Forum: gaming.stackexchange.com
Tags: <pc><the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim>
Title: How can I return to Skyrim after switching to Windows?
Question: When using  Alt + Tab , I can't seem to get back to Skyrim. Clicking it's icon or  Alt + Tab  to get back, I just see an empty window. Windowed mode doesn't allow me to use it in a Windowed (Fullscreen) manner like seen with other games, so that doesn't seem to be an option either.  Is there any way to fix this behavior?

Answers:
sents: text: When you get to the empty window, Alt + Tab to the Skyrim window again.
text: This will bring you back to the game.
text: Alternatively, you can use Ctrl + Shift
text: +
text: Esc to open the Task Manager, right click the Skyrim entry in the Applications tab, and select Bring to Front.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 23
sents: text: Try the Simple Borderless Window mod.
text: It will make Alt-Tabbing almost instant, though may reduce your framerate.
text: It's similar to the mod mentioned by aearon but doesn't require AutoHotKey to be installed.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/227/Brian Ortiz
score: 7
sents: text: Another option is this Borderless Windowed Fullscreen mod , but it's going to lower your framerate.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/15104/aearon
score: 3
sents: text: I also get a black window with a border, but I've found the solution for it.
text: I.e., Skyrim and Chrome running simultaneously.
text: Activate Chrome Press Alt + Tab , choose Skyrim
text: The Skyrim window will be black/blank Keep pressing Alt , and scroll to Chrome then back to Skyrim Release Alt Skyrim will be running fullscreen again
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/18363/sujeet2555
score: 1
sents: text: Here's my updated AutoHotkey script.
text: Run it once, it will set the game fullscreen windowed shortly after it is launched.
text: #SingleInstance Force#Persistent#IfWinActive Skyrim ahk_class Skyrim{ SetTimer Exile, 1000
text: Return}Exile: WinGet IDs, List, ahk_class Skyrim Screen_X = %
text: A_ScreenWidth% Screen_Y = %A_ScreenHeight% Loop %IDs% { ID :=
text: IDs%A_Index%
text: If ID not in %Old_IDs% { WinActivate ahk_id %ID% WinSet, Style, -0xC40000, A
text: WinMove,A,,0,0,Screen_X,Screen_Y
text: ;WinActivate, A } New_IDs .= ID "," } StringTrimRight Old_IDs, New_IDs, 1 New_IDs =Return Don't ask me about the loop, I just pieced together parts of various AutoHotkey scripts that worked.
text: The one I used previously worked with a keyboard shortcut and caused problems in Windows.
text: This one should only ever touch the Skyrim window.
text: The game should first be set to windowed mode, and full desktop dimensions by editing SkyrimPrefs.ini located in ~/Documents/
text: My Games/Skyrim:
text: bFull Screen=0iSize H=1440iSize W=2560 PS
text: : When you alt tab like this, it's very fast but you may get the windows mouse cursor appearing in the game
text: (I think this issue is also with the default fullscreen mode).
text: The quickest fix for me is to press the tilde key, which activates the console.
text: It's easier then going in the game menu, but it's the same principle:
text: pause the game.
text: So toggle console, alt tab, un-toggle console.
text: Should prevent the Windows mouse cursor from appearing.
text: There are also possible solutions with AutoHotkey for the mouse cursor
text: but I haven't tried those yet.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/1657/Bleep Bloop
score: 1
sents: text: Skyrim has an interesting behavior with alt-tabbing.
text: When you alt-tab back, you get that black screen with the borders.
text: Left click the upper left hand corner, which will bring up what appears to be a right click context menu for whatever application you were in when you alt-tabbed back to Skyrim.
text: Once the menu comes up, just click in the black screen area of the Skyrim window and it will bring you back to the application.
text: This behavior is bizarre and strange.
text: Like has been previously said, it will sometimes crash.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/14806/Ryan
score: 0
sents: text: I have found this to always work (for me).
text: Pause before you alt tab Alt Tab Go to Gaming.stackexchange.com and find the answer you want Click on the Skyrim icon in the task bar.
text: You'll get the black bordered screen.
text: Alt Tab again, back to gaming.stackexchange.com Minimise active screen (gaming.stackexchange.com).
text: Then Skyrim will come back up.
text: Unpause Skyrim Fun For some reason it doesn't like getting focus the first time.
text: But the second time its ok.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/12035/Coomie
score: 0
sents: text: Actually, there's a much easier method of getting around this.
text: When going back into the game, when you would normally click the game's window to go back to full-screen, drag the window down an inch or so and it'll go back to full-screen - this will always get rid of the cursor.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/39382/QuantumPolagnus
score: 0
sents: text: I've found that the best way to fix this is by pressing ctrl+alt+delete, pressing 'Cancel', and then trying to re-maximize Skyrim.
text: That works every time for me.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/43894/Matt
score: 0
sents: text: I have had to do this before I know one way ALT-TAB out like you did then Press the Windows button (For Win 8 this brings you to the menu)
text: And if you select Desktop again Skyrim will open in full screen.
text: This works on Windows 8
text: but I haven't tested it on Windows 7.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/69402/JaffaMoose
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
There are several options: Press Alt + Tab to return to the Skyrim window again. You can also try Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the task manager and bring the Skyrim entry to the front. 
Specific actions in Windows, or some mods could serve as a solution.