Adding a secondary screen causes both desktop icons and all active windows to move to it

[Thomas Novin]

Setup & problem:

Laptop in docking station, external monitor connected via DisplayLink to the docking station

Start the laptop with the lid closed as normal behaviour. External monitor works OK.

Then I need a second screen so I open up the lid on the laptop. External monitor set to primary incl launcher.

Then launcher is on external but desktop icons + all windows I had open is on secondary/laptop screen.

I do not have this problem when I add a secondary screen via VGA directly to the laptop. It becomes secondary but is completely empty except for top panel.

(uncertain if this is xorg problem or unity problem (or something else?))

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu4
Uname: Linux 3.9.0-030900-generic i686
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell,dbus]
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
Date: Fri May 17 12:48:45 2013
DistUpgraded: 2013-04-07 15:43:27,831 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: raring
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 vboxhost, 4.2.10, 3.8.0-19-generic, i686: installed
 vboxhost, 4.2.10, 3.8.0-21-generic, i686: installedError! Could not locate dkms.conf file.
 File: does not exist.

 vboxhost, 4.2.10, 3.9.0-030900-generic, i686: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, if not too technical
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0126] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21cf]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-06-26 (324 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release i386 (20120423)
MachineType: LENOVO 42433ZG
MarkForUpload: True
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.9.0-030900-generic root=UUID=c3c7f36f-ca42-443e-819f-5553fe3d040a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2013-04-07 (39 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 12/06/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8AET56WW (1.36 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 42433ZG
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr8AET56WW(1.36):bd12/06/2011:svnLENOVO:pn42433ZG:pvrThinkPadT520:rvnLENOVO:rn42433ZG:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 42433ZG
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T520
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.9~daily13.04.18.1~13.04-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.43-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.1.1-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.1.1-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.13.3-0ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu2b2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.1.0-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.21.6-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.7-0ubuntu1
xserver.bootTime: Fri May 17 09:28:17 2013
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.13.3-0ubuntu6
xserver.video_driver: intel

[Thomas Novin (thomasn80)]

This is a workaround:

First install this package:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

then opening the tool, general options > display settings and setting overlapping output handling to either prefer smaller monitor or prefer larger monitor (depending on which resolution the external monitor has). In my case the external monitor has 1920x1080 whereas the laptop has only 1680x1050.

The "smart" mode that is default isn't so smart after all I guess..

[Andrea Azzarone (azzar1)]

Ubuntu 13.04 is no longer supported. Can you reproduce this on 12.04 or 14.04 or 14.10?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for Unity because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for unity (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]