I’m trying to get different apps and games to display in full screen on my Windows PC, but some only show a window with borders or a small centered screen. I’ve tried maximizing them, but that’s not true full screen. What are the different ways or shortcuts to force real full screen mode in Windows for browsers, games, and regular programs?
For Windows fullscreen there are a few different things going on. Maximized window, borderless fullscreen, and exclusive fullscreen. Different apps use different modes, so you need a few tricks.
- Keyboard shortcuts
- For almost every game, try Alt + Enter.
That forces exclusive fullscreen in a lot of older titles. - Some newer games use F11 for fullscreen, same as browsers.
- For emulators or media players, check their own hotkeys. Often F or Alt + Enter.
- Check in‑game display settings
Go to Settings or Options in the game.
Look for Display or Graphics.
Common modes:
- Fullscreen or Exclusive fullscreen
- Borderless window or Borderless fullscreen
- Windowed
Pick either Fullscreen or Borderless.
Set resolution to match your monitor native res. Example: 1920x1080 or 2560x1440.
If the game runs at a smaller res than your monitor, you will often see a small centered image or black bars.
- GPU scaling and black bars
If you see a small centered screen, your GPU might add black borders.
For NVIDIA
- Right click desktop
- Open NVIDIA Control Panel
- Display
- Adjust desktop size and position
- Scaling: pick Full-screen
- Perform scaling on: GPU
- Check Override the scaling mode set by games and programs if stuff ignores it
For AMD
- Open AMD Software
- Settings
- Display
- Turn on GPU Scaling
- Set Scaling Mode to Full panel
For Intel
- Right click desktop
- Graphics Settings or Intel Graphics Command Center
- Display
- Set Scaling to Scale Full Screen
- Windows display settings
Right click desktop
Display settings
Make sure
- Resolution is set to the monitor native value
- Scale is 100 percent for testing
Some older apps freak out with 125 percent or 150 percent scaling.
- Borderless fullscreen with tools
If a game refuses true fullscreen, you can fake it.
Third party tools like
- Borderless Gaming
- Windowed Borderless Gaming
They take a normal window, remove borders, and stretch it to full monitor size.
Good for older or stubborn games.
Do not use with anti cheat heavy games though, that sometimes causes problems.
- Compatibility tab tweaks
For older games, right click the exe
Properties
Compatibility
Try
- Disable fullscreen optimizations
- Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 7 or XP for very old stuff
Test again with Alt + Enter after that.
- Media players and browsers
- VLC, MPC, etc. often use F or Alt + Enter for fullscreen
- Chrome, Edge, Firefox use F11
If video stays small in a browser, click the video player fullscreen icon first, then F11 for full browser fullscreen.
- Multi monitor gotchas
If you have more than one monitor
- Games sometimes open on the wrong display
- Set your main monitor in Windows Display settings
- Some games let you pick Display 1 or Display 2 under Graphics
If fullscreen keeps Alt‑Tabbing to another screen, try disabling the other monitor while testing.
Try in this order on a specific game:
Alt + Enter
Then set Display Mode to Fullscreen in game settings
Then match game resolution to monitor
Then adjust GPU scaling to Full-screen
If one specific title still refuses, post game name plus GPU model and monitor res. That stuff matters a lot for fullscreen issues.
Couple of extra angles on top of what @stellacadente said, especially for stuff that refuses to behave like a normal fullscreen app.
- Check app‑specific “fullscreen” toggles
Some programs have their own fullscreen that is different from Windows or the GPU:
- Old Flash / legacy web games: you often need to click their internal fullscreen icon, then hit F11 for browser fullscreen.
- Emulators (PCSX2, Dolphin, etc.): there’s usually a “Start in Fullscreen” box in their settings. Maximizing the window is not the same thing in those.
- Windows game mode & focus junk
Sometimes you are in fullscreen, but Windows loves to layer its stuff on top.
- Settings → Gaming → Game Mode → turn it on.
- Under “Graphics” (Windows 11): set the problem game to “High performance” and “Let Windows decide” for optimizations.
Weird, but I’ve seen games go from weird small centered box to proper fullscreen after that, especially on laptops with iGPU + dGPU.
- Display refresh rate mismatch
If your desktop is at 144 Hz and a game forces 60 Hz, some drivers handle scaling badly and you get a tiny centered image or borders.
- Right click desktop → Display settings → Advanced display → set refresh rate to the main one you actually want your games at.
Then in the game, match that refresh rate and resolution.
I actually disagree slightly with forcing GPU scaling to “Full-screen” in the driver like @stellacadente suggested in every case.
On some modern monitors, driver scaling fights with monitor scaling and you get blurriness or weird aspect issues.
Try: - First, scaling in the monitor OSD (“Aspect” or “Full”)
- Only if that fails, then force GPU scaling.
- Aspect ratio: 4:3 vs 16:9 vs ultrawide
Older stuff that was made for 4:3:
- If your monitor is 16:9 or 21:9 and you stretch it, you’ll get full screen but everything’s fat.
- If you want no distortion: enable “Preserve aspect ratio” in your GPU or monitor. That will give you black bars on the sides, fullscreen height, not a tiny postage stamp in the middle.
If you are seeing a very small center image, often it’s actually running at a super low res like 640×480 and the monitor refuses to scale properly. Try raising the in‑game resolution to at least 1024×768 or higher.
- Windows compatibility DPI & high DPI monitors
On high DPI screens (like 4K), some older apps “think” your desktop is smaller.
- Right click the app exe
- Properties → Compatibility → “Change high DPI settings”
- Check “Override high DPI scaling behavior” and pick “Application.”
That can force the app to render properly and then you can use its fullscreen / Alt + Enter successfully instead of it sitting in a baby window.
- For stuff that REALLY won’t fullscreen: Virtual desktops or custom resolution
If tools like Borderless Gaming aren’t an option (anti‑cheat, etc.), one hacky approach:
- Temporarily change your desktop resolution to match the app’s resolution
- Run the app maximized or in its fake fullscreen
With desktop and app matching, it basically feels like true fullscreen even if technically it’s not. Clunky, but works for some ancient titles.
If you list a specific app or game plus your monitor resolution and GPU model, people can usually tell you exactly which combo of these tricks works and which ones to avoid.