Display settings not saved across sessions if fractional scaling is used

[Prashant Deva]

I am using:

- Ubuntu 19.10
- Nvidia gtx1080
- nvidia xserver installed
- two 4k monitors

I changed the scaling and order of monitors in Ubuntu Display settings.

However when I reboot or logout/login the display settings reset and i have to set them all over again each time.

[Prashant Deva (prashant-deva)]

Updating, I have narrowed down the bug further.

So the settings are not persisted when fractional scaling is used.

If i enable fractional scaling and then change the scaling, display settings are not persisted across sessions.

If i simply enable fractional scaling, but dont change the scaling (leaving it at 100%), but change other display settings, like location of monitors, they are indeed persisted.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report. What desktop environment do you use? Is that under Xorg or wayland? Could you add a 'journalctl -b 0' log from a session which failed to restore the configuration?

[Prashant Deva (prashant-deva)]

attaching log as requested.

desktop environment is gnome with xorg

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

The log has that error
gnome-shell[1789]: Failed to read monitors config file '/home/pdeva/.config/monitors.xml': Logical monitors not adjacent

Could you maybe attach the corresponding file to the bug?

It would also be better if you could report the issue upstream on https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/issues

[Prashant Deva (prashant-deva)]

attaching monitors.xml.
this is after making changes to display that trigger the reset bug on restart

[vaughn (vaughnd)]

Nice find. I have the same problem: syslog.1:Nov 18 17:21:42 vaughn-linux gnome-shell[2779]: Failed to read monitors config file '/home/vaughn/.config/monitors.xml': Logical monitors not adjacent

I have a 3840x2160 at 150% and 2560x1440 monitor at 100% and have to set up displays each time I log in. Monitors.xml attached.

[Mark2741 (mark2741)]

Can confirm that this is happening in 20.04 as well.

I am using xorg (not wayland) with:

- Ubuntu 20.04 (updated daily)
- AMD Radeon RX590
- one 4k display scaled to 200%
- one 1080p display at default 100%

Every time I reboot I must set the 200% scaling again for the 4k display.

[kaps1968 (kapilajm)]

I am on Ubuntu Budgie 20.4 Beta. Xorg, Surface Pro 4 (Intel® Core™ i7-6650U CPU @ 2.20GHz × 4, 16GB RAM), intel graphics (Mesa Intel® Iris(R) Graphics 540 (SKL GT3))

If fractional scaling is off, everything works as expected.
If fractional scaling slider is turned on; all scaling, screen positions lost on reboot, logoff.

Integer scaling (100, 200, 300 etc) is persistent. No issues at all

[kaps1968 (kapilajm)]

Ubuntu Budgie does not use Mutter? Right? Although it uses LibMutter (I believe)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Yes, when we say "mutter" we mean "libmutter" which is used by Budgie and Gnome Shell equally.

$ apt rdepends libmutter-6-0
libmutter-6-0
Reverse Depends:
  Depends: mutter (>= 3.29.4)
  Depends: budgie-core (>= 3.29.91)
  Depends: gir1.2-mutter-6 (= 3.36.0-2ubuntu1)
  Depends: libmutter-6-dev (= 3.36.0-2ubuntu1)
  Depends: gnome-shell (>= 3.36.0)

[teras (panayotis)]

I do have the same problem with final release of 20.04 :(
Are there any work-arounds or none yet?
:(

[Zack Orn (zzack1)]

Same issue here on fresh install of 20.04

Apr 25 13:28:28 xxx systemd[1798]: Starting GNOME Shell on X11...
Apr 25 13:28:28 xxx gnome-shell[10304]: Enabling experimental feature 'x11-randr-fractional-scaling'
Apr 25 13:28:28 xxx /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[10123]: (II) AMDGPU(0): EDID vendor "GSM", prod id 23305
...
Apr 25 13:28:28 xxx gnome-shell[10304]: Failed to read monitors config file '/home/xxx/.config/monitors.xml': Logical monitors not adjacent

[teras (panayotis)]

Same issue here, also a question on ask ubuntu:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1229443/ubuntu-20-04-and-display-settings-are-not-preserved

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 1825593, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.

[teras (panayotis)]

The other bug report says that this should be the correct thread. Which is the correct thread to follow?

[Sato (aoiduo)]

My workaround is to write a bash script that changes screen scaling and position using xrandr command.

[Dave (damies13)]

I disagree that this is a Duplicate of bug #1825593, because this happens for me without Fractional Scaling is enabled, and while using Wayland not X11

In my case I set monitor 1 as primary monitor (primary display port), monitor 3 (secondary display port) with orientation "Portrait Left", after reboot/logout/system update that required reboot, login window appears on monitor 3 in landscape mode, likewise after login monitor 3 is in landscape mode and the primary monitor (has the dock)

|--|--|
| OS Name | Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS |
| OS Type | 64-bit |
| Gnome Version | 42.5 |
| Windowing System | Wayland |
| Graphics | Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 530 (SKL GT2) |
| Processor | Intel® Core™ i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20GHz × 4 |
| Hardware Model | HP HP EliteDesk 800 G3 DM 65W |