The problem with Windows 11 Widgets

Windows 11 shipped with a Widgets Board. It shows weather, news, sports scores, calendar events. For a quick glance, it works. You hit Win+W, you see what you need, you close it.

The problem is that's all it does. The Widgets Board lives in a side panel on your primary monitor. You can't pin it to a second screen. You can't make it full screen. You can't rearrange the widgets, resize them, or add ones that Microsoft didn't build. If you have a second monitor, a bar screen like the Corsair Xeneon Edge, or an ultrawide with empty real estate on one side, the Widgets Board can't reach it.

As of April 2026, there's no setting, registry hack, or known workaround that moves the Widgets Board to another display. Microsoft's documentation doesn't mention multi-monitor support for widgets at all.

So if you want widgets on your second screen, you need something else. Here are the actual options.

What the Windows 11 Widgets Board does well

Credit where it's due. The Widgets Board is fast to open, shows relevant info at a glance (weather, calendar, news), and requires zero setup. It pulls from your Microsoft account automatically. For someone who just wants a quick peek at their schedule without opening Outlook, it works.

The design is clean. The cards are readable. The integration with Microsoft services works well if you're in that ecosystem.

But that's the ceiling. You can't go beyond it.

Where it stops

Here's what the Widgets Board can't do in its current form:

No second monitor support. The panel opens on your primary display only. There's no option to move it or pin it elsewhere.
No full screen mode. It's a side panel. It can't take over a screen.
No custom layout. You can't drag widgets around, resize them, or choose where they sit. Microsoft decides the order.
No third-party widgets. The selection is limited to what Microsoft and a small number of partners provide. You can't add a CPU monitor, a media controller, a Twitch feed, or a smart home panel.
No persistence. It opens when you want it and closes when you're done. There's no "always on" dashboard that sits on a dedicated screen waiting for you.

For someone with a single monitor who just wants weather and news, this is fine. For someone with two or more screens who wants their secondary display to actually do something useful, it's a dead end.

The use case Microsoft isn't covering

Here's who gets left out:

The gamer with a bar screen. You bought a Corsair Xeneon Edge or a similar ultrawide bar display. You mounted it above or below your main monitor. Right now it's showing Discord, or Spotify, or nothing. You want system temps, media controls, and a clock on it. The Widgets Board can't reach it.

The remote worker with dual monitors. Your main screen is for work. Your side screen is for "everything else." You want a calendar, a task list, weather, and maybe some system stats always visible without switching windows. The Widgets Board can't help.

The enthusiast with a vertical monitor. You rotated a spare monitor into portrait mode. It's perfect for a tall dashboard with stacked widgets. The Widgets Board doesn't even know it exists.

All three of these people are looking for the same thing: a way to put configurable, always-visible widgets on a screen that isn't their primary monitor. Microsoft hasn't built it. But others have.

Option 1: Rainmeter (free, steep learning curve)

Rainmeter has been the go-to desktop customization tool on Windows since 2001. It lets you place widgets (called "skins") anywhere on your desktop. System monitoring, clocks, media players, weather, RSS feeds. The community has built thousands of skins, some of which look incredible.

You can run Rainmeter on a second monitor by positioning skins manually on that display. It works, and the depth of customization is unmatched.

The downside is the learning curve. Everything in Rainmeter is configured through .ini text files. Want to move a widget? Edit the X and Y coordinates in a config file. Want to change what data it shows? Learn the Rainmeter measure/meter syntax. Want to add system monitoring? Install HWiNFO64 separately, enable shared memory, then configure the skin to read from it.

The results people share on Reddit look incredible. What they don't mention is the hours of debugging that got them there. If you enjoy tinkering, Rainmeter is capable. If you just want widgets on your second screen without a weekend project, it's probably not the answer.

Link: Rainmeter official site

Option 2: Seelen UI (free, full desktop replacement)

Seelen UI is an open-source project that's been gaining serious traction in 2026. It replaces your entire Windows shell with a custom environment. A macOS-style dock, a tiling window manager, and a top status bar that can show system stats.

It looks great. The community is active (16,000+ stars on GitHub as of April 2026). If you want your Windows desktop to feel like something completely different, Seelen UI delivers.

But it's a shell replacement, not a widget dashboard. You can't pick individual widgets and arrange them on a dedicated screen. The status bar shows basic system info (CPU, RAM), not a configurable grid of 20+ widgets. It doesn't take over a second monitor. It doesn't do drag-and-drop layout.

If you want to rethink your entire Windows experience, Seelen UI is worth a look. If you specifically want "widgets on my second monitor," it's solving a different problem.

Link: Seelen UI on GitHub

Option 3: A dedicated dashboard screen app

This is what we're building.

The short version: it's an app that takes over a dedicated screen and turns it into a configurable widget dashboard. Around 50+ widgets covering system monitoring, media controls, calendar, weather, smart home (Philips Hue, Home Assistant), productivity tools, and more. You drag them into a grid, resize them, skin them with themes, and the layout stays locked between reboots.

It works on any monitor. Corsair Xeneon Edge, a cheap 1080p you keep on the side, a vertical portrait display, an ultrawide. The app takes full control of whichever screen you point it at. Your main monitor stays untouched for gaming or work.

The system monitoring reads directly from Windows. The media widget detects whatever is playing on your system (Spotify, YouTube, VLC) without any configuration. You don't edit config files, you don't install secondary tools, you don't debug .ini syntax.

We're two cofounders who built this because we had the exact same problem described in this article. A second screen, no good way to use it, and nothing on the market that didn't require hours of configuration to get right.

The app is currently in testing. Windows first, macOS coming later.

Join the waitlist

One email when it ships. No spam, no drip campaign, no fake countdown.

[Join the waitlist](/waitlist)

Free tier at launch. Works on any Windows 10 or 11 screen.

How the options compare

Here's a summary across the four options:

Windows Widgets Board: Built into Windows, free. No second monitor support. Side panel only, not full screen. No custom widget layout, no third-party widgets. Zero setup. No system monitoring. No media controls.

Rainmeter: Free. Second monitor works with manual positioning. Full screen dashboard possible with effort. Custom widget layout via .ini editing. Thousands of community skins. 2-4 hours of setup. System monitoring via HWiNFO plugin. Limited media controls.

Seelen UI: Free. No second monitor support (status bar only). No full screen dashboard mode. No custom widget layout or drag-and-drop. About 30 minutes of setup. Basic system stats in the status bar.

Monitor Flows: Free tier plus paid plans. Built for a dedicated screen. Full screen dashboard by design. Drag-and-drop layout. 50+ built-in widgets. About 5 minutes of setup. System monitoring built in. Media controls that auto-detect what's playing.

*Last updated: April 2026. If any of the information above is outdated, let us know.*