diff -Nurp gnome-desktop-2.22.0-patched/libgnome-desktop/libgnomeui/monitor-db.h gnome-desktop-2.22.0-working/libgnome-desktop/libgnomeui/monitor-db.h
--- gnome-desktop-2.22.0-patched/libgnome-desktop/libgnomeui/monitor-db.h	2008-03-17 11:04:17.000000000 -0700
+++ gnome-desktop-2.22.0-working/libgnome-desktop/libgnomeui/monitor-db.h	2008-03-27 19:04:56.000000000 -0700
@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@ gboolean        configuration_match     
 					    Configuration  *config2);
 gboolean        configuration_save         (Configuration  *configuration,
 					    GError        **err);
+gboolean        configuration_save_onetime (Configuration  *configuration,
+					    GError        **err);
+
 gboolean	configuration_apply_stored (RWScreen       *screen);
 gboolean	configuration_applicable   (Configuration  *configuration,
 					    RWScreen       *screen);
diff -Nurp gnome-desktop-2.22.0-patched/libgnome-desktop/monitor-db.c gnome-desktop-2.22.0-working/libgnome-desktop/monitor-db.c
--- gnome-desktop-2.22.0-patched/libgnome-desktop/monitor-db.c	2008-03-17 11:04:17.000000000 -0700
+++ gnome-desktop-2.22.0-working/libgnome-desktop/monitor-db.c	2008-03-27 18:56:42.000000000 -0700
@@ -631,6 +631,14 @@ get_filename (void)
 	    g_get_home_dir(), ".gnome2", "monitors.xml", NULL));
 }
 
+static const gchar *
+get_onetime_filename (void)
+{
+    return idle_free (
+	g_build_filename (
+	    g_get_home_dir(), ".gnome2", "monitors-onetime.xml", NULL));
+}
+
 static const char *
 get_rotation_name (RWRotation r)
 {
@@ -717,7 +725,7 @@ emit_configuration (Configuration *confi
 }
 
 gboolean
-configuration_save (Configuration *configuration, GError **err)
+configuration_save_to_file (Configuration *configuration, GError **err, const gchar* filename)
 {
     Configuration **configurations;
     GString *output = g_string_new("");
@@ -738,7 +746,19 @@ configuration_save (Configuration *confi
 
     emit_configuration (configuration, output);
 
-    return g_file_set_contents (get_filename(), output->str, -1, err);
+    return g_file_set_contents (filename, output->str, -1, err);
+}
+
+gboolean
+configuration_save (Configuration *configuration, GError **err)
+{
+    return configuration_save_to_file (configuration, err, get_filename());
+}
+
+gboolean
+configuration_save_onetime (Configuration *configuration, GError **err)
+{
+    return configuration_save_to_file (configuration, err, get_onetime_filename());
 }
 
 static gboolean
@@ -773,13 +793,33 @@ apply_configuration (Configuration *conf
 gboolean
 configuration_apply_stored (RWScreen *screen)
 {
-    char *file = g_build_filename (
-	g_get_home_dir(), ".gnome2", "monitors.xml", NULL);
-    Configuration **configs = configurations_read (file, NULL);
+    char *file;
+    Configuration **configs;
     Configuration *current;
     Configuration *found;
     gboolean result;
 
+    file = g_build_filename (g_get_home_dir(), ".gnome2", "monitors-onetime.xml", NULL);
+    configs = configurations_read (file, NULL);
+    if ( ! configs ) {
+        /* No monitors-onetime.xml file, so try monitors.xml */
+        g_free(file);
+        file = g_build_filename (g_get_home_dir(), ".gnome2", "monitors.xml", NULL);
+        configs = configurations_read (file, NULL);
+    } else {
+        /* monitors-onetime.xml was loaded; now remove it before trying anything so
+         * if there are problems, we won't re-load it again */
+        if (! unlink(file)) {
+            g_print("Cannot unlink %s - cowardly refusing to apply it\n", file);
+            return FALSE;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (!screen) {
+        g_print("No valid screens to apply stored configuration\n");
+        return FALSE;
+    }
+
     rw_screen_refresh (screen);
     
     current = configuration_new_current (screen);