How to disable scaling in apps on Windows 10

Larger monitors are great for the screen real estate they provide but in order to use them, especially one that’s an HD display you have to scale it up or everything is going to be too small. Windows 10 has a built-in scaling feature that works, and it mostly works well. The scaling applies to everything the OS’ UI, and the apps that you’ve installed. While Windows 10 works great when it’s scaled up, the apps are a different story. Not all apps work well with this feature and often you get blurry text and overflowing elements making it difficult to use the app. Here’s how you can disable scaling in apps but still keep it On for Windows 10.

Disable scaling in apps

First things first, if you’re not already using scaling but intend to, turn it on and set it to the scale that suits your screen. You can enable scaling from the Settings app. Go to the System group of settings and select the Display tab.

Once you’ve done that, check which apps have problems with scaling. To disable scaling for a particular app, you need to first examine how you access it i.e., the app shortcut that you use. Find it, and right-click it. From the context menu, select Properties. Look for a tab called Compatibility. If this tab is absent, look for the app’s EXE in its install folder. This should be in the Program Files or Program Files(x86) folder in your Windows drive. If the tab is still absent, the app likely doesn’t support scaling.

On the Compatibility tab, click the ‘Change high DPI settings’ button.

In the new window that opens, enable the ‘Override high DPI scaling behavior. Scaling performed by:’ option, and open the dropdown under it. Select the ‘System’ option, and click OK.

It’s a good idea to restart the app, and your system after you make changes to the scaling settings. The above method should be repeated for all apps. That’s all there is to it. It seems you cannot disable scaling for UWP apps. This method only works for desktop apps though you’ll find that they’re the ones that generally do not work well with Windows 10 scaling.

If you’re having trouble with a UWP app i.e., blurred text or overflowing UI elements, it might be a problem with the app itself. You can go to advanced scaling settings in the Settings app and allow Windows 10 to fix these problems. It may, or may not make a difference.