Windows always open across monitors in a multi-monitor setup

[Najeeb Anwer]

I have a laptop (Dell XPS 13 9300) connected to an external USB-C monitor (Dell U2719DC).
Ubuntu 21.10 Impish is installed, although this problem existed under Ubuntu 21.04 too.

If I log in using Wayland (the default), the initial window position of any app is always in the middle (half on the internal display and half on the external monitor). No setting that I have found appears to be able to change this behavior.

If I switch to Xorg, this problem does not exist. With Xorg, the app window always opens on the primary monitor (the external one, in my case). This is the preferred behavior.
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ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu70
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
DisplayManager: gdm3
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.10
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-06-18 (487 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
Package: gnome-shell 40.5-1ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.13.0-19.19-generic 5.13.14
RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 40.5-1ubuntu2
Tags: impish wayland-session
Uname: Linux 5.13.0-19-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to impish on 2021-10-14 (3 days ago)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin lxd plugdev sambashare sudo
_MarkForUpload: True

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command only once, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:

  apport-collect 1947434

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport by using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Najeeb Anwer (najeeb-anwer)]

apport information

[Najeeb Anwer (najeeb-anwer)]

apport information

[Najeeb Anwer (najeeb-anwer)]

apport information

[Najeeb Anwer (najeeb-anwer)]

apport information

[Najeeb Anwer (najeeb-anwer)]

apport information

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please try:

  gsettings set org.gnome.mutter center-new-windows false

[Najeeb Anwer (najeeb-anwer)]

This setting (center-new-windows) was already set to false. I have Gnome Tweaks installed and this was one of the first settings I checked. This setting can be true or false; it has no effect.

Curiously, the behavior changes if I use the "Dash to Dock" extension instead of the "Ubuntu Dock".

With "Dash to Dock", the app window remembers it's size and position better (i.e. If I move the window to the primary monitor and resize it, it opens up at the same size and place).

With "Ubuntu Dock" enabled, the window always seems to randomly open on the secondary monitor, or get resized, or straddles the two displays as previously reported. Firefox and Terminal, in particular, always open with their window straddling the two displays. If I move the app window to the primary monitor, close it and reopen it, it goes back to straddling the displays.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.

Ubuntu 21.10 (impish) reached end-of-life on July 14, 2022.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in.