With the advent of newer technology using high-resolution displays, this has led to a lot of Dynamics GP end-users complaining about eyestrain or un-readability of the screens. The root cause of the issue is Dynamics GP’s use of bitmap fonts and the default bitmap size being set when the machine is first setup, as well as not scaling well with the newer, high-resolution displays. With the introduction of Windows 8.1 and 10, Microsoft seems to have come up with a better way of managing high-resolution displays by introducing the use “scaling” to increase the font of graphics sizes.
Unfortunately, this didn’t work with Dynamics GP’s original bitmap fonts size being set during setup. Thankfully, now there is a solution. (Full credit goes to Gianluca Sartori for his article showing how to implement this fix and Steve Endow, a Microsoft MVP that applied this fix to Dynamics GP — I didn’t come up with any of this myself.)
If you want to give this a try, you do so at your own risk. If you don’t know how to edit the registry or fix things if your computer goes haywire doing this, you should “consult an expert” to assist you.
Save this text to a file called “Scaling.reg”.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide]
“PreferExternalManifest”=dword:00000001
Once you have created the “reg” file, double click on it to import it into the Windows registry on the machine where Dynamics GP is installed.
Note: The registry changes do not take effect until the system has been restarted. You MUST reboot after making the registry changes.
Then save this text to a file called Dynamics.exe.manifest.
<?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>
Then copy your new Dynamics.exe.manifest file to the GP application directory where the Dynamics.exe file is located.
If deployed correctly, you should now see something like this after opening Dynamics GP with “scaling” set before 100%.
Instead of what you used to see previously.
Hopefully, this helps get you past your eyestrain and makes reading the Dynamics GP screens a little easier on your high-resolution displays. Thanks to Gianluca Sartori for the original idea and fix, and Steve Endow for making it available for Dynamics GP.
[avatar user=”bcrowell” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” /]BARRY CROWELL, MBA | BI/EDW Solution Architect
Barry is a Microsoft SQL Certified Professional with a strong knowledge of the Microsoft’s BI Stack (SSIS, SSRS, SSAS and Power BI). He has architected, developed and deployed clients’ Business Intelligence needs using Microsoft’s BI Stack and/or Solver’s BI360. His solutions have included SSIS ETL tools, SSRS reports and dashboards, Excel dashboards, Power BI reports and dashboards, and SSAS cubes. He has performed implementations as the lead consultant and/or end-user project manager. Barry has over 20 years of experience working in accounting and the Microsoft Dynamics GP industry, and in various industries such as housing authorities, universities, Tribal governments, and casino hospitality. He possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Business Administration from Black Hills State University and a Master’s in Business Administration from La Salle University. Barry’s experience in both the IT consultant field and experience as an accountant gives him the ability to understand the issues from both the IT and Finance prospective, and provide a solution that fits the needs for all parties involved.
