Hardware profiles & port replicators

[Charles Krug]

Speaking of current mobile PCs in general: when a special hardware profile is required for "docked" usage, the profile must be manually selected (or loaded via a timeout default) at startup.
Seems like a PC should know when it's docked & have the ability to communicate that status to XP on startup, automatically choosing the docked profile.
Is this possible, at least from some manufacturers? Or maybe I can set this up, but just missed something.
In our case, the docked profile needs to use a "Dualview" video setup that is a bit tricky. Thanks for any thoughts!
Jim

[laz]

I use ultramon (http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/) to manage my monitors when I'm docked. For monitors at least, it works fine when I'm docked/undocked - loads the right profile depending on what it detects.

[davidspalding]

In my exp., Win2000/XP recognizes the docked state. But I believe it's dependent on the dock, too. I use docks which have circuitry which Windows works with, and enables the "undock" command on the Start Menu, etc. Even to the point of enabling two-stage undocking (press button, Windows shuts down external devices, then the dock "unlocks").

YMMV depending on the brand and design of dock.