Do you want to work in portrait mode, or has someone played a prank on you by turning the screen upside down? Or perhaps you’ve connected an external display and your primary screen has gone haywire as a result. If your screen is not properly configured, it can make your tasks more difficult to complete. So, how do you rotate your PC’s screen in Windows?
Learning how to rotate the screen in Windows 10 is useful for more than just 2-in-1 laptop owners. Being able to quickly switch from landscape to portrait mode on a touchscreen laptop is certainly useful, but many of the best monitors can rotate 90 degrees, allowing you to have a second screen for your PC without taking up as much horizontal space on your desk.
The ability to rotate the screen on Windows 10 can be helpful in a variety of situations. For example, if you’re a programmer who uses an external monitor, switching to portrait mode can improve efficiency when viewing code. Switching the orientation of the screen on a tablet can be a better way to read a book or document. You can even flip the screen upside down to fool a friend or to return to landscape mode after inadvertently invoking the rotate shortcut.
Whatever the reason, Windows 10 includes several options for rotating the screen in landscape, portrait, or flipped mode via the Settings app and keyboard shortcuts, or via the vendor’s graphics control panel software.
In this article, I’ll show you how to flip or rotate your Windows 10 machine’s monitor in a variety of orientations, as well as how to fix a sideways computer screen or a windows screen upside down.
Why is My Windows Screen Upside Down?
You may have accidentally pressed a key combination on your keyboard, causing your computer screen to appear flipped.
There are also instances when it makes sense to view your projects or other virtual information vertically. Perhaps you’re a graphic designer working on a poster and want to see what a portrait view of your subject will look like. Or perhaps you frequently create spreadsheets that make sense only in vertical screen orientation.
Of course, horizontal orientation is the default, and it’s also the standard for everyday web browsing, surfing, and other common tasks. But, if you find yourself in a situation where you need to change your perspective, we’ve got the steps you can take below to show you how to flip your screen.
How to Rotate Screen on Windows 10 via Settings
Follow these steps to rotate the screen using the Settings app:
- Navigate to Settings.
- Select System.
- Select Display.
- Select the screen you want to rotate from the Rearrange your displays section (if applicable).
- In the Scale and layout section, choose your preferred orientation by clicking the dropdown options under Display orientation:
- Landscape
- Portrait
- Landscape (flipped)
- Portrait (flipped)
- Rotate the monitor to the desired orientation as needed.
- Keep changes by clicking the Keep changes button.
When you finish the steps, the display will switch to your preferred orientation.
If the rotation option is grayed out or the keyboard shortcuts aren’t working, the video drivers may need to be updated. You can either manually update the outdated drivers or use Driver Updater to automatically install the latest version of your graphics driver.
You can always return to the original orientation of your screen by repeating these steps and selecting Landscape from the drop-down list.
How to Fix Sideways Computer Screen with Hotkeys
Some PCs have hotkeys that, when pressed, quickly rotate the screen. These are provided by Intel graphics drivers and are only available on certain PCs. If your PC’s display suddenly rotated while you were pressing something on the keyboard, you most likely accidentally triggered the hotkey.
Ctrl+Alt+Arrow is the hotkey combination for rotating your screen. Ctrl+Alt+Up Arrow, for example, returns your screen to its normal upright rotation; Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow rotates it 90 degrees; Ctrl+Alt+Down Arrow flips it upside down (180 degrees), and Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow rotates it 270 degrees.
You can change or disable these hotkeys by using the Hot Key Manager tool in the Intel Graphics Control Panel on your PC. Right-click your desktop and select Intel Graphics Settings or press Ctrl+Alt+F12 to open the Intel control panel. Navigate to Support > Hot Key Manager after clicking Options.
If you don’t see the Intel Graphics Settings tool on your PC, it’s likely that you’re not using Intel graphics. If you don’t see screen rotation shortcuts on the Hot Key Manager screen, your PC doesn’t have them.
How to Rotate Your Screen Using Your Graphics Driver’s Control Panel
Depending on the graphics hardware in your PC, options for rotating the screen may be available in your Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD graphics drivers. The built-in Windows option, on the other hand, should work on all PCs. If Windows is unable to change your screen rotation for some reason, you may be able to do so through the control panel of your graphics driver.
Right-click the desktop and select Intel Graphics Settings. Select Display and pick the display orientation that you need. It will only be present on a few PCs.
This option is also no longer available in the latest versions of the Catalyst Control Center on PCs with AMD graphics. It was previously located under Common Display Tasks, but now you must change your screen rotation from the standard Windows Settings app or Control Panel instead.
Right-click the desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel. Under Display, select Rotate Display and select your screen orientation.
Conclusion
Flipping or rotating your phone screen happens automatically when you change the position of your smartphone, and you probably don’t even notice it. Knowing how to change the orientation of your computer screen is an important skill to have in your toolbox. It’s also a good idea to learn how to auto-lock your rotation if you’re watching a video from an unusual angle or need to flip the screen for presentation purposes.
