How to Disable Fullscreen Optimizations in Windows 10 and 11

Tech & Gaming
1

fullscreen optimizations is a Windows feature that lets the OS share resources between a fullscreen app and the desktop more efficiently – allowing things like Alt+Tab to work faster and overlay tools to function. for most users it’s fine, but for gaming it can sometimes cause stuttering, input lag, or compatibility issues. here’s how to disable it.

What fullscreen optimizations actually does

When a game runs in “exclusive fullscreen” mode, it has complete control of the display. Fullscreen optimizations converts this to a borderless window behind the scenes, which lets Windows maintain desktop compositing. The tradeoff: Windows gets more control, but some games stutter or have higher input latency in this mode compared to true exclusive fullscreen.

Whether disabling it helps depends on the game and hardware. It’s worth testing for games with performance issues.

Method 1: Per-app (recommended first step)

To disable for a specific game or application:

  1. Find the game’s .exe file (right-click the desktop shortcut > Open file location)
  2. Right-click the .exe > Properties
  3. Click the Compatibility tab
  4. Check “Disable fullscreen optimizations”
  5. Click Apply > OK

This only affects that specific program and is the safest approach.

Method 2: System-wide via Registry

To disable fullscreen optimizations for all applications system-wide:

  1. Search for “regedit” and run as administrator
  2. Back up the registry first: File > Export, set range to All, save with today’s date
  3. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore
  4. Right-click the GameConfigStore folder > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
  5. Name it exactly: GameDVR_DSEBehavior (capital D, V, R, underscore, capital D, capital B)
  6. Double-click the new value: set to 0 to enable fullscreen optimizations, 2 to disable
  7. Close Registry Editor and restart

The naming must be exact – any typo and the key won’t function.

Testing whether it helps

After disabling, launch the game and compare performance. The difference is game-dependent: some see reduced stuttering, others see no change, and a small number perform slightly worse. If there’s no improvement, you can re-enable via the same steps.

Here’s a walkthrough showing both the per-app Compatibility tab method and the registry path:

2

The per-app approach is the right starting point. Disabling system-wide via registry is a bigger change than most people need. For the specific games where fullscreen optimizations causes issues, the Compatibility tab takes thirty seconds and is trivially reversible.

3

tested this on a couple of older games that were stuttering and the difference was noticeable in one of them. the other had no change. it’s very game-dependent so testing rather than assuming is the right approach. the per-app method means you can have it disabled for specific games and on for everything else.

4

The registry backup step before editing is not optional – it should be treated as mandatory. The registry change itself is low risk but building the habit of backing up before any registry edit is valuable. Future edits won’t always be low risk and the habit pays off.

5

The explanation of what fullscreen optimizations actually does – converting exclusive fullscreen to borderless windowed – is the part that’s often missing from guides. Once you understand it’s basically forcing borderless windowed mode, it’s clearer why some games that are sensitive to that distinction might perform differently with it off.

6

Worth noting that many games now have their own borderless windowed option in their video settings, which makes the fullscreen optimizations interaction less relevant. If a game lets you choose between fullscreen, borderless, and windowed natively, use the game’s own setting rather than relying on Windows to override it.