Lowering the screen resolution can improve frame rates in games. Some players like to adjust the resolution for certain games to boost their FPS (frames-per-second) rates. Games may not look as good, but some play better at lower resolutions.

That’s one reason some users need to regularly change the resolution setting in Windows 11. Users must seemingly bring up the display options in Settings whenever they need to change resolution. However, there is a way you can set up desktop shortcuts for changing the screen resolution in Windows 11.

How to Change Resolution in the Command Prompt for Our Shortcut

If the Command Prompt supports a specific command, you can set it up as a desktop shortcut. QRes is a third-party command-line tool that enables users to set the screen resolution in the Command Prompt.

As such, downloading QRes will enable you to create desktop shortcuts for changing the screen resolution. You can change the resolution in the Command Prompt with QRes like this:

  1. Open Softpedia’s QRes download page.
  2. Select Softpedia’s Download Now option for QRes.
  3. Next, open the QRes ZIP archive. To do that from Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge, press Ctrl + J and click the QRes ZIP in the Downloads tab.
  4. Press the Extract all button on the command bar in File Explorer.
    The Extract all button
  5. Click Browse to select to extract the folder to your user Downloads folder in Windows 11 if that’s not already the default path.
  6. Then select the Show extracted files when complete box.
    Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders window
  7. Click Extract to unzip the compressed archive for QRes.
  8. Next, click inside File Explorer’s address bar with the extracted QRes folder open.
  9. Erase the folder path for QRes. Then type cmd in the address bar, and press Enter to open the QRes directory in the Command Prompt.
  10. Now you can set the screen resolution with a QRes command. For the sake of an example, try setting the resolution to 1600 x 900 by executing the following command:
            QRes.exe /x:1600 /y:900
        
The QRes resolution command

You can set your screen to whatever resolution you like by including different values in the above command. The x: value specifies a resolution width and the y: is for the height. Some users with 4K or QHD monitors may prefer to lower the resolution to full HD for some games by inputting this command:

        QRes.exe /x:1920 /y:1080
    

Resolution isn’t the only display setting you can change with QRes. That command-line tool also enables you to change color depth and refresh rate settings. Here are some examples of QRes commands:

        qres.exe /c:24
qres.exe /r:80
qres.exe /s

The first command will change the color depth to 24 bit. The r command switch sets the refresh rate to 80Hz; entering the /s command shows your PC’s current display settings. You can view a list of command switches for QRes by entering QRes.exe in the Command Prompt.

The QRes.exe command

How to Create a Desktop Shortcut for Changing the Screen Resolution

QRes also enables you to set up batch files for changing the resolution. When you’ve created a batch script for changing resolution, you can add a shortcut for that file to the desktop. This is how you can set up a batch file desktop shortcut that changes the resolution:

  1. Press and hold the Windows key along with X to view the Power User menu.
  2. Select Run to bring up that accessory’s command dialog for opening apps.
  3. Type Notepad into the Open box and click OK to launch.
  4. Then input this script command text into Notepad:
            %homepath%\Downloads\QRes\QRes.exe /x:1600 /y:900
        
    A QRes script file
  5. Press Ctrl + Shift + S to open Notepad’s Save as window.
  6. Change the TXT format by selecting All files on the Save as type menu.
    The All files option
  7. Input QRes Script.bat inside the File name box. You can input a different file name, but it must include a .bat extension at the end.
  8. Choose a folder in which to save your QRes script.
  9. Click Save and close Notepad to finish.
  10. Next, open Explorer and whatever folder you saved the QRes batch file in.
  11. Then right-click the QRes script to select Show more options > Send to.
  12. Select the Desktop (create shortcut) option.
    The Desktop (create shortcut) option
  13. Double-click the QRes script shortcut on the desktop to run the batch file. The script will change your screen’s resolution to 1600 x 900.

That batch file script will work so long as you extracted QRes to your user Downloads folder, as instructed in step five for changing the resolution in the Command Prompt. If you didn’t extract it to that folder, you’ll need to edit the script above to include the full path (plus the Qres.exe file) of your extracted QRes directory. You can also change the x: and y: values in that script file to whatever supported resolution you want the desktop shortcut to set.

How to Assign a Keyboard Shortcut to the Screen Resolution Shortcut

When you’ve got a working desktop shortcut for setting a screen resolution, you can go further by turning it into a hotkey. Then you’ll be able to change the screen resolution by pressing a handy key combination. You can establish a hotkey that changes the resolution with the following steps:

  1. Create a batch file desktop shortcut that sets a screen resolution as covered above.
  2. Right-click your batch file shortcut and select the context menu’s Properties option.
    The Properties option
  3. Next, place the cursor inside the Shortcut key box.
  4. Press R (for resolution) to assign a Ctrl + Alt + R hotkey. Alternatively, you can press any other preferred key for the hotkey.
    The Shortcut key box
  5. Select Apply > OK to save your new screen resolution keyboard shortcut.

Now you can press the Ctrl + Alt + R hotkey (or whatever one you set) to change the screen resolution whenever needed. That hotkey will run the batch file shortcut you assigned it to, which will set the resolution specified in its script. Erasing the batch file’s desktop shortcut will also delete the hotkey you added to it.

Set Your Screen Resolution With QRes and Handy Desktop Shortcuts

QRes is a handy command-line utility for changing resolution and other display settings. The desktop shortcuts for changing screen resolutions you can set up with QRes scripts alone make it a useful tool. Those shortcuts will provide direct access to specific resolution settings whenever you need to change display pixel dimensions in Windows 11.