Using the Oculus Rift requires switching back and forth between your normal resolution and the Rift’s 1280×800. The standard method of doing so on Windows requires one too many steps for my taste, so I tracked down a handy free utility that switches between resolutions with a quick keyboard shortcut.

The utility is called HRC – Hotkey Resolution Control. You can download it here. The program is developed by Karsten Funk.

Once you download and install HRC, open it from the system tray.

hotkey resolution control keyboard shortcutDefine the Oculus Rift resolution as one of the options and give it a hotkey. I used Ctrl+Shift+R for ‘Rift’ mode and Ctrl+Shift+D for ‘Desktop’ mode, just to make it easy to remember.

Once you have your settings configured properly, minimize the utility to the tray. Now simply initiate your keyboard shortcut and voila — quick Oculus Rift resolution changing!

Those of you who are using differential multi-monitor setups may be out of luck as the developer notes, “HRC is not able to deal with multi-display settings like different resolutions and extended or mirrored displays yet. Those settings still have to be made manually.”

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Daan Kortenbach

    I don’t get it, doesn’t every Rift user have a multi-monitor setup by default? (monitor + rift = 2 monitors)

    • Ben Lang

      The developer was referring to two monitors with different resolutions — if you’re simply cloning the screen it works fine.

  • Patrick Hogenboom

    I’ve found a great software solution for when you’re using extended desktop mode: DisplayFusion.
    It allows you to create monitor profiles and switch between them easily. Since the Rift launched they’ve added assignment of the main display as well. I added some shortcuts on my desktop to switch between my desktop config and Rifting config and my problems were solved.
    Read this howto on creating monitor config shortcuts: http://www.displayfusion.com/FAQ/#loadmonitorprofilestartup