Set Vista Display Preferences Without a Monitor

It happens, you enable a display mode that doesn’t work properly and you can no longer see a display on your screen.

Luckily Microsoft Windows Vista has a low-resolution boot mode you can access by press F8 as Windows Vista loads that will allow you to boot into 600×400, then set the video back to a more reasonable setting.

But if you feel like doing this without rebooting, want to impress you friends, or if you don’t want to loose work you had open, do the following:

  
1. Hit the Windows key and M in order to minimize all windows.

 

2. Right click your mouse button.

 

3. Press the up arrow, then enter. This brings up the personalize applet.

 

4. Press the tab key, then press the down arrow 6 times, and press enter. This will bring up the “Display Preferences” applet.

 

5. Press tab, then press the left arrow a few times, then enter. This should apply a more standard resolution, and you should now be able to see your desktop again.