How to have a different wallpaper on each monitor?

So, your Windows desktop in not enough anymore and you added additional monitors to increase your desktop space. But now your desktop is looking not so cool because Microsoft Windows support for dual monitors is pretty poor and you cannot have different wallpapers on each monitor.

In this article we'll show you how to set individual wallpapers on each monitor with Bionix Background Switcher.

How to add a second monitor?

Instead of buying a new/larger monitor you may choose to keep your old monitor and just add an inexpensive second monitor (it may be a new one or a spare one). All you have to do is to connect it to your computer.
To add a second monitor you need an extra video cable (which may come with the extra monitor) and a second video port on your video card. But modern video cards are coming with dual ports now days. Don't despair if your video card does not have a second video port: you can purchase an USB to VGA adapter. But this is expensive and terribly slow. For the same money we recommend you video card. Buy an adapter only if you cannot add a second video card (you have a laptop).

Fun with dual monitor wallpapers

Having dual monitor is a joy even if MS Windows offers only average support for dual monitor. Here are some keyboard shortcuts that will help in your work on dual monitors:

• Win + Left arrow: Moves a window from current monitor to the left monitor and it will align it to the edge of the monitor.
• Win + Right arrow: The same as above, but for the right monitor.
• Shift + Win + Left/Right arrows: Same as above but it will not align the window.
• Win + P: Switched between the following modes: one monitor only (will turn off the secondary display), duplicate (mirrors the displays), extend image on both displays and projector only (handy for laptops, moves the display entirely to the secondary source like a projector).
• Win + Home: Minimizes every window except for the active one.
• Win + Up/Down arrow: Maximizes and minimizes the active window.
• Win + Space: Temporarily enables Aero desktop peek.

Drawbacks of Windows 7 with dual-monitor systems

With Windows 7 you can stretch your wallpaper across two monitors. However, you have to do it manually:

• Right-click on a clear area on your desktop background and select "Personalize".
• Click on "Desktop Background".
• Select a background image that is as wide as the combined resolution of both your monitors. In other words, if each monitor is 1024x768, then you will need a background image that is at least 2048x768.
• Select "Tile" from the drop-down menu under "Picture Position".
• Click on "OK".

If you change the wallpaper once per week if it OK. But we are not writing this article for lamers. We are talking for users that really want to enjoy their PC power. We are talking about users that want to change the wallpaper once every 30-60 minutes! So, the real with Windows is that:

• it doesn't allow you to set a different wallpaper on each monitor
• it cannot change the wallpaper automatically of your dual monitor system

This is where BioniX Background Switcher comes to save your day. BioniX has full support for dual-monitor (multi-monitor) systems. It will automatically detect your dual monitor configuration and will set different wallpapers on each monitor. With its 'Smart size' feature, BioniX Wallpaper Change automatically resize each wallpaper to fit its destination monitor (the size of each wallpaper is individually adjusted).
With a single click BioniX you can fill or fit your wallpaper over your screens without distorting it. BioniX Background Switcher can also clone your wallpaper on all monitors (put the same wallpaper on all monitors).

Windows 7 versus BioniX Background Switcher

Boring dual monitor wallpaper as set by Windows 7:

Realistic wide (dual monitor) wallpaper spanned across both monitors by BioniX Desktop Background Switcher

Individual wallpaper on each monitor set by BioniX Desktop Background Switcher: