There is hardly anything to put a damper on a good gaming session like a title that disappears as soon as you give your second screen some attention. One click over to Discord or Spotify, or perhaps to check a walkthrough on the other monitor, and your game has been relegated to the taskbar. It is maddening. But there is an easy remedy for it; one does not have to be particularly tech savvy to put an end to it.
For the most part, Windows 11 is at fault in how it deals with fullscreen applications, though a couple of adjustments to your settings will see to that. The proper software can also lend a hand in making the whole dual screen experience more fluid.
In this guide, we will explain exactly why the problem happens, walk through several proven fixes on how to stop games minimizing on dual monitors, and show you how SmartPanels keeps both screens organized.
Why Games Keep Minimizing on Dual Monitors: The Technical Explanation
Before jumping into fixes, it helps to understand what is happening under the hood. When games keep minimizing Windows 11 is usually doing exactly what it was designed to do: give full attention to one active window at a time.
Exclusive Fullscreen vs. Borderless Windowed: What Is the Difference?
Fullscreen Mode: Most games still default to exclusive fullscreen mode. Here the game makes an end run around the Desktop Window Manager (DWM), the Windows utility responsible for compositing and rendering all your windows. It assumes direct command of the primary display and its output in its place. One gains a marginal reduction in input latency as a result, but it is a fragile arrangement. With the game holding the display in such exclusive terms, it is limited to being either fullscreen and focused or else minimized. Should one put a click on the second monitor, Windows will cede keyboard and mouse focus to whatever app is there; the game’s hold on the display is broken and it will be reduced to an icon on the taskbar.
Borderless Windowed: This mode works differently. What you see is the game being rendered in a standard window, one that has been made to occupy the whole screen by removing the borders and title bar. The DWM handles all the compositing, so in effect the game is no different from any other window. You can have your mouse and keyboard attention on the second monitor, and it will still be rendering on the first. For most players, borderless mode is the solution precisely because of that one distinction in how things are put together.
9 Proven Fixes to Stop Games Minimizing on Dual Monitors
1. Switch to Borderless Windowed Mode
This is the single most effective fix, for the technical reasons explained above. With borderless windowed mode dual monitor setups finally behave the way you expect: the game fills your main screen edge to edge, yet you can click anything on your second monitor and the game stays put.
Here is how to enable it:
- Open your game’s settings menu.
- Go to the Display or Video options.
- Find Display Mode and change it from Fullscreen to Borderless, Borderless Windowed, or Windowed Fullscreen (games name it differently).
- Apply the changes and restart the game if prompted.
2. Set Your Gaming Monitor as the Main Display
By default, Windows will tie the taskbar, notifications and any fullscreen application to the screen it considers the main display. Should you be playing a game on a secondary monitor, for instance, you are much more prone to run into focus conflicts.
The remedy is simple. Go to Display settings by right-clicking the desktop, then select the monitor in question and put a check next to Make this my main display after scrolling down. It is a minor adjustment but one that puts an end to all manner of minimizing problems.
3. Disable Fullscreen Optimizations
Most games in Windows 11 are subject to a feature known as fullscreen optimizations, something the OS puts in place without fanfare. When a game makes an exclusive fullscreen call, the system will step in and handle it via the flip model, running the title in an optimized borderless mode.
The idea is to have the best of both worlds: windowed flexibility and the performance one expects from fullscreen. But for all that theory, the arrangement can be a source of confusion for some games, leading to odd stuttering on an alt-tab or erratic minimizing. A more predictable experience is had by disabling the option and putting the game in genuine exclusive fullscreen.
- Right-click the game’s .exe file or shortcut.
- Select Properties, then open the Compatibility tab.
- Check Disable fullscreen optimization.
- Click Apply, then OK.
Repeat this for each game that gives you trouble. Test both states, since some titles run better with the feature on.
4. Turn Off Game Mode and Silence Notifications
While Game Mode is meant to put your game first by reassigning CPU and GPU resources, it can be at odds with multi-screen setups on certain machines. Try disabling it under Settings > Gaming > Game Mode for a better experience.
Then there are notifications, which have a way of stealing the show. One toast alert is enough to pull an exclusive fullscreen game back to the taskbar. To put a stop to that, head over to Settings > System > Notifications and in the Turn on do not disturb automatically section, make sure When playing a game is selected. From then on Windows will handle the suppression of any alerts while you are in a fullscreen title.
5. Update Your Graphics Drivers Properly
When drivers are out of date, a display will tend to drop its connection and have to renegotiate, an interruption that will minimize any fullscreen application. The best way to get the current driver is to download it from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel; do not put your faith in Windows Update as it is prone to serving up older builds.
Should an ordinary update fail to resolve the matter, a clean installation is in order. Both the AMD and NVIDIA installers have an option for this that will scrub away any corrupted settings left over from before. In cases of more entrenched driver conflict, one can use the free Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to eliminate all vestiges of the old software prior to putting in a new one.
6. Hunt Down Focus-Stealing Background Apps
There are programs that will insist on your attention in the middle of a game session. You will often see this with overlays, updaters or RGB utilities. A good practice is to hit Ctrl + Shift + Esc for the Task Manager and put an end to any unnecessary processes before you start playing.
Should you be looking for the culprit, the Startup apps tab in Task Manager is where to find it; disable what is not essential and put them back one by one after your next session. For those who want to see the evidence of a process taking over, Microsoft offers the PowerToys suite at no cost with tools to log window activity. The Event Viewer will also have a record of any application errors that line up with each time the game is minimized.
7. Adjust Your Taskbar Settings
If you want to stop game minimizing when clicking second monitor apps, showing the taskbar on both screens helps. Right-click the taskbar, open Taskbar settings, expand Taskbar behaviors, and enable Show my taskbar on all displays. You can then launch and switch second-screen apps directly from that monitor’s own taskbar, which reduces accidental interactions with the game window.
8. Match Refresh Rates and Check Cables
There is a tendency for micro-stutters to appear when one has a 144 Hz gaming monitor paired with a 60 Hz secondary, and on some older versions of Windows the DWM may even reset the display as it tries to cope with the timing disparity.
To put an end to it, there are two remedies. Start by making sure both screens are at their proper refresh rates under Settings > System > Display > Advanced display. Then, if you can, use a DisplayPort connection for the main gaming unit rather than HDMI; the occasional handshake issue with HDMI is well known for causing the kind of momentary drop that will force a game to minimize.
9. Stop Windows from Letting Apps Steal Focus (Advanced)
There is a timeout built into Windows to govern the length of time an application has to wait before it is allowed to push itself to the foreground. On certain systems the value is zero, so a background process can take focus right away. For those who wish to increase it, the Registry Editor will do the trick. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and put in 30d40 (hex) for ForegroundLockTimeout, then do a restart. Of course, one should only tinker with the registry if they are at ease doing so and make sure to have a backup on hand beforehand.
Build a Better Two-Screen Gaming Station with SmartPanels
The first order of business is to put an end to the minimizing problem. But the real value lies in maintaining an orderly workspace on both screens’ day in and day out, for which we have SmartPanels.
This Windows application will record your entire workspace down to the last detail – window placement, app configuration, browser tabs and put it all back in a matter of seconds. In the case of a dual monitor gaming rig, it is quite a different experience. Set up a profile with your launcher on one side and have Discord or OBS and a guide on the other, windows placed just so. Then when you are done with your session, a single click reverts you to your work layout, apps and tabs and all.
SmartPanels can accommodate any arrangement of up to six displays. With custom hotkeys there is no need to be dragging windows about to get from a gaming to a work profile. And since it works with Chrome, Firefox and Edge, your second screen’s browser is restored as you left it. Unlike other tools for dual monitors that are content to snap windows into a grid, this one retains the whole session, so you do not have to reconstruct your desktop with every task change. Profiles can be e-mailed to your team as well.
There is a 14-day trial available for nothing at SmartPanels.
Final Thoughts
There is a method to what may seem like random behaviour when running games on a dual monitor. Often, the culprit is exclusive fullscreen mode; a quick change to borderless windowed will put an end to it in no time. Should you run into something more obstinate, make sure your primary display is set right, turn off any fullscreen optimizations and notifications, get a clean install of your graphics drivers and see that the refresh rates are in sync.
When your games have been tamed, you can put some order in the rest of your workspace. With SmartPanels, a single click or hotkey is all it takes to have every window, app layout and browser tab on your monitors restored to where they were left. It does not matter if you are moving from a raid to a work call and back, your setup is prepared for you.
In short, the desktop works as it should. Put an end to the daily chore of rebuilding it and begin a 14-day free trial over at SmartPanels.