closing laptop with an external monitor

I have my Inspiron 9300 connected to a CRT monitor and have the laptop set to 'do nothing' when closed. When I close it, the CRT becomes the primary monitor (desktop icons & taskbar move there). Then when I reopen the laptop the laptop switches back to the primary monitor, but my desktop is set up for the much lower resolution of the CRT so I have to rearrange everything.

Is there any way to have the laptop remain the primary display even when closed?

Thanks.

 

You should be able to make one monitor the primary the other secondary.. it changes from grpahics card to graphics card though so i can't tell you exactly how to do it.

 

Yes, the laptop is the primary display and the CRT is the secondary. But when I close the laptop, the CRT automatically becomes the primary.

 

What i'm saying is you can change that in the avdanced options in your graphics card settings.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but I have set the laptop as the primary display in the graphics card settings. But when I close the laptop, it must be assuming that since the primary display is turned off (closed) it should make the secondary display the primary display. So, the CRT becomes the primary. But once I open the laptop back up, the laptop is primary again. The graphics settings still say laptop is primary.

Apologies if I'm not explaining this well.