I'm using Windows 10 and currently, I specifically set for each app, the HIGHDPIAWARE (high-DPI scaling) attribute in registry key which is found in :
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers
With these values :
But I really don't want to specify each app for that feature.
Question:
How can I make all apps to be HIGHDPIAWARE?
You can't. Old applications cannot be made high-dpi aware without any changes, because that needs the app to use the newer high-dpi APIs. Apps must declare themselves as high-dpi aware via a manifest file or some API calls, otherwise Windows will scale them bitmap-wise which makes them blurry. That's what the above registry key is about. The detail settings are like this
- HIGHDPIAWARE: Disable Display Scaling on High DPI Settings - Scaling performed by: Application (Win7/10)
- DPIUNAWARE: Scaling performed by: Application (Win10 build 15002+)
- GDIDPISCALING DPIUNAWARE: Scaling performed by: System (Enhanced) (Win10 build 15002+)
In fact that key is exactly the same as the dpi-override settings in compatibility tab if you open the *.exe file's properties
So setting HIGHDPIAWARE in ...\AppCompatFlags\Layers doesn't automatically make your app hi-dpi aware. It just makes Windows thinks that the app is hi-dpi aware and disable scaling. The app is shown at 100% scaling so it'll be smaller on high-dpi displays, but the result is sharper
Of course you can set the flag for multiple apps at once, but it's not the way to solve your issue. Overriding high-dpi settings for all apps may make real high-dpi aware apps misbehave
See also
