# Help! Accidentally Rotated Monitor Display 90°! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202 "2009-05-12T19:24:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/1 "2009-05-12T19:24:23Z")
How do I rotate it back to normal? I need to turn it clockwise 90° so it’ll be back to normal. What do I do? Help!!! ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/2 "2009-05-12T19:29:23Z")
Hold CTRL and ALT and press UP to go back to normal. If that doesn’t work, try CTRL ALT Left or Right, whichever is appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/3 "2009-05-12T19:29:42Z")
[Something in the air today?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=517354) Ctrl-alt-up should fix you up. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/4 "2009-05-12T19:31:40Z")
Oh, thank god! That worked – you have saved me from a broken neck! 😃 The thread can end now, Mods. Thanks to the wonderful people around here!!! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/5 "2009-05-12T19:42:20Z")
What in the world are the chances?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/6 "2009-05-12T20:46:06Z")
Huh. I’d never heard of this and would really like to flip my screen upside down but CTRL-ALT-down does nothing (as suggested by this [site](http://www.technipages.com/screen-flipped-upside-down.html/comment-page-1)), nor does CTRL-SHIFT-“r” as one of the commenters suggested for some Dells (this is a Dell). ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/7 "2009-05-12T21:16:32Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole;] Huh. I’d never heard of this and would really like to flip my screen upside down but CTRL-ALT-down does nothing (as suggested by this [site](http://www.technipages.com/screen-flipped-upside-down.html/comment-page-1)), nor does CTRL-SHIFT-“r” as one of the commenters suggested for some Dells (this is a Dell). [/QUOTE] Check out the other thread linked above to see if rotation is enabled on your PC - it’s fairly easy to enable or disable rotation. It’s also possible that your particular display adapter does not support rotation, and the only way to flip your screen is to physically invert the monitor. This really is being a global mini-crisis… About a month ago, my neighbor came running over with her laptop because one of the kids “did something” to it and it was rotated 90 degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/8 "2009-05-12T21:25:55Z")
I read about this as a prank on the boards, I tried it on a cow-orker and she actually tried physically rotating the monitor :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/9 "2009-05-12T23:36:06Z")
That’s actually possible on some monitors, such as the one I’m sitting at now. ---
**Author:** ![Discipline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Discipline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discipline)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/10 "2009-05-13T03:07:37Z")
How the fuck are you people even _doing_ this? What is the keystroke combination that will rotate my desktop? These options have been around forever, but I’ve only ever seen them buried in the depths of a driver control panel. How can this be done on “accident”? ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/11 "2009-05-13T05:08:12Z")
> [@Discipline](#): > > How the fuck are you people even _doing_ this? > > What is the keystroke combination that will rotate my desktop? > > These options have been around forever, but I’ve only ever seen them buried in the depths of a driver control panel. > > How can this be done on “accident”? Did you read the thread? I posted the shortcuts (which only apply to certain video cards, and then only if enabled) in the second post. Ctrl-Alt-right arrow isn’t that hard to hit by accident. ---
**Author:** ![Discipline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Discipline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discipline)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-accidentally-rotated-monitor-display-90/496202/12 "2009-05-13T06:00:53Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Did you read the thread? I posted the shortcuts (which only apply to certain video cards, and then only if enabled) in the second post. Ctrl-Alt-right arrow isn’t that hard to hit by accident. Yeah, I did. You missed the “certain video cards part” as well as the “only if enabled”, which brings up two or three other points. Which cards do this, why is it enabled and why doesn’t your IT department have its shit together?