如何使用不属于桌面的显示器（Windows 7）

Question

I would like to use a monitor which is actually marked "disconnected" in the windows control panel under "Change display settings". (I do NOT mean a physically disconnected monitor.)

I know how to add a second monitor in Windows and make it part of desktop. I also know how to make my application run on a primary or on secondary monitor when they are part of desktop.

I have a piece of equipment attached to the PC which has a touch screen on it. The touchscreen is connected to the PC over USB looking as an ordinary USB-Monitor and I can make it part of my Windows desktop. But that is not what I want.

What I would like to do is make sure that only one special application can run on this monitor. I also do not want to have a windows desktop on it because than the user could move any window to it which is not what I want. The idea behind all this is to use the touch screen to have an application on it which can control this external piece of equipment. The user would only have to run the PC but not to login. I was thinking about starting the app from a windows service before the windows desktop is loaded. And once the user logs in I do not want him to be able to use the touch screen for anything else except this special application. That is why the touch screen must not be part of the windows desktop but ”deactivated”.

I am using . NET 4.0 and C# for my application, but I will use C++ or whatever comes handy.

Any help or idea is appreciated. Thank you!

Answer 1

It seems WDDM does not support independent displays any more. Here are a few links in case somebody wishes to take a look for himself:

1. ( old MSDN link ) = /windows/win32/gdi/multiple-display-monitors

2. ( old MSDN link ) = /windows/win32/gdi/using-multiple-monitors-as-independent-displays

The important part is this note from the second link:

ⓘ Note

Using other monitors as independent displays isn't supported on drivers that are implemented to the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM).