Why is my WOW limited to 60 HZ when in Windowed mode?

[CactusDisco]

Hello all. If I use fullscreen I can select 120 HZ, but if I change it to Windowed or fullscreen windowed, it goes down to 60 and I cannot change it. Whats the reason for this?

[Virs]

The game will normally use your desktop's refresh rate when set to Windowed mode (which is also why you cannot change the refresh rate in-game, it's locked as the game itself doesn't get to choose it).

Make sure that the refresh rate on your desktop is also 120hz.

[Deleted]

On top Virs' comment: some games don't actually query the actual refresh rate of the desktop, but instead assume it's 60hz. So if you're desktop is set to a higher refresh rate and it still doesn't change anything in WoW, it might be capped to 60hz in windowed mode only. I can't test that myself though, but worth considering.

[Daedius]

Windows:

1. Right-click on Desktop and click on Display Settings.
2. Go to Advanced display settings.
3. Under Related settings, go to Display adapter properties.
4. Go to Monitor tab and select another refresh rate from Screen refresh rate:
5. Click OK

[CactusDisco]

Windows:

1. Right-click on Desktop and click on Display Settings.
2. Go to Advanced display settings.
3. Under Related settings, go to Display adapter properties.
4. Go to Monitor tab and select another refresh rate from Screen refresh rate:
5. Click OK

Thank you for this, but it says 120 Hertz in the menu.

[lolpve]

This sometimes happens to me, I switch to fullscreen, set it to 120Hz, and then change back to windowed fullscreen and the refreshrate is greyed out and stays maxed at 120Hz.

[CrossMonk]

This sometimes happens to me, I switch to fullscreen, set it to 120Hz, and then change back to windowed fullscreen and the refreshrate is greyed out and stays maxed at 120Hz.

^This.

I have the same issue every few days. Something causes it to reset to 60hz, but just a quick flip to full screen & setting to 120 & back to windowed fixes it.