Lost window, cannot get it back.

[Jason Warner]

I have a Chrome window that I was moving around via ALT+drag and the window "snapped" offscreen in the direction where there is no virtual workspace. I cannot get the window back into a workspace.

Things I can do: I can see it in the spread or by double clicking on the app icon in the launcher, but when I click on the window to select it, it just brings me to the workspace it thinks it is in,but it is still offscreen.

At this point, I can't get the window back on screen.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: unity 5.0.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-9.16-generic 3.2.1
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-9-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.91-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,gnomecompat,place,imgpng,session,grid,vpswitch,resize,move,snap,mousepoll,unitymtgrabhandles,regex,wall,animation,workarounds,fade,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
Date: Sat Jan 21 09:41:54 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Beta amd64 (20110919)
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2011-12-14 (37 days ago)

[Jason Warner (jasoncwarner)]

A bit more detail.

1. The window was snapped to the left side of the screen.
2. ALT+dragging did not "un-snap" right away.
3. Can replicate fairly regularly.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Given this bug is difficult to reproduce and seemingly has only affected one person so far, I'm going to de-prioritize it to the following milestone.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[micove (micove)]

I'm using 2 worskpaces (vsize = 1, hsize=2) and tried what comment #2 said. On the very first try I lost my window towards the bottom of the screen in the left desktop. I enabled 2x2 and I found it in the 3rd workspace (lower left that I never had enabled before). I can replicate it every single time I try.

1) Put 2 worskpaces (vsize = 1, hsize=2) and the grid plugin active.
2) Move a terminal to the left end to the screen so the grid plugin changes it reshapes it to the left half of the screen.
3) Put the cursor in the center of the terminal windows (vertical and horizontal center).
4) ALT + CLICK and move the cursor down.
5) The window unsnaps about where I have the cursor but 1 full workspace/screen down.
6) Enable 2x2 to recover it.

I tested this because I thought it was related to an issue I had with the wall/move plugin. When I enable "edge flipping move" on wall and move windows between workspaces the windows appears several inches away from the grab point (grab hand cursor is several inches away from where I grabbed the window before dragging it to another workspace). One time the windows I assume appeared so far away from where I grabbed it that it disappeared. It probably entered a different workspace too.

In both cases the window appears several inches away from the grab point since when I did what comment #2, I grabbed a snapped terminal near the middle and when it unsnapped it appeared so much below where I grabbed it that it appeared in workspace #3.

[micove (micove)]

I forgot to mention.

If I disable the "Snapping Windows" plugin or disable either Snap type: Edge resistance or Edges: Screen edges from this plugin it hard to replicate comment #2. In other words I only can replicate it if I enable the "Snapping Windows" plugins with the Edge resistance AND Screen Edges options enabled at the same time.

It seems that with this workaround the grab cursor always move to the top of the window and not way over it so you can't lose the window anymore. Still the other issue where I lose it by changing workspaces still works since the grab cursor still changes to a position far apart from the window.

[triplesqaurednine (triplesquarednine)]

I'm not using Unity, and am using compiz with Arch(linux).

I believe this bug is in compiz itself. I have a had time reproducing it, but compiz does lose windows, occasionally.

[Andreas Zeller (luxmedien)]

just a suggestion: when something similar happened to me, you can work around it by using the place window plugin. Hit super 5 to get the window to the center of your workspace. You can also assign hotkeys to make a window belong to a certain viewport. A combination of the two should at least help you get that window back until it is fixed :)

Andreas

[Valentin Höbel (t-valentin)]

This bug is very annoying and I can confirm that it also happens with Ubuntu 12.04 Unity with the following package versions:
compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1.4
unity 5.16.0-0ubuntu1

[bricedebrignaisplage (brice-brice)]

this happens to me in a slightly different context. My laptop is usually connected to an external monitor. Whenever the laptop suspends, when I resume the gnome-terminal window is lost. Seems to always be the terminal but at the same time, this almost always my only window that's not maximized. Recently, I found that if I Alt-tab to the terminal, I can press Alt-Space which pops up the window menu, and then if I maximize it, it comes back to view. Running Ubuntu 14.04
Also posted here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/629924/problem-with-dual-monitor-and-nvidia

[James Tunnicliffe (dooferlad)]

Just ran into this after a reboot that hung so I reset my machine.

Started Sublime Text 3 in Unity, no window. Can alt-tab to an icon, but nothing is there. Super+w shows nothing. Log out and back in, same problem.

In Cinnamon I started Sublime and it appeared in the top left of my left hand monitor. Dragging the window was buggy the first time, but on the second attempt it moved to the middle monitor fine. Logged out and back into Unity and Sublimed loaded fine with a visible window.

This seems like a window manager not detecting corrupt placement cache problem, not a compiz issue, since both desktops render using Compiz, right? Perhaps Unity needs some sanity checking for if a window is supposed to be visible on one of its desktops, make sure that it is.

[James Tunnicliffe (dooferlad)]

If you install CompizConfig Settings Manager and disable the Session Management plugin (under Utility) then your windows will return after you log out and back in.

It seems that the session management plugin can return invalid data and Unity expects it to do the right thing.

My guess is that http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~compiz-team/compiz/0.9.12/view/head:/plugins/session/src/session.cpp SessionScreen::readWindow needs some sanity checking as do the state load and save functions.

[fcole90 (fcole90)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug. We have tried to recreate this on the latest release of Ubuntu and cannot reproduce it. This bug is being marked as Invalid. If you believe the problem to still exist in the latest version of Ubuntu please comment on why that is the case and change the bug status to NEW.

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

I have seen what appears to be the same problem in both 15.10 and 16.04 distributions: windows that sometimes end up away from the visible workspace when using a dual-monitor setup.

I can recover them with 1) alt-space and maximize, or 2) disconnecting the second display.

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad X230, with Intel graphics.

As #12 suggests, I am now trying to disable the session management plugin through CCSM, and see whether I'll see again the problem.

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

Update:
1) the problem persists when disabling session management through CCSM
2) I can't actually recover the windows via disconnecting the second display.

thanks
matteo

[Ian Li (ian.li)]

I also have this issue with my Lenovo Laptop (Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphic, LCD Panel set to OFF) with ViewSonic external display(4K, external, Only monitor).

The external display is shared with a desktop, every time I switch the input of the monitor back from PC to laptop, or when the laptop come back from power saving, some windows go out of screen and there has no way to bring them back to view except make them maximized.

[Ian Li (ian.li)]

Another way to recover is using "Alt+Space, M" to move the window back to view.

[Ian Li (ian.li)]

Yet another way to recover: enable workspaces in Settings, then can move back those disappeared windows back to the main one.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Neil Broadley (scaine)]

This has just started happening with me on Ubuntu 14.04, after I updated my HWE stack. My laptop has an HDMI attached screen above it, so I use 1-vertical screens, 2 wide, which gives me a 2x2 set up.

When my screen locks, random windows will move themselves to a non-existent vertical screen below my laptop's screen.

To get them back, I start CCSM, choose General Options, then choose Desktop Size and change my vertical desktop size to 2, drag the windows back to a visible workspace, then change my vertical size back to 1. I can also use the methods described in this bug report.

If I leave my vertical size at 2, the windows still jump down randomly and I then have to add a third layer to my vertical desktop size to get them back, so the desktop size itself appears to be irrelevant.

[GT (gt-)]

"Alt+Space, M" works great. When the options menu comes up, select Maximize' and window comes back.