Default Screen Res Kills Event Viewer Log Filtering
Here’s an interesting Windows 10 gotcha to ponder. By default, on screens with True HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) or better, Windows 10 defaults to 125% for its Scale and Layout in Settings → Display. At the same time, this very default prevents Event Viewer from offering event log choices in its “Create Custom …” dialog box. How do I know that default screen res kills event viewer log filtering? Simple. If you try to access the pull-down list for Event logs in the aforementioned dialog box, it works fine if the Scale and Layout setting is at 100%. Try it at the default 125% value on higher-res displays, and the pull down list fails to appear. You can try it yourself, if you like. This is what it looks like:
If you click the “By log” radio button, and its pulldown list shows nada, reset your Scale and Layout value to 100%. Then, it will work!
Fixing Defaults Screen Res Kills Event Viewer Log Filtering
I tried this issue on all of my PCs (every one of which has a True HD class monitor or better) and it affects every single one of them. That includes 1809 production releases (Build 17763), and the current Insider Preview (Build 18282). Over at TenForums, other users report that 1803 (Build 177134) is likewise affected. The fix is easy, if cumbersome: one need only reset the Scale and Layout value to 100% long enough to define the desired log filter, after which it can be reset to the default (or some other) value. If you make that Display settings change, here’s what you’ll see when you click the pulldown arrow for that item:
At 100% Scale and Layout, the pulldown is easily made visible.
Bizarre! It just goes to show you that Windows 10 is big, complex and convoluted enough that the odd eccentricity here or there is inevitable. I have no clue why or how this happens. That said, the gotcha is easily reproduced. It’s also worked around quite easily, too. This is a case of “fix it when you must; otherwise ignore.”
[Note: this gotcha is nicely documented at TenForums in a thread entitled “Event viewer on laptop–unable to create a custom view.” That thread’s original poster, user tfwul, also came up with the workaround I describe here. And so it goes, here in Windows-World!]