On Windows 10
- Right-click any empty area on your desktop, then select “Display Settings”. You will be taken to Settings.
- From there select, System > Display window.
Locate the Orientation option under Resolution, click the dropdown menu under it, and then choose the screen orientation you prefer be it Landscape, Portrait, Landscape (flipped), or Portrait (flipped.)
On Windows 7
- Right-click, then select the “Screen Resolution” command. This takes you to the Control Panel.
- From there click, Appearance and Personalization > Display > Display Settings.
Once you’ve done this you’ll see a window different than the one on Windows 10, but they have the same options in the Orientation.
Suppose you do not see a screen orientation option in Settings on Windows 10 or Control Panel on Windows 7, attempt to update the graphic driver on your system. Note that this option may not be there if you are using video drivers not appropriate for your computer graphics hardware.
Rotating Your Screen with Hotkeys
Some PCs have hotkeys that when pressed, rotate the screen. If your screen rotated while you were pressing the keyboard, you may have accidentally activated the hotkey.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+Arrow. For instance, Ctrl+Alt+Up Arrow returns your screen to its normal upright rotation, Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow rotates your screen 90 degrees, Ctrl+Alt+Down Arrow flips it upside down (180 degrees), and Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow rotates it 270 degrees.
You can change these hotkeys or disable them with the use of Hot Key Manager tool in the Intel Graphics Control Panel on your system. To do this;
- Right-click your desktop, then select “Intel Graphics Settings” or press Ctrl+Alt+F12 to open the Intel control panel.
- Click Options, then Support > Hot Key Manager.
If you don’t see the Intel Graphics Settings tool on your PC, there’s a chance you are not using Intel graphics. If you don’t see the screen rotation shortcuts on the Hot Key Manager screen, they aren’t available on your PC.
Disabling automatic screen rotation on Windows 10
To do this you need to enable Rotation Lock. This can be done as follows;
- Open the Action Center by clicking the notification icon at the right side of your taskbar, or by pressing Windows+A.
- Click “Rotation Lock” to lock your screen in its current orientation. Click it again in order to disable Rotation Lock.
The Rotation Lock option is also available at Settings > System > Display.
Suppose you are not able to find the option; it means your device does not support automatic screen rotation which also means it doesn’t have a built-in accelerometer hardware.
If the Rotation Lock appears gray, activate tablet mode on the PC. Rotation Lock is not available in standard laptop mode.
Rotating your screen with Graphics Driver Control Panel
You can also rotate your PC with your Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD graphics drivers, depending on what graphics hardware your PC operates.
For PCs with Intel graphics,
- Right-click the desktop and select “Intel Graphics Settings.”
- Select “Display” and choose a display orientation.
For PCs with AMD graphics, this option is no longer available in the latest versions of the Catalyst Control Center. Before, it was placed under “Common Display Tasks”. Now however, screen rotation can only be done from the Settings app or Control Panel.
For PCs with NVIDIA graphics,
- Right-click any area on the desktop, then select “NVIDIA Control Panel.”
- Click on “Rotate Display” under Display and choose your screen orientation.
