I have a new Gateway Solo 9300XL laptop, on which I've installed Windows 2000 Professional. I've connected an external monitor to the laptop's back video port; I can direct video output to the laptop screen, the external monitor, or both. One of my coworkers runs Windows 98 Second Edition (Win98SE) and can expand his desktop image across his laptop screen and his external monitor. His system's Display Properties dialog box shows that dual monitors exist on his video card, which is an ATI Technologies RAGE Mobility-M1 AGP, and his Win98SE system gives him the option to expand the desktop. I've read that Win2K Pro supports this type of desktop expansion, but I can't figure out how to make the option work; my display's Properties sheet shows only one monitor, and I don't see the option to expand my desktop. Any idea why this option isn't working?
To stretch a desktop image across two monitors, you must attach either an AGP or PCI video card to each monitor. This requirement makes desktop-image expansion impractical for most laptops. However, if you can manage to attach the proper cards to both monitors, try the following: Right-click your desktop, choose Properties, and go to the Settings tab. You should see an image of two monitors, and you should have the option to expand the image across both. If you don't see two monitors, you can't proceed with the expansion. At that point, I recommend you contact your laptop or video-card support.