Fix for applications that do not support high DPI

I recently got a Microsoft Surface Pro, which has a high DPI display.  Many apps do not display properly, because they are not DPI-aware.  Here’s how to fix that in Windows 10/Windows Server 2016:

  1. If the program(s) you need to fix are in the Program Files folder(s), you’ll need Administrator rights.
  2. In your registry, tell Windows to prefer external program manifests over embedded ones:
    1. In RegEdit, go to the key:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide
    2. Add a new DWORD 32-bit value:
      PreferExternalManifest
      and set it to 1.
  3. Create a text file in the same folder as the program with the exact same name as your the program including the .exe extension, and add a second extension, .manifest.  So, if your program is called Program.exe, you’ll create a new text file called Program.exe.manifest.
  4. Edit the text file, and add the following code to it:
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
    
    <assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
    
    <dependency>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity
          type="win32"
          name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
          version="6.0.0.0" processorArchitecture="*"
          publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
          language="*">
        </assemblyIdentity>
      </dependentAssembly>
    </dependency>
    
    <dependency>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity
          type="win32"
          name="Microsoft.VC90.CRT"
          version="9.0.21022.8"
          processorArchitecture="amd64"
          publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b">
        </assemblyIdentity>
      </dependentAssembly>
    </dependency>
    
    <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
      <security>
        <requestedPrivileges>
          <requestedExecutionLevel
            level="asInvoker"
            uiAccess="false"/>
        </requestedPrivileges>
      </security>
    </trustInfo>
    
    <asmv3:application>
      <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">
        <ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware xmlns:ms_windowsSettings="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">false</ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware>
      </asmv3:windowsSettings>
    </asmv3:application>
    
    </assembly>
    

Note that if you right-click and select Properties in Windows 10, there’s also a compatibility mode tab which has a setting that lets you override the application’s scaling properties.  However, this doesn’t seem to work on an RDP connection.  The manifest method above does work in RDP.

Source