Can anyone help, I attach a larger screen to my laptop so as not to strain my eyes :-) It was working fine, ie it would display exactly the same as the laptop screen. Now however I can only get it to display the background, no icons or menus are shown. Within the settings I cannot make the secondary screen the Primary as the settings are greyed out.
If I deselect 'extend my windows desktop onto this monitor' then the screen goes off completely.
Anyone any ideas why its stopped working for me? not wanting to use both monitors at the same time, just want the larger screen to the primary

What video card are you using Nvidia or ATI? What version of the software for the video card is installed? Did you install any software previous to the loss of your large screen usage?

I'm having the same problem. I'm using an HP Compaq NX9005 laptop which has a Radeon IGP 320M graphics card. I want to use my 15" TFT monitor as the primary and the laptop monitor as secondary.

I upgraded the drivers for my graphics card and since then I've had the problem (I remember having more advanced options in the Display/Settings/Advanced window and they are no longer there. I've tried rolling back to the previous drivers and installing alternatives but to no avail.

I've also recently installed Windows XP SP2.

I'm currently running version 6.14.10.6368

Any help would be gratefully appreciated

Here's the solution (works with Dell laptops anyway).

1. Have ONLY the laptop screen enabled (using display->settings-> ensure that the "extend my windows desktop..." is NOT checked.
2. Now, using the laptop keyboard switch the output of the screen to be the external VDU ONLY by using the Fn+F7 key (or similar combination).
3. The laptop screen should go OFF and the external VDU should go ON.
4. Now do the display->settings routine and ensure that the primary output is the large VDU sceen.
5. Now select the second screen using the "Display" drop-down box and choose the second entry.
6. Click on the "extend my windows..." box and the laptop screen will become active and default to the second screen in the system.

Set up the screen resolutions as required.

Problem solved!

I've Got the same problem as the first guy the only i have an nvidia gforce 440 go and it will not allow me to change the primary output monitor

This works with my Dell Latitude D600.

Connect your external monitor to your laptop.

On your laptop:
Under Display Settings make sure the external is attached and working as the second monitor (the laptop LCD should be primary). Click Apply or OK if you need to.

Go back to Display Settings and Click the Advanced button, then click on the Displays tab. You should see Monitor, Panel, TV and FPD.

Under Monitor click the number 1 button to make it the primary display. Click OK, OK, and you are done.

Note: You will probably need to adjust your resolution and refresh rates.