Cannot apply changes when enabling "Edit the system configuration of this display model"

[iamduvede]

I purchased BetterDisplay to get HiDPI Flexible Scaling since my office monitor is only 1080p. However, when I go and enable this setting, I get a red notification telling me to Apply or Undo the changes. Nothing happens when I click on Apply, but the Undo button works fine and undoes the changes I had just made.

BetterDisplay version 3.4.1 Build 38167
MacBook Pro 13-inch, M1, 2020
macOS Sequoia 15.3.2

[waydabber]

After you did the apply, you should have the resolution slider in the app menu have more options and also HiPDI option appear and work at 1080p in the menu.

But: the difference might not be that big, HiDPI creates a supersampling effect, but won't create more pixels, so I am not sure how much improvement you'll perceive in terms of clarity.

[iamduvede]

Nothing happens when I click Apply. The red box stays on screen and no changes get applied. For now I’ve been mirroring a 1080p virtual display to the monitor to help with the blurry text but I know this can cause performance issues where using Flexible Scaling does not.

[waydabber]

Sorry for not responding to this, see the relevant response here: #4171 (reply in thread)

[KennyLindahl]

Same issue, nothing happens when i click "Apply" after enabling flexible scaling (however "Undo" works).
I'm using v2.3.9 and i can't upgrade due to my Mac can't upgrade to a newer OS.

@waydabber is there any possible workaround for this? (pro user)

[waydabber]

There should be a password prompt to allow writing system settings. There might be some kind of configuration issue however that prevents the app from writing the settings. This part requires working AppleScript support and especially on older macOS versions due to a macOS bug this might not be available.

You can try staring the app from Terminal in verbose mode and see if you see any error messages:

/Applications/BetterDisplay.app/Contents/MacOS/BetterDisplay -v

[KennyLindahl]

Thanks, i will try this and report back later once i have tried it

[KennyLindahl]

@waydabber

I solved it now, basically it was an unsigned audio component which caused the issue:

2025-07-31 20:10:13.707 BetterDisplay[5529:87048] Error loading /Users/UserName/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ExampleAudioPlugin.component/Contents/MacOS/ExampleAudioPlugin:  
dlopen(/Users/UserName/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ExampleAudioPlugin.component/Contents/MacOS/ExampleAudioPlugin, 0x0106):  
tried: '/Users/UserName/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ExampleAudioPlugin.component/Contents/MacOS/ExampleAudioPlugin'  
(code signature in <7326519C-0365-5D8D-15E5-9A4E15FB5FB0> '/Users/UserName/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ExampleAudioPlugin.component/Contents/MacOS/ExampleAudioPlugin'  
not valid for use in process: mapped file has no cdhash, completely unsigned? Code has to be at least ad-hoc signed.)  
[2025-07-31 20:10:13.707] Something did not work out while applying the display configuration {  
    NSAppleScriptErrorNumber = "-2147450879";  
}

The solution was to remove it (as i was not using it anymore).
The question is why BetterDisplay triggers this at all, ideally it should be completely isolated

Thanks for the help, so i could finally resolve the issue

[waydabber]

It seems like NSAppleScript triggered this for some reason - BetterDisplay does not need an audio plugin or manages/loads any. But glad the issue was resolved. :)

[iamduvede]

I opened BetterDisplay via terminal verbose and when trying to apply the setting I see this message in terminal after all the "Flexible resolution added" lines

[2025-08-02 11:36:24.515] Something did not work out while applying the display configuration Script error: {
NSAppleScriptErrorNumber = "-2147450879";
}