Eclipse interface icons very small on high resolution screen in Windows 8 1

Question

The various icons and buttons in the Eclipse  Kepler  interface are very  very small on a laptop with a 3200x1800px screen   The red error decoration that appears to indicate errors on files is difficult to see unless my nose a few cm from the screen    I ve played around with adjusting the screen resolution and other settings in the operating system  Windows 8 1   which helps  but results in other applications appearing too large  and even then the Eclipse icons are uncomfortably small  Enlarging the fonts in the Eclipse preferences  window preferences Dialog Font  doesn t affect the icon size    Is there any easy way to force larger icons   Any work arounds  I ve used the Magnifier but that s a rather clunky solution   Should I just buy a magnifying glass and keep it next to my mouse   Maybe someone should make a mouse with a magnifying glass embedded       Thanks

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Following solution worked for me

First you need to add this registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide\PreferExternalManifest (DWORD) to 1

Next, a manifest file with the same name as the executable must be present in the same folder as the executable. The file is named eclipse.exe.manifest and consists of:

<?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">
    <description>eclipse</description>
    <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
        <security>
            <requestedPrivileges>
                <requestedExecutionLevel xmlns:ms_asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3"
                               level="asInvoker"
                               ms_asmv3:uiAccess="false">
                </requestedExecutionLevel>
            </requestedPrivileges>
        </security>
    </trustInfo>
    <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>

you can find more details here

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I figured that one solution would be to run a batch operation on the Eclipse JAR s which contain the icons and double their size  After a bit of tinkering  it worked  Results are pretty good - there s still a few  stubborn  icons which are tiny but most look good     I put together the code into a small project  https   github com davidglevy eclipse-icon-enlarger  The project works by    Iterating over every file in the eclipse base directory  specified in argument line  If a file is a directory  create a new directory under the present one in the output folder  specified in the argument line  If a file is a PNG or GIF  double If a file is another type copy If a file is a JAR or ZIP  create a target file and process the contents using a similar process   a  Images are doubled  b  Other files are copied across into the ZipOutputStream as is    The only problem I ve found with this solution is that it really only works once - if you need to download plugins then do so in the original location and re-apply the icon increase batch process   On the Dell XPS it takes about 5 minutes to run   Happy for suggestions improvements but this is really just an adhoc solution while we wait for the Eclipse team to get a fix out

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Have a look at Neon  4 6  M6 - New and Noteworthy  the milestone release contains some automatic scaling for images  e g  for toolbar    SWT provides resolution-based auto-scaling     SWT now automatically scales images on high-DPI monitors on Windows   and Linux  similar to the Mac s Retina support on OS X  In the absence   of high-resolution images  SWT will auto-scale the available images to   ensure that SWT-based applications like Eclipse are scaled   proportionately to the resolution of the monitor             This feature can be disabled on Windows and GTK by setting this VM   argument to false in eclipse ini or on the command line after -vmargs       -Dswt enable autoScale false      Auto-scaling cannot be disabled on the Mac as it is provided by the   OS       Caveats  We re aware that some scaled images look bad at scale factors   less than 200   This will be improved in M7  Furthermore  we re   working on support for high-DPI images in Platform UI  so that plug-in   providers can add high-DPI icons without doing any code changes     Or maybe this helps  in Eclipse Mars API for high resolution was added      New APIs have been added to provide support for rendering   high-resolution images on high-DPI monitors  Two constructors have   been added to the Image class  They accept image-provider callbacks   that allow clients to supply resolution-dependent versions of images   public interface ImageDataProvider     public ImageData getImageData  int zoom     public interface ImageFileNameProvider     public String getImagePath  int zoom           Depending on the user s monitor configuration  SWT will request images   with the corresponding zoom level  Here s an example that displays 3   original images  followed by variants whose resolution changes   depending your monitor s resolution  Snippet367 java       Note that this is just the first step to support high-resolution   images in SWT and Eclipse-based applications  Work is underway to   adopt the new APIs in the platform  Futhermore  more work in SWT is   required to properly support drawing into high-resolution images via   GC    APIs for high-DPI monitor support http   help eclipse org mars index jsp topic  2Forg eclipse platform doc isv 2FwhatsNew 2Fplatform isv whatsnew html

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Here is my solution Inspired by  Sigh s solution  this one doesn t use maven    https   github com gitAmrit EclipseIconEnlarger tree master eclipseiconenlarger  This works by searching for all images smaller or equal to 16x16px and scaling them up by whatever factor the user wants   running the utility   java images EclipseIconEnlarger eclipseBasePath magnificaitonfactor  eg  java images EclipseIconEnlarger C  Users Amrit Codes eclipse 2  eclipseBasePath   path where eclipse exe is located  for e g  C  Users Amrit Codes eclipse magnificationfactor   factor by which the image should be enlarged  for e g  2   double

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-SurfacePro3-   Download and unzip eclipse  32bit Version    Run on  Windows XP mode

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If you do not want to install a newer version of eclipse  As mentioned here  in the eclipse init file add -Dswt autoScale exact after the -vmargs and you are good to go   Here exact scales the icons to the native zoom  But you will have to adjust with the blurred and jagged icons

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The below change works seamlessly   Quoting from CrazyPenguin s reply   For those  like me  who found that even on the new Eclipse it wasn t scaled  see here  swt-autoscale-tweaks Basically I added -Dswt autoScale quarter to my eclipse ini file

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There is a nice article in JaxEnter  for an work around HiDPI for Eclipse

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Had same problem  to resolve it  create a shortcut of the launcher  right click   properties   compatibility   tick on  Override high DPI scaling behaviour  and select System Enhanced from the dropdown as shown on pic below  Relaunch eclipse after changes

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For completion I thought I d add that this issue is solved in Eclipse 4 6 Neon https   www eclipse org downloads index-developer php  the current developer version    The icons look a bit sad  low resolution  but at least they are scaled correctly on my 4k screen

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Here s another command line solution  but this works for Windows   It requires winrar installed  edit the set winrar line to point to the winrar installation     It also requires imagemagick to be installed and its path to be added in your commandline   One last comment is I recommend running this before opening Eclipse for the first time  ie  fresh install   There are icons that get automatically unpacked from jars and saved in eclipse configuration org eclips osgi      potentially among other folders  and editing the  jar file prevents the icon from being resized  You might be able to delete this folder and it might autoextract again  but I can t confirm   To run  just create a doubler bat file in your eclipse plugins directory and it should resize any icon smaller than 32x32 to that proportioned size   Here s the code    echo off set winrar  C  Program Files WinRAR winrar exe  set startpath   dp0    All   jar in this folder FOR   G in    jar  do  call  EachJar    G    GOTO  eof   EachJar     echo  1   set nameWOQuotes   1   mkdir  tmp  nameWOQuotes       copy   nameWOQuotes    tmp  nameWOQuotes  bak   gt NUL    winrar  x -inul   nameWOQuotes     jpg   gif   png   tif   tiff  tmp  nameWOQuotes        pause   cd  tmp  nameWOQuotes     FOR  R      H in    jpg   gif   png   tif   tiff  do          echo  nameWOQuotes -   nxH  gt  gt    startpath  output txt      identify    H   gt  gt    startpath  output txt     convert    H  -resize 32x32  lt     H       winrar  a -r -u   startpath   nameWOQuotes         cd   startpath     rmdir  s  q  tmp  nameWOQuotes   Goto  eof   It creates a file output txt and inserts all the ORIGINAL images metadata before it is converted  regardless of whether or not it changed size

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I have looked up solutions for this issue for the last month  but I have not found an ideal solution yet  It seems there should be a way around it  but I just can t find it   I use a laptop with a 2560x1600 screen with the 200  magnification setting in Windows 8 1  which makes it looking like a 1280x800 screen but clearer    Applications that support such  HiDPI  mode look just gorgeous  but the ones that don t  e g  Eclipse  show tiny icons that are almost unreadable   I also use an outdated version of Visual Studio  That has not been updated for HiDPI  obviously MS wants me to use a newer version of VS   but it still works kind of ok with HiDPI screens since it just scales things up twice -- the sizes of icons and letters are normal but they look lower-resolution   After I saw how VS works  I began looking up a way to launch Eclipse in the same mode since it would not be technically very hard to just scale things up like how VS does  I thought there would be an option I could set to launch Eclipse in that mode  I couldn t find it though   After all  I ended up lowering the screen resolution to 1 4  from 2560x1600 to 1280x800  with no magnification  from 200  to 100   and not taking advantage of the high-resolution screen until Eclipse gets updated to support it since I had to do some work  but I am desparately waiting for an answer to this issue

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The best way is to edit the exe manifest with something like resource tuner and add        lt application xmlns  urn schemas-microsoft-com asm v3  gt  lt windowsSettings gt  lt ms windowsSettings dpiAware xmlns ms windowsSettings  http   schemas microsoft com SMI 2005 WindowsSettings  xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com SMI 2005 WindowsSettings  gt false lt  ms windowsSettings dpiAware gt  lt  windowsSettings gt  lt  application gt            after dependency to set the exe as dpi unaware  This way the program will be a little pixelated but it will be in a confortable size

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For anyone seeing this after upgrading their Windows 10  post April 2018 update   the DPI Scaling Override setting has moved into a dedicated window

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I struggled with this issue for a little bit too  I noticed a lot of you posted really complicated resolutions but there is a much easier way to do this  Its just a program and you shouldn t have to modify scripts  or install third party tools  The issue is related to High DPI scaling as mentioned above but what I think a lot of you are missing is that you can t directly modify compatibility settings on the launcher itself  The launcher and eclipse are two different programs  You need to browse to the Eclipse exe and override the High DPI scaling option there  Once set  you can use the launcher as normal  The launcher will hit the executable  launch the eclipse exe and since you set the compatibility settings on the  exe it will run using those settings  I spent like 10 minutes tracking down where the exe was so if its any help mine was located in   C  Users username AppData Local Yatta Launcher installations eclipse-ide-for-java-developers eclipse exe  Here is a screen shot of how I set my compatibility settings     And yes  the icons were super small before adjusting this setting  I tried setting compatibility settings on the launcher itself but it obviously didn t fix the issue  But after setting the override High DPI setting for the eclipse exe icons are now normal size  Let me know if this works for others

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What worked for me at the end was adding the manifest file to the javaw exe just like Heikki Juntunen said at https   bugs eclipse org bugs show bug cgi id 421383 c66  The instructions about how to edit the registry and create the manifest file where written by Matthew Cochrane at https   bugs eclipse org bugs show bug cgi id 421383 c60 and  KItis wrote the instructions here  I put here a copy of that post     First you need to add this registry key  HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion SideBySide PreferExternalManifest  DWORD  to 1   Next  a manifest file with the same name as the executable must be present in the same folder as the executable  The file is named eclipse exe manifest and consists of    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  UTF-8  standalone  yes   gt   lt assembly xmlns  urn schemas-microsoft-com asm v1  manifestVersion  1 0  xmlns asmv3  urn schemas-microsoft-com asm v3  gt       lt description gt eclipse lt  description gt       lt trustInfo xmlns  urn schemas-microsoft-com asm v2  gt           lt security gt               lt requestedPrivileges gt                   lt requestedExecutionLevel xmlns ms asmv3  urn schemas-microsoft-com asm v3                                 level  asInvoker                                 ms asmv3 uiAccess  false  gt                   lt  requestedExecutionLevel gt               lt  requestedPrivileges gt           lt  security gt       lt  trustInfo gt       lt asmv3 application gt           lt asmv3 windowsSettings xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com SMI 2005 WindowsSettings  gt               lt ms windowsSettings dpiAware xmlns ms windowsSettings  http   schemas microsoft com SMI 2005 WindowsSettings  gt false lt  ms windowsSettings dpiAware gt           lt  asmv3 windowsSettings gt       lt  asmv3 application gt   lt  assembly gt

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Thank you Sigh David Levy  I could not develop on Eclipse w out your sol n   I had to add a coupla catch  exceptions  to your code to get it to work               while  srcEntries hasMoreElements                          ZipEntry entry    ZipEntry  srcEntries nextElement                        logger info  Processing zip entry     entry getName                                ZipEntry newEntry   new ZipEntry entry getName                           try   outStream putNextEntry newEntry                             catch  Exception e                             logger error  error     e                           outStream closeEntry                            continue

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I found the easiest way was to create a manifest file which forces Windows to scale the application  It is blurry and non-ideal but better than an almost invisible UI  It seems this technique is applicable to any application too   Create an eclipse exe manifest file in the same folder as eclipse exe and place the following XML within it    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  UTF-8  standalone  yes   gt    lt assembly xmlns  urn schemas-microsoft-com asm v1  manifestVersion  1 0  xmlns asmv3  urn schemas-microsoft-com asm v3  gt    lt dependency gt     lt dependentAssembly gt       lt assemblyIdentity       type  win32        name  Microsoft Windows Common-Controls        version  6 0 0 0  processorArchitecture           publicKeyToken  6595b64144ccf1df        language     gt       lt  assemblyIdentity gt     lt  dependentAssembly gt   lt  dependency gt    lt dependency gt     lt dependentAssembly gt       lt assemblyIdentity       type  win32        name  Microsoft VC90 CRT        version  9 0 21022 8        processorArchitecture  amd64        publicKeyToken  1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b  gt       lt  assemblyIdentity gt     lt  dependentAssembly gt   lt  dependency gt    lt trustInfo xmlns  urn schemas-microsoft-com asm v3  gt     lt security gt       lt requestedPrivileges gt         lt requestedExecutionLevel         level  asInvoker          uiAccess  false   gt       lt  requestedPrivileges gt     lt  security gt   lt  trustInfo gt    lt asmv3 application gt     lt asmv3 windowsSettings xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com SMI 2005 WindowsSettings  gt       lt ms windowsSettings dpiAware xmlns ms windowsSettings  http   schemas microsoft com SMI 2005 WindowsSettings  gt false lt  ms windowsSettings dpiAware gt     lt  asmv3 windowsSettings gt   lt  asmv3 application gt    lt  assembly gt

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Jae s above solution worked for me  The manifest solution didn t work for me  Thanks Jae   Setup On my windows 8 1 64 bit non tablet laptop I downloaded eclipse 64 bit with jdk 64 bit    Right mouse click on desktop to access screen resolution and lowered the screen resolution display from 3000 level to 2048 x 1152   Click on make text and other items larger or smaller link and changed it to large 150  instead of extra extra large - 250   Logged out and Logged back in  Restart Eclipse and the icons are now visible even if it is a bit smaller  but much more legible now

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The compatibility mode for Windows Xp  it s only available for the Eclipse 32 bit version and after running in this compatibility mode the icons and text will be the right size  but blurry because they are scaled from their native resolution to the screen resolution and doing so the quality is lost

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I had this problem when I changed my default Windows 10 language from Eng to Italian  with Eclipse being installed when default language was Eng  Reverting Windows language to Eng and rebooting solved the problem  I don   t know what   s happened  Windows rename some folders like C  Users translating it in your default language  i e  C  Utenti  and maybe this is causing problems

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I found a reference that suggested adding the following to eclipse ini  -Dswt enable autoScale true -Dswt autoScale 200 -Dswt autoScale method nearest   This doubled the size of the icons for me on Windows 10  I am using Eclipse Version  2020-03  4 15 0

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Best effortless solution is to go for Eclipse Neon   All bugs are fixed as a part of this release  https   bugs eclipse org bugs show bug cgi id 421383

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I m running on a Dell XPS 15   Rather than stuffing around with resolutions and magnifications and all that  I just did the following    Right click the launcher icon Click on  properties  Select the  compatibility  tab Choose  Windows XP  Service Pack 3   for  Run this program in compatibility mode for      Everything seems to work fine and the display looks good  if a bit blurry pixelly    The only difference i can see is that the title bar is in Windows XP style  oh no       I m curious to know if this works for others and if anyone comes across any problems

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I fixed  Sigh s solution by creating a  Linux  shellscript   sh  to do something similar  This is very crude  brutal  and requires adoption for your specific system  Use at your own risk  It might break your entire installation  Make backups of the folders before you run this script  Script can be improved      bin bash  for J in   jar do         echo  Copying  J             mkdir -p   tmp  J          cp   J    tmp  J           cd   tmp  J           echo  Extracting  J             jar xf   J          rm   J           echo  Processing images             find   -name    gif  -exec convert    -resize 200                 echo  Compressing  J             if    ls        2 gt  dev null   wc -l    0           then                 jar cf   J            else                 jar cf   J                   fi         cd -         mv  J  -bak          mv   tmp  J  J            rm -rf   tmp  J           echo  Done           echo    done   Run this in  opt eclipse plugins and    eclipse org eclipse platform 4 x x plugins  or whatever the paths for your installation are   Same issues as with  Sigh s solution  This is a brutal  fix  and breaks after every update or new installation   Script can be perfected    Ignore  jar files without  icons  folder Only resize images that are 16x16 so you can run this again after every update installation   Requires imagemagick     Caveats   It doesn t work on all icons   Does anyone know where the other assets are or why they aren t resized  Perhaps they are not  gif   Project Explorer icons are messed up    Fixes are welcome

[eclipse] Eclipse interface icons very small on high resolution screen in Windows 8.1

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