Windows 8.1 - "Your PC can't project to another screen..." display error when projecting to a white screen or trying to use an external monitor, even after reinstalling the Intel HD driver

[AEste2]

I work in an IT department and we discovered a problem with one of our images that causes this error when users try to use a projector or an external monitor:

"Your PC can't project to another screen. Try reinstalling the driver or using a different video card."

Laptop model: Dell Latitude E7240

OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit

Processor: Intel Core i5-4310U

We don't have this problem on our current image, but have found that dozens of laptops that were built earlier this year have this issue.

We have tried the following steps:

-Running all Windows Updates

-Uninstalling the Intel HD Graphics driver and installing the newest available (version currently using: 10.18.14.4170)

*We have tried several different drivers dating back to the middle of 2014 without any difference.

-Running the System File Checker tool from the command prompt

-Checking the BIOS settings

Again, it is now working on identical laptops, so the config will work. Something went wrong with our old image and now we cannot get the Intel graphics driver to work properly.

The driver shows up in Device Manager, but when you open Windows Display Advanced Settings, it shows the Adapter Type to be Microsoft Basic Display Driver.

I have looked everywhere online and have found nothing. Anybody else ever seen this before?

Right now the only solution we have is reinstalling the OS, which is not ideal obviously.

Thanks!

[AEste2 · Accepted solution]

I found out that the Intel driver wasn't uninstalling correctly. There must have been something lingering in the Registry that was causing this issue.

I downloaded the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) from here: http://www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/ Wagnard Tools

I selected the "Remove and Reboot" option. After a reboot, I installed the newest Intel driver and it worked!