Windows XP

XP is the next version of Windows, the successor to Windows 2000 and Windows Me. It is scheduled for release on October 25.

There are two versions, Home and Professional. They are basically the same, but Professional has additional features, for example support for dual CPU systems. As far as multi-monitor features go, there is no difference between the two.

New multi-monitor features

If you are upgrading from Windows 98 or Me: you can now change the primary monitor on the fly in Display Properties.

If you are upgrading from Windows 2000: XP has better support for dualhead cards, currently Matrox and Nvidia have XP drivers with true multi-monitor support.

Upgrading to Windows XP

If you use multiple recent video cards or dualhead cards from Matrox, you shouldn't have any problems. For other video cards, check below for potential issues.

You can also search the database for configurations used with XP: XP systems

Upgrade from Windows 98 or Me

Older S3 and ATI video cards: these cards won't work as secondary with Windows XP. But there is a workaround:

reboot your system
bring up the BIOS configuration (usually by pressing a key like F1, F2 or DEL)
look for a setting called 'Initialize First', 'Init Display First' or something similar. This setting will let you choose whether you want to use the AGP or the first PCI video card as the primary video card
set this setting to the slot type of your incompatible secondary card
in Windows XP, go to Control Panel > Display > Settings
select the video card you had been previously using as primary, and check 'Use this device as the primary monitor'

There are some limitations to this workaround: if your primary card has TV tuner or video-in features, those features most likely won't work if the card isn't primary in BIOS as well. And if you have more than one incompatible secondary card, the workaround will only work for a single one, the others will have to be replaced by compatible cards.

ATI RADEON VE: the current Windows XP drivers for the VE don't support true multi-monitor, this means that Windows thinks you have a single large monitor instead of two. This will cause problems if you use different resolutions on each monitor, or if you use multi-monitor software like UltraMon, PowerStrip, MultiDesk or PowerPoint.

ATI has promised to release new Windows XP drivers on October 25, but it is not yet known if they will have true multi-monitor support for the RADEON VE.

Laptops: availability of Windows XP drivers with multi-monitor support has been confirmed for the following chipsets: ATI RAGE MOBILITY, Nvidia GeForce2 Go and Quadro2 Go, S3 SavageMX. ATI drivers are available from Windows Update, see the forum for details on installing these drivers.

Margi Display-to-Go: doesn't work on XP with the 2.07 drivers, Margi says they are working on XP support.

Nvidia TwinView: the Windows XP default drivers don't have true multi-monitor support, make sure you install the latest Detonator XP drivers from Nvidia.

Upgrade from Windows 2000

Laptops: availability of Windows XP drivers with true multi-monitor support has been confirmed for the following chipsets: ATI RAGE MOBILITY, Nvidia GeForce2 Go and Quadro2 Go, S3 SavageMX. ATI drivers are available from Windows Update, see the forum for details on installing these drivers.

Nvidia TwinView: the latest Detonator XP drivers from Nvidia add true multi-monitor support, meaning that each monitor will be recognized properly by Windows.

Margi Display-to-Go: doesn't work on XP with the 2.07 drivers, Margi says they are working on XP support.

More information

Questions or comments? Post them to the forum.