[SOLVED] Taskbar resizes itself after restart due to Display Scaling ?

[a1337cookie]

So I usually run a dual monitor setup with 1080p on the left and 4k in the center, both 27" and 16:9. Of course, I want apps to look the same size, so the 1080p monitor is using 100% scaling, while the 4k is using 200%. I recently decided to move my taskbar to the side, so I would get more screen space. It's just a single bar at minimum width on the 1080p display, nowhere else. The problem is, when I restart the computer, the bar doubles in size, and I have to manually scale it down again. Here's a before and after.

Locking or unlocking the taskbar makes no difference. The lock all taskbars registry tweak also doesn't fix it. The problem is due to the 200% scaling on the 4k monitor when it's set as the primary display. If I set the scaling to 100%, it doesn't happen. When the 1080p is the primary display, it doesn't happen. When the taskbar is on the bottom, it doesn't happen, perhaps because the resizing is in steps rather than being granular. However, none of these are good solutions, since they all require me to do something or change settings to get my desktop back to how it should be.

I've run into scaling issues in a lot of other apps, but most of the time, it's solved by going to the compatibility tab in the properties and overriding the DPI scaling behaviour. I would think that if I could do the same to explorer.exe, this issue would be solved. However, explorer.exe has no compatibility tab. Is there any way I can fix the taskbar's scaling behaviour? Or any ideas for a workaround?

 

[a1337cookie]

Well, I did come up with a solution. I set the resolution of the 1080p display to 4k using DSR, and set the DSR smoothness to 0 to remove the blur. It surprisingly looks very close to native 1080p. Now, since Windows thinks both monitors are 4k and both are using 200% scaling, the taskbar issue is solved, it does not resize on startup anymore. Doing this also fixes some other small problems, mostly relating to borders. However, some small text and icons end up looking too thin or blurry on the 1080p display, though I haven't encountered anything too bothersome. Not ideal, but it works.