NVidia Surround issues related to Windows 10 Fast Ring Insider Builds and/or the new nVidia with Free Sync driver?

[RawRanger]

This issue is not specific to this particular Insider build (18323), but gets worse with the increasing number of new features and improvements to Windows 10.. This is most obvious when using the nVidia control panel to configure Surround mode. The list of programs or features to kill before surround mode can be configured grows longer fast, which I guess is to be expected when using Fast ring Insider builds. And Office 2019 also might add to that list as it is so tightly integrated into Windows 10.

Luckily the list of programs/processes to kill is easily shortened. I did so by simply removing the items from startup or uninstalling them all together, like I did with Skype and Your Phone. But others are more difficult to take care of, like stopping the "StartMenuExperienceHost" service. I guess it is a critical part of the, as the name already suggests, start menu experience. When I removed the executable, I lost the Start menu. The only option left is to stop the process temporarily using the Task Manager. Doing so is extremely annoying as the process almost immediately reappears, only leaving a split second to act.

And now, with the release of the latest nVidia driver, 417.71 with Free Sync support I can finally make use of that feature my monitors have. But when I did so, I could no longer switch from Surround to Extended mode. When using the nVidia control panel to do so, my screens turn black and Windows is still running in the background. Then after 30 seconds or so it crashes and reboots itself.

As you probably already figured out, I am no skilled programmer who can resolve these problems alone. Instead I rely on programs and scripts written by others. This works out fine 95% of the time, but not in this case. I tried DisplayFusion and of course HeliosDisplayManagements, as well as a few others, but none offer a relatively easy way to switch/toggle between surround and extended mode. And that seems the case with most people who are looking for it.

Sorry, this is a long story for 2 rather short questions: a) does Helios offer the features to circumvent (some) of the above issues and am I just not skilled enough to find and make use of them? b) And are you familiar with similar issues related to the latest nVidia driver, particularly when using its Free Sync support?

Thank you!

[falahati]

Luckily the list of programs/processes to kill is easily shortened. I did so by simply removing the items from startup or uninstalling them all together, like I did with Skype and Your Phone....

Helios Display Management does not require you to close any program before switching.

And now, with the release of the latest nVidia driver, 417.71 with Free Sync support I can finally make use of that feature my monitors have. But when I did so, I could no longer switch from Surround to Extended mode. When using the nVidia control panel to do so,....

This sounds like a bug that NVidia should eventually fix. So I wouldn't search for a program or a script to solve it if I were you. Based on what you described; this is a driver bug. I would suggest testing with another monitor as some old FreeSync monitors might also have a buggy driver causing Windows to crash. A quick search reveals no mainstream problem with this version of the driver and therefore it might be well limited to your setup or installation. I suggest testing with a clean Windows or by removing NVIDIA drivers completely with DDU and installing it again first and if the problem persists, try to investigate the real reason behind Windows crashing via a utility program like BlueScreen View.

Unfortunately tho, I do not own a FreeSync monitor nor a new NVIDIA GPU to test this with Helios and therefore not sure if there is a problem there.

I tried DisplayFusion and of course HeliosDisplayManagements, as well as a few others, but none offer a relatively easy way to switch/toggle between surround and extended mode.

The whole idea behind this program is to offer a relatively easy way to switch between display profiles including NVIDIA Surround. Did you really try Helios? Did you have any specific problem related to Helios?

Therefore to answer your questions:
a: Sure, at least we try to
b: Unfortunately no.

[RawRanger]

Thank you answering my questions. I really appreciate it.

To answer your question: yes, I did try Helios but could not get it to work. I thought it was because of the StartMenuExperienceHost service issue I mentioned. But from what I understand Helios either circumvents or stops it for me. I am going to try it again.

I do have DisplayFusion installed as well. Does that cause problems while using Helios?

[RawRanger]

I forgot to mention I use Multiplicity as well.

[falahati]

Unless DisplayFusion is configured in a way that results in reverting back changes made by Helios, it shouldn't be a problem. As for Multiplicity, I never heard the name :)

Unfortunately, Helios is not yet a complete product and as the result, you can not add or edit new profiles directly from the application and therefore it needs you to switch manually to a configuration (being Surround or Extended) and then clone the active profile and save it for later. All this is explained here.

However, AFAIK, Helios is the only program that uses NVidia Driver APIs to change to and from Surround and with doing so it goes around the Nvidia Control Panel and some of its limitations. You only need to use NVidia Control Panel for the initial setup so Helios learns what configs you want to apply later. Later on, when applying the profile, it goes around the Nvidia Control Panel and just applies the config saved before.

PS: As a side note, from experiences I gained from the days I had to use NVidia Control Panel, I can give you one little trick to get rid of that "Programs to be closed" dialogue. After activating "Span displays with surround" by checking the checkbox, don't click "Configure"; instead click "Apply" (Bottom right button) and it opens the surrounding dialogue without asking for any program to be closed. However, this is an old trick and might not work anymore. Try it tho.

[RawRanger]

Your old little trick works still works like a charm and is a huge time saver for me. Such a simple solution, and I never ran across it in all the time I ‘ve been looking for it. I owe you a big thanks!

However, going back to extended mode still causes Windows to crash and reboot. Most likely a FreeSync related bug which nVidia will fix with the release of the next driver, I hope.

Multiplicity is KVM software by Stardock. Basically, a cheap alternative to buying an actual hardware KVM. Here a screenshot that gives an idea of what it looks like in a dual monitor setup:

It works great, but in a way, it does extend and change the desktop environment and since Helios is about creating different monitor layouts/profiles I wondered if the two would counteract? Or if I can clone another Helios profile that somehow interacts with virtual KVM window. Maybe by using the macros I already use for some functions.

Anyway, not my priority at all and I will first try cloning a much less complex Helios profiles, just to learn the basics. Thanks for your help!

[pressRtowin]

Just skimmed through everything above and I have some data points I can add to this. Firstly, I was gonna mention that surround config shortcut as well but I see @falahati beat me to it. It's surprising how undocumented/unknown this is, and its very existence irks me, since it shows that these apps don't have to be closed at all to configure surround, and yet, nvidia has added that annoying dialog anyways.

As far as the new freesync drivers, I've not had any issues related to that and helios and/or switching between extended and surround. Have you tried a clean install with DDU? Full disclosure, I'm running probably one of the more unstable configurations out there (triple GPUs with an Intel integrated, dedicated Quadro P5000, and external GTX 1080 Ti (the Quadro hates that I have game-ready drivers installed), as well as 3x one of the only 1440p freesync HDR displays out there which flicker on and off a TON whenever it switches between HDR on and off) and I've never experienced an actual system crash while switching between extended and surround, so I don't think it's just the driver on its own that's causing your issue.

If anything, there could be a specific compatibility issue with your display and the new drivers. Have you checked the megaposts on reddit about the new drivers and the compatibility spreadsheets linked in them? Quite a few displays need some tweaking with CRU or firmware updates to be stable with "g-sync".