Windows 2003 server == no wide screen support...

Question

Hello all, Just found out that Windows 2003 server does not support wide screen resolution so I had to set my 20' wide screen to the 4:3 mode (can't stand the wide screen stretch) and use it as mornal 1280x1024 mode.   Wonder when will Microsoft have an update for this? Thanks, Van :smileymad:

Dev Mgr · Answer

It probably has more to do with the videodrivers than the OS.

I run XP x64 on my primary PC. XP x64 is really Windows 2003 x64 without a few of the server application features.

This PC is using a GeForce 7800GT on a Dell 2405 and it allows me to set the 1920x1200 resolution just fine.

Dev Mgr · Answer

I still would say it's the video drivers.

Servers are usually not designed with wide screen monitors in mind; usually you'll have one of those rack KVMs connected to a 14" or 15" LCD/tray with regular 4:3 proportions, or one would terminal into the server over the network.

So for this reason the videodrivers for the onboard video probably don't support widescreen resolutions (why spend time testing/validating a driver capability that less than 1% of the market might use).

A newer OS may add support for widescreen, but only because the native drivers would possibly add these resolutions.

You could try drivers from the vendor of the videocard (ATI or some Dell Poweredge models) to see if the generic drivers for this card support wide screen resolutions.

DrLar · Answer

I'm also looking for those drivers, strange though I found the newer drivers for a PE 2650 does support several wide screen formats. But newer server PE 2850 doesn't! both running Windows 2003 server with same SP and everything. There's no difference on the hardware, it's the same Radeon 7000 series!   I'm baffled with the 2850 Right now, because I have a wide screen monitor to view the servers.

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