
7.   From the displayed options, click Find.
8. On Find box, type Display1_DownScalingSupported in the Find what field.
9.  Make sure that all the checkboxes under Look at section are checked.
10.  Check the Match whole string only checkbox at the bottom of the box.
11.  Click Find Next to search for the specified registry entry.
12.  Once located, double-click Display1_DownScalingSupported.
13.      On the displayed Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value box, replace the value from 0 to 1 in the Value data field.Resolution
    
14.    Under Base section, make sure that Hexadecimal radio button is selected.
15.    Click OK to change the current value with the newly specified number.
16.   Once done, close Registry Editor and restart the computer if needed.