How to Stop Games Minimizing on Dual Monitors in Windows 11

To stop a game from minimizing when you click your second monitor in Windows 11, change the game’s display mode from Fullscreen (exclusive) to Borderless Windowed or Windowed in its own video settings. Windows itself has no documented switch that keeps an exclusive full-screen game on screen once focus moves away.

You glance at Discord on your second screen, click it to reply, and your full-screen game drops to the taskbar mid-match. The fixes below apply to Windows 11, including 24H2 and 25H2, on PCs with two or more monitors.

Why Clicking the Other Screen Minimizes the Game

Most PC games offer some version of three display modes, and the one you pick decides what happens when you click away.

Mode	How it works	What happens when you click the other monitor
Fullscreen (exclusive)	The game takes direct control of its monitor for the lowest overhead	The game loses focus, gives up the screen, and usually minimizes
Borderless Windowed	The game runs in a window with no frame, sized to fill the screen	The game stays visible; your click goes to the other app
Windowed	The game runs in a normal window with a title bar	The game stays visible but doesn’t fill the screen unless you maximize it

Clicking Discord, a browser or the desktop on your second monitor moves keyboard and mouse focus to that window. An exclusive full-screen game typically gives the display back to Windows when it loses focus, and many games do that by minimizing. In most cases that’s how the game’s full-screen mode behaves, not a fault in your setup.

Microsoft’s documentation doesn’t describe any Windows 11 setting that changes this for exclusive full-screen games. That’s why the fix almost always happens inside the game.

Switch the Game to Borderless or Windowed Mode

This is the fix that works for most games.

1. Start the game and open its Settings or Options menu.
2. Look for a Video, Graphics or Display section.
3. Find the setting called Display Mode, Window Mode or Screen Mode.
4. Choose Borderless Windowed if it’s offered. If it isn’t, choose Windowed.
5. Apply the change. Some games ask you to confirm or restart.
6. Click your second monitor to test. The game should stay on its screen while your click goes to the other app.

Games label these modes differently. You may see “Borderless,” “Windowed Fullscreen,” “Fullscreen Windowed” or “Fake Fullscreen,” and they usually mean the same thing as Borderless Windowed. A game that only lists “Fullscreen” and “Windowed” sometimes treats its Fullscreen option as borderless already, so test it before changing anything. If the label is unclear, check the game’s own support page or patch notes.

Picture a player, Dmitri, who keeps a raid guide open on a second monitor. With the game set to Fullscreen, every glance and click at the guide minimizes the game. After switching to Borderless Windowed, he can click the guide, scroll, and click back into the game without losing his view.

If the Game Has No Borderless Option

Try these in order:

• Alt + Enter. In many games this toggles between full screen and windowed. It isn’t universal, and some games ignore it.
• Windowed, then maximize. Set the game to Windowed, click its window, and press Windows key + Up arrow to maximize it. You’ll keep a title bar, but the game shouldn’t minimize when you click elsewhere.
• Launch options. Some games and launchers accept launch options that start the game in a borderless or windowed mode (Steam, for example, lets you add launch options in a game’s Properties). The option that works, if any, depends on the game, so check the game’s own documentation before adding one.

For more on how full screen works in different apps and games, see this overview of going full screen on Windows 11.

Turn On Optimizations for Windowed Games

A common worry is that windowed modes cost performance. Windows 11 has a setting that helps here, though it doesn’t stop minimizing on its own.

According to Microsoft’s Optimizations for windowed games page, the feature applies to DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 games running windowed or borderless windowed. It switches them to a newer presentation model that can lower latency and lets them use Auto HDR and variable refresh rate on supported displays.

1. Select Start, then Settings.
2. Go to System > Display > Graphics.
3. Under Default settings, turn on Optimizations for windowed games.
4. Restart the game.

To change it for one game only, go to the same Graphics page, find the game under Custom options for apps, select it, choose Options, set the switch, and select Save, then restart the game. If Auto HDR is on, Microsoft notes that you have to turn Auto HDR off before you can turn this setting off.

If your PC has more than one graphics processor (common on gaming laptops), the same Options panel lets you set the game’s Graphics preference to High performance so it uses the more powerful GPU.

Stop Notifications and Overlays From Stealing Focus

If the game minimizes even when you don’t click anything, another app is probably taking focus. A pop-up, an update prompt or an overlay appearing can have the same effect as a click.

Turn on Do not disturb while you play:

1. Open Settings > System > Notifications.
2. Expand Turn on do not disturb automatically.
3. Tick When playing a game and When using an app in full-screen mode.
4. If you want calls, reminders or a specific app to get through, use the Calls and reminders boxes and the Apps section (Add apps) on the same page.

Microsoft’s notifications and Do not disturb page lists these options.

Then look at overlays and helpers that draw on top of games:

• Game overlays from Xbox Game Bar, Discord, Steam and graphics-card software. Turn them off one at a time in each app’s settings to find the one that causes trouble.
• Apps that pop up windows on their own, such as launchers, updaters and chat apps. Close them or stop them from starting with Windows in Task Manager > Startup apps.
• Anything that flashes a window when it finishes a task, such as a download manager.

Set Up Your Second Monitor Around the Game

A few display settings make the two-screen layout easier to live with. None of them is documented as a fix for minimizing, but they reduce the reasons to click back and forth.

• Main display. Many games open on the main display. In Settings > System > Display, select the gaming monitor, expand Multiple displays and tick the option to make it your main display. The full steps are in this walkthrough on changing the main display in Windows 11.
• Extend mode. The second screen needs to be in Extend mode (Windows key + P) to show different content. If you’re still arranging screens, the guide to setting up multiple monitors on Windows 11 covers it.
• The right screen for the game. If the game opens on the wrong monitor, look for a Monitor, Display or Adapter option next to the display mode in its video settings. In borderless or windowed mode, you can also click the game and press Windows key + Shift + Left or Right arrow to move it to the other screen.
• Taskbar on both screens. In Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors, you’ll typically find an option to show the taskbar on all displays. With it on, you can switch apps from the second screen without reaching over the game.

If the Game Still Minimizes

Work out which kind of problem you have first.

• It minimizes only when you click the other screen. The game is most likely still in exclusive full screen. Recheck the in-game display mode; some games may reset it after an update or when you change resolution.
• It minimizes at random. Something is probably taking focus. Go back to the notifications and overlays section above.
• It minimizes and won’t come back, or the screen goes black. Update the graphics driver from your GPU maker or through Windows Update. The steps for updating your graphics driver in Windows 11 cover both routes.

Two quick tests narrow it down:

1. Unplug or turn off the second monitor and play for a while. If random minimizing stops, look at what’s running on that screen.
2. Sign in to Windows and launch only the game, with no other apps open. If the problem goes away, add apps back one at a time.

Some games pause or mute when they lose focus, even in borderless mode. Look for a game setting such as “Pause on focus loss,” “Run in background” or “Mute when unfocused” if you want the game to keep running while you use the other screen.

Limits of the Windows Settings

There’s no Windows 11 setting in Microsoft’s documentation that keeps an exclusive full-screen game from minimizing when you click another monitor. Game Mode, Do not disturb and the windowed-games optimization help with other things, but none of them is documented to change that behavior.

Third-party tools that force games into borderless windows or block focus changes do exist. Be careful with them: many of them work by hooking into the game, which anti-cheat software in online games may flag. The in-game borderless setting is the safer route.

Other Dual-Monitor Gaming Questions

Does Borderless Windowed lower my frame rate?

It can in some games, since the game shares the screen with the Windows desktop instead of taking it over. For DirectX 10 and 11 games, Microsoft’s Optimizations for windowed games setting is meant to lower latency in these modes. Test both modes in a game you know well and compare.

Should I turn Game Mode off to fix minimizing?

There’s no Microsoft guidance that links Game Mode to minimizing on a second monitor. Microsoft says Game Mode should be on by default. Leave it on unless you’re testing one change at a time. See how to turn Game Mode on or off in Windows 11 if you want to try both ways.

Can I Alt + Tab out of the game without it minimizing?

In borderless or windowed mode, yes: Alt + Tab moves to the other app and the game stays visible. In exclusive full screen, Alt + Tab usually minimizes the game the same way a click does.

Why does my mouse slip onto the second screen during play?

In borderless and windowed modes, the cursor can move freely between screens. Many games include a “confine cursor” or “lock cursor to window” option in their display or control settings. If yours doesn’t, arranging the second monitor so it touches only one edge of the gaming screen in Display settings can reduce slips.

Does a video player on the other screen cause minimizing?

Usually not. A video playing in a browser on the second monitor normally doesn’t take focus unless you click it or it opens a pop-up.

Next step: once the game behaves, check its resolution and frame-rate settings again. In borderless mode many games follow the desktop’s resolution and refresh rate, so if the refresh rate looks low, set it for that monitor in Settings > System > Display > Advanced display.