Ctrl Alt F8 disconnects displays?

Question

Learning debugging in PhpStorm and keep accidentally hitting Ctrl + Alt + F8. I use 3 displays this disconnects the two remotes and goes bac

Answer 1

Just stumbled across this now. In the hope it helps someone else, and in addition to the accepted answer, here is how to re-connect your 'disconnected' display(s) in Windows 10:

Right Click on the desktop and select display settings:

.

Click on the icon for your disconnected display:

.

Scroll down, down, down and select Extend / Duplicate form list:

Answer 2

If you don't have Administrator access to your computer, you can do what I do:

I use AutoHotKey to define lots of useful function keys. You can easily redefine Ctrl+Alt+F8 to bypass the Intel HD driver with this one-line .ahk text file:

^!f8::msgbox, You hit Ctrl+Alt+F8

If you'd rather just ignore the keystroke:

^!f8::return

While this prevents the Intel driver from seeing that key combination, it prevents all other programs you may be running from seeing it, too. That can also be fixed. For example, if you know that in application "myapp" that keystroke is the same as a series of clicks in the menu, say Alt+E, F, G, you can emulate those clicks just inside that application:

#ifwinactive,myapp
^!f8::send,!efg
#ifwinnotactive,myapp
^!f8::msgbox, You hit Ctrl+Alt+F8

Answer 3

This is about reconnecting.

If it happens just hit WindowsKey+ P, and select again your screen settings.

Answer 4

Something else to try in order to return to some sort of working order quickly...

If your using windows 7 or newer, you can always try getting your screens back by pressing the window key (on the keyboard-bottom left) and the P key at the same time. This will bring up options normally as to how you want your screen to be projected (single, dual, or extended displays). If you tried Win + P and still cannot see anything, try pressing the down arrow on the keyboard. This should bring the display back to normal mode(s).

Answer 5

Problem with the Dockingstation (in my case)

I had the same problem and reset the settings with Ctrl + Alt + F8.

• For me even the restart did not help
• The 2nd screen was not even recognized

But my screens are on a docking station because I have an on / off switch. Once off and on again and then it went again.

So users with docking station, should first try to turn the devices on and off.

Answer 6

This is on ubuntu 18.04 press on

Ctrl+Alt+F1