Fix for Lotus Notes display issues on Surface Pro / High DPI

As more and more people are picking up laptops with high-dpi / retina displays the more issues we’re seeing with apps that don’t support it and end up looking awful or ridiculously tiny.

The Lotus Notes client is one of the main culprits and there are myriad solutions knocking about, none of which worked for me.

For example, here’s one of our simple bespoke applications in High DPI mode, notice the tiny toolbar icons and poorly aligned fonts in the header.

Here is how this screenshot should look:

So, here’s my approach which worked in the following configuration – no guarantee this will work on any other configurations I’m afraid.

• Lotus Notes Full 9.0.1 (FP4)
• Surface Pro 4 (Win 10 Pro)

First of all, you’ll need to locate the file notes2.exe.manifest, for me it was in:

•  C:Program Files (x86)IBMNotesframeworkrcpeclipsepluginscom.ibm.rcp.base_9.0.1.20131002-1404win32x86

.. so you’re probably best off searching for it if it’s not there.

Next, you need to open this text file with administrative permissions, launch Notepad by right clicking on it and choosing Run as administrator, then open the manifest file.

Now, your file should look something like this – so add the following changes (in red) to the file. There are two additions in total, you may need to scroll right in the box to see them all. Copy/Paste them into exactly the same position as below.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
 <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
 <security>
 <requestedPrivileges>
 <requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false"/>
 </requestedPrivileges>
 </security>
 </trustInfo>
 <dependency>
 <dependentAssembly>
 <assemblyIdentity
 type="win32"
 name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
 version="6.0.0.0"
 processorArchitecture="X86"
 publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
 language="*"
 />
 </dependentAssembly>
 </dependency>
<asmv3:application>
 <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">
 <ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware xmlns:ms_windowsSettings="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">false</ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware>
 </asmv3:windowsSettings>
</asmv3:application>
</assembly>

Save / relaunch Notes and fingers crossed!