Ubuntu 22.04: Set Scaling Factor to 200%

byEero Kaan
7. October 2020
1 minute read

This guide will demonstrate how to permanently set your Ubuntu scaling factor to 200%, solving the issue of windows and text being too small.

Introduction

Are you using Ubuntu in combination with a HiDPI 4K display? Then you are definitely familiar with your windows and text being too small after logging in into your Gnome session; a typical result of wrong scaling settings indeed.

This guide will demonstrate how to permanently set your Ubuntu scaling factor to 200%.

The Commands

To start off, open up a new file in which the user-desired scaling factor is defined:

sudo nano /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/90_hidpi.gschema.override

Set the scaling factor to the value of 2 (meaning 200%):

[org.gnome.desktop.interface]
scaling-factor=2

Now save your configuration file and exit from your editor.

Apply the changes with the following command:

sudo glib-compile-schemas /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas

That’s it. Now reboot your computer and enjoy your applied 200% scaling factor.

Eero Kaan

6 comments

Eero Kaan says:

4. June 2023 at 18:25

Hello, thank you for the heads-up.

I’ve looked into the issue but couldn’t reproduce it, unfortunately. I’ve tested everything again with glib-compile-schemas version 2.72.4 under Ubuntu 22.04. However, the described methodology in this article worked out without returning any errors.

I was able to locate the error message in glib‘s source code, but couldn’t trace it back to any potential issue you could be having.

Perhaps you are running a different desktop environment or version of glib-compile-schemas?
T Tanner says:

29. May 2023 at 22:01

glib-compile-schemas complains there are no schema files. And, given glib-compile-schemas says “Schema files are required to have the extension .gschema.xml”, I’m not surprised.

Presumably as a result of this, I do not see any change.
Kanwar says:

28. January 2023 at 06:04

Hello Eero,

Thanks for the post, this worked well.
Br. Kanwar
Mohammed says:

5. September 2022 at 08:31

Thank you! I was finally able to get this working!
Eero Kaan says:

11. April 2022 at 22:00

Hey Raz, thank you for your heads-up!

It’s indeed more appropriate to define a custom user defined config file, instead of messing around in Gnomes native /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/org.gnome.desktop.interface.gschema.xml config file. I’ve since updated this guide to cover for that “best-practice”; Not least because this is also the way I’m scaling Gnome these days.

Unfortunately, scaling with decimal point numbers is not supported by gschema. But a solution is in the works since I’m also working with virtual machines and need proper fractional scaling for them. Thanks for your input and stay tuned!
Raz says:

9. April 2022 at 22:02

Hi, really good post!

I was finally able to change default scaling on my virtual machine.
Eero, some people mention to make a “local” copy instead and leave defaults untouched. What’s your recommendation?

The other thing is that I tried a value of 1.5 instead of 2 and gdm refused to start. I was able to SSH though and fix it.

I recommend that you make sure that you can connect via SSH in case you have a typo. You can also do CTRL-ALT-F2 to get a text-based login prompt.