To rotate the screen in Windows 10, right-click the desktop and select Display settings. Under Display orientation, choose Landscape, Portrait, Landscape (flipped), or Portrait (flipped), then select Keep changes.
If your screen is upside down or sideways, choose Landscape to put it back to normal.
Applies to: Windows 10 desktops, laptops, and 2-in-1s. Microsoft ended Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025, so a PC without Extended Security Updates no longer receives security fixes; that program runs until October 12, 2027.
Rotate the screen in Settings
- Right-click an empty spot on the desktop and select Display settings. You can also go to Start > Settings > System > Display.
- If you have more than one monitor, select the one you want to rotate at the top.
- Open the Display orientation list and choose an orientation.
- Select Keep changes. If you don’t, Windows goes back to the old orientation after 15 seconds.
Which orientation to choose
- Landscape: the normal, wide view.
- Portrait: turned 90 degrees, for a monitor stood on its side.
- Landscape (flipped): upside down.
- Portrait (flipped): turned 90 degrees the other way.
Use a keyboard shortcut
On some PCs with Intel graphics, these shortcuts rotate the screen:
- Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow: normal (landscape)
- Ctrl + Alt + Down arrow: upside down
- Ctrl + Alt + Left arrow or Right arrow: sideways
Many newer PCs have these shortcuts turned off. If nothing happens, use Display settings instead.
Fix an upside-down screen
- Press Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow. If that works, you’re done.
- If not, right-click the desktop and select Display settings. The mouse moves in the rotated direction, so go slowly.
- Set Display orientation to Landscape and select Keep changes.
Turn auto-rotate on or off
On tablets and 2-in-1 laptops, Windows rotates the screen when you turn the device.
- Quick way: open Action Center (Windows + A) and select Rotation lock.
- In Settings: go to Settings > System > Display and turn Rotation lock on or off.
Rotation lock only shows on devices with a rotation sensor. It’s grayed out while the laptop is in laptop mode, not tablet mode.
Use your graphics software
Some PCs also have a rotation option in the graphics app, such as the NVIDIA Control Panel (Display > Rotate display) or Intel Graphics Command Center. Display settings in Windows does the same job.
If you can’t rotate the screen
- Display orientation is grayed out or missing: update your display driver. A PC using Microsoft Basic Display Adapter can’t rotate.
- The screen rotates by itself: turn on Rotation lock.
- Only one monitor should rotate: select that monitor at the top of Display settings before changing the orientation.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my screen turn sideways?
Usually a shortcut was pressed by accident, or a 2-in-1 was turned. Set Display orientation back to Landscape.
Can I rotate just one app?
No. Windows rotates the whole display. Some apps, like Photos, can rotate pictures on their own.
Does rotating the screen change my resolution?
Not really. In portrait, the width and height swap, for example from 1920 × 1080 to 1080 × 1920, but the screen shows the same number of pixels.
Can I rotate only my second monitor?
Yes. In Display settings, select the monitor’s box at the top of the page first, then change Display orientation. Each monitor keeps its own setting, which is handy for a screen turned on its side for reading or coding.
Why did the screen go back after a few seconds?
Windows undoes the change after about 15 seconds unless you select Keep changes. This protects you if the new setting makes the screen hard to use.
How do I rotate a video instead of the screen?
That’s done in a video app, such as Clipchamp, not in Display settings. Rotating the screen to watch one sideways video makes everything else sideways too. To fix the file itself, rotate the video in Windows 10.
Setting up a second screen to turn on its side? The steps to set up dual monitors in Windows 10 come first. On a Windows 11 PC, use rotating the screen in Windows 11. Microsoft covers orientation along with resolution in Change your screen resolution and layout in Windows.
Matt Jacobs writes and maintains the guides on Support Your Tech, which he started in 2017. He spent most of his career keeping small-business PCs running and still takes the occasional consulting job, so the steps here come from fixing the same problems on other people’s computers. Every guide is checked on his own Windows 11, Windows 10, Mac, iPhone and iPad before it goes up.