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DisplayForge

Windows multi-monitor profile switcher with per-profile hotkeys and system tray residency

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Table of Contents

1. About The Project
2. Features
3. Getting Started
   • Prerequisites
   • Installation
4. Usage
   • Supported languages
   • Data locations
5. Development
   • Architecture overview
6. Roadmap
7. Contributing
8. Project Docs
9. License
10. Acknowledgments

About The Project

Windows multi-monitor profile switcher. Inspired by NirSoft MultiMonitorTool’s save/restore workflow, with per-profile global hotkeys and system tray residency as first-class features.

Main window — profiles, hotkeys, layout editor, and monitor details

System tray — apply a profile, open the app, or exit from the context menu

Built With

• .NET 10 / WPF (Windows desktop UI)
• Windows CCD display API (QueryDisplayConfig / SetDisplayConfig)
• WiX Toolset — MSI + Setup.exe bootstrapper
• Lucide — application and tray icons

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Features

• Save the current monitor layout as a profile
  • Enabled / disabled, primary monitor, resolution, refresh rate, orientation, position
• Apply, duplicate, delete, and rename profiles
• Assign a global hotkey per profile for instant switching
• System tray residency (apply from the context menu)
• UI localization in 31 languages (follows the system language by default; override in Settings)
• Settings and profiles stored as JSON under %AppData%\DisplayForge\

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 / 11 (x64)
• For the MSI package only: .NET 10 Desktop Runtime. The Setup.exe installs it automatically when missing.

Installation

Open the latest release

Item	Details
OS	Windows 10 / 11 (x64)
Recommended	…-Setup.exe (installs everything you need)
Also available	….msi (app only; see below)
Example file names	DisplayForge-0.1.1-win-x64-en-US-Setup.exe, …-ja-JP-Setup.exe
Settings location	%AppData%\DisplayForge\ (kept after uninstall)

Which file should I download? (Setup.exe vs MSI)

Releases include two kinds of installer. They install the same app — pick based on how you want to install:

File	Who it’s for	What it does
…-Setup.exe (recommended)	Most people	Installs DisplayForge. If .NET 10 Desktop Runtime is missing, it installs that first automatically.
….msi	Advanced / IT use	Installs DisplayForge only. You must already have the Desktop Runtime, or the app will not run. Handy for company deployment or silent install with msiexec.

Simple rule: if you’re not sure, download Setup.exe.

• Prefer ja-JP or en-US in the file name for the installer wizard language (Japanese or English). The app itself supports 31 UI languages either way.
• Run the installer as administrator when Windows asks.
• If a release is not available yet, you can build from source.

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Usage

1. Start the app (the main window opens by default)
2. Optionally minimize to the tray; double-click the tray icon to open the window again
3. Create a profile with New from current layout
4. Click the hotkey field and press a chord such as Ctrl+Alt+1
5. Change the Windows display layout, then save another profile the same way
6. Switch with the hotkey or the tray menu

In a normal launch, closing the window keeps the app in the tray. Use Exit on the tray menu to quit. Prefer tray-only startup via Settings → Start minimized to tray.

Supported languages

App UI (31)

Defaults to the Windows display language. Change anytime under Settings → Language. Every installer package includes all of these UI languages.

Note: UI strings (and most installer localizations) were produced with AI assistance. Wording may be imperfect or unnatural in places — feedback and corrections are welcome.

Code	Language	Code	Language
en	English	ja	日本語
zh-Hans	简体中文	zh-Hant	繁體中文
ko	한국어	de	Deutsch
fr	Français	es	Español
pt-BR	Português (Brasil)	pt-PT	Português (Portugal)
it	Italiano	nl	Nederlands
pl	Polski	ru	Русский
uk	Українська	tr	Türkçe
cs	Čeština	sv	Svenska
da	Dansk	nb	Norsk bokmål
fi	Suomi	hu	Magyar
ro	Română	el	Ελληνικά
vi	Tiếng Việt	th	ไทย
id	Bahasa Indonesia	ms	Bahasa Melayu
hi	हिन्दी	ar	العربية
he	עברית

Installer (Setup / MSI wizard)

GitHub Releases currently ship en-US and ja-JP Setup.exe (and MSI) packages (installer wizard language only). The app UI language set above is the same in both packages.

Data locations

File	Contents
%AppData%\DisplayForge\profiles.json	Profile list
%AppData%\DisplayForge\settings.json	Language, notifications, hotkey enablement, etc.

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Development

Requirements: Windows 10/11 x64, .NET 10 SDK

dotnet build
dotnet test
dotnet run --project src/DisplayForge

Build installers locally (Setup.exe + MSI):

.\build-msi.ps1

Full build, silent install, CI/release notes: docs/development.md How to contribute: CONTRIBUTING.md

Architecture overview

src/DisplayForge                 WPF UI / tray / hotkeys
src/DisplayForge.Core            Display API, profiles, matching
tests/DisplayForge.Core.Tests
installer/DisplayForge.Installer WiX MSI
installer/DisplayForge.Bootstrapper WiX Bundle (Setup.exe)

Display changes use the Windows CCD API (QueryDisplayConfig / SetDisplayConfig). The primary monitor is treated as the virtual-desktop origin (0,0).

With dotnet run, closing the window also exits the process (so the shell is not left blocked). To keep tray residency while developing:

dotnet run --project src/DisplayForge -- --tray-on-close

To exit on close even in a normal launch, pass --exit-on-close.

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Roadmap

See the open issues and ROADMAP.md for planned features and known issues.

Known limitations:

• Aimed at extended desktop (Extend). Advanced clone-only editing is not supported
• When a monitor is disconnected, that profile entry is skipped (partial apply)
• On some Windows 11 setups SetDisplayConfig can be flaky; if apply fails, open Windows Display Settings once and try again
• DPI scaling / HDR / window position restore are candidates for future work

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for the workflow (Conventional Commits, DCO sign-off, PR process) and our Code of Conduct.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to DisplayForge. This list is updated automatically from git history.

dreamingdog0529

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Project Docs

Repository automation and community files follow container-registry/oss-project-template (adapted for .NET / Windows installers).

Document	Purpose
CONTRIBUTING.md	Develop, test, PRs, DCO, CI/CD, releases
SUPPORT.md	How to get help
ROADMAP.md	Direction and how to propose work
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md	Community standards
SECURITY.md	Private vulnerability reporting
CODEOWNERS	Default code review owners
CHANGELOG.md	Release history
LICENSE	MIT license text

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License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

MIT © 2026 DisplayForge contributors

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Acknowledgments

• NirSoft MultiMonitorTool — the save/restore workflow that inspired this project
• Lucide (ISC License) — application and tray icons
  • App / tray indicator: monitor-cog (source SVG under src/DisplayForge/Assets/lucide/; packaged as Assets/app.ico)
  • Tray menu: monitor, check, settings, app-window, log-out (same folder)
  • Full license text: src/DisplayForge/Assets/LICENSES/lucide-LICENSE.txt

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