When you log into a remote Windows Server that is headless or within a VM/VPS, you will very likely get a very low resolution screen to work on.
This is a way to get a Windows Server 2016 2019 2022 working with what is effectively a virtual display adaptor or system modification.

Sometimes its 800×600 or 1024×768 but in the real world that is very difficult to work with – So here is how to set a reasonable 1920×1080.

Method 1:
  1. Open Registry Editor:
    • On the target machine/server, run “regedit.”
  2. Navigate to the Graphics Drivers Configuration:
    • Go to “\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers\Configuration”
  3. Identify the Correct “Virtual” Monitor:
    • Find the appropriate “virtual” monitor. In this case, it was labelled as NOEDID_8086_3E91_00000000_00020000_31013^53F8D5930757FC6478DA395B2023D3E0
  4. Check Subfolder “00”:
    • If you’re unsure, navigate to the “00” subfolder.
    • Look for values PrimSurfSize.cx and PrimSurfSize.cy.
  5. Resolution Adjustment:
    • To set your desired resolution:
      • The easiest way is to select the ‘decimal’ option and simply enter the resolution.
      • Calculate the correct value (in hexadecimal) using Windows Calculator in “Programmer mode.”
      • Alternatively, use 780 for .cx and 438 for .cy to achieve a modern 1920 x 1080 resolution.
  6. Repeat for Additional Monitors:
    • If necessary, explore further by going deeper into the second “00” subfolder and repeat the process.

Remember to restart your PC after making any changes.

Method 2:

Check which processor is showing in your ‘System Information’.
Some VM/VPS Windows Servers will have a AMD or Intel XEON processor and this will be a clue as to which alternative non-recommended driver to install.
In a recent server we had this problem with it had a Intel Xeon – Skylake E-2100 – 2100Mhz vCPU which technically does not have a graphics chipset on the CPU.
This lead us to try using the Intel 520 Graphics Chipset which was found here:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19547/intel-uhd-graphics-driver-for-server-systems-based-on-the-intel-xeon-e-2100-e-2200-processor.html
The driver mentioned compatibility with Windows 10 only but we forced the install and it worked perfectly. On some systems after this install we had to go back and use the registry patch in method 1 post installation to get the 1920×1080 resolution we had hoped for.

Method 3:

Try a Virtual Display adaptor on your Windows Server.
We tried this one: https://www.amyuni.com/downloads/usbmmidd_v2.zip
There is a fairly good explanation on this page: https://www.amyuni.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3030
And info on how to make it persistent here: https://kaanlabs.com/create-persistent-virtual-displays-in-windows-with-usbmmidd/
This does seem to work on Windows Server as well as Windows 10 and 11.
Below is a copy of the contents from that blog page – It has been duplicated in the event it gets removed from the source.

There are situations where you need to simulate one or more secondary monitors being connected to your system. This is mostly needed for remote control applications or USB type monitors such as the Amyuni USB Mobile Monitor product.

Prior to Windows 10, it was easy to simulate that a second monitor is connected by activating a VGA monitor through the display settings. Windows 10 removed this option. We are providing here a simple and free solution to create up to 4 virtual monitors on your system.

Here is the procedure to add a virtual monitor to your system (Windows 10 and Higher!)
Download our virtual display driver from https://www.amyuni.com/downloads/usbmmidd_v2.zip
Unpack the zip file to an empty folder, e.g. c:\temp\usbmmidd_v2
Make sure you read the License.txt file as with any other software product
Open a command prompt window as Administrator (you cannot add a device to your system unless you "Run As Administrator")
Run the following commands:
cd c:\temp\usbmmid_v2 (or whatever destination folder you chose)
deviceinstaller64 install usbmmidd.inf usbmmidd
Make sure you see the message that the drivers are signed by Amyuni Technologies Inc. This is a confirmation that the drivers went through Microsoft driver signing procedure and are virus free
deviceinstaller64 enableidd 1
You can run the last command up to four times in order to add 4 virtual monitors to Windows 10.

If you are on a 32-bit system, replace "deviceinstaller64" by "deviceinstaller"

The included batch file usbmmidd.bat runs these commands automatically and selects between the 32- or 64-bit version of deviceinstaller. If you are not comfortable opening a command prompt and entering these commands, right-click on usbmmidd.bat and "Run As Administrator."

That's it. You now have a high definition monitor in your Display Settings. The default resolution is 1920x1080 pixels, if you need other resolutions, check the included idd_instructions.txt file for how to specify your own resolution(s). In the Display Settings of your system, you can position the monitor, change the resolution, extend the desktop or do whatever you do with a real monitor.

To deactivate the virtual monitor, run the command:
deviceinstaller64 enableidd 0
(If you've added more than one virtual display, run this command multiple times)

to reactivate it:
deviceinstaller64 enableidd 1

To completely remove the drivers from your system, you can either go through the Device Manager and uninstall "USB Mobile Monitor Virtual Display", or run the commands:
deviceinstaller64 stop usbmmidd
deviceinstaller64 remove usbmmid

For more details about USB Mobile Monitor, visit our dedicated website: www.usbmobilemonitor.com

Other things to try if all else fails:

Click Start > Settings > System > Display
Scroll down to the bottom

Click Advanced display settings
Click Display adapter properties for Display

Monitor tab
Change the screen refresh rate to 59 MHz

Try changing the other ControlSet001\ or 002\ options instead of ControlSet\

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\GraphicsDrivers\Configuration\NOEDID_xxxxxxxxxxx>\00
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\GraphicsDrivers\Configuration\NOEDID_xxxxxxxxxxxx>\00\00

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