Software opening on wrong/unplugged monitor.

Hey guys,

This is something that I've just put up with in the past (many years now) but I'm not sure if it's windows or the actual software's issue.

Most of the time I use my laptop at home with a 2nd large monitor, and in that 2nd monitor I run my 3d programs/editing software etc
So most of the time on the laptop screen I just have manuals open or a browser.

However, when I use the laptop away from home, and want to use my programs, they open up as if the 2nd monitor was still plugged in. Most of the time they won't be maximised so I can just drag it over to the laptop screen, as there is usually a bit of it hanging over the laptop screen.
HOWERVER !
Lots of the programs I use have secondary floating windows but these don't get dragged over to the laptop screen, and I cannot fetch them.

How on earth can I get them back ?

I appreciate any help on this as it's something I've not found a solution for yet, so I'm wondering if it's the actual software developers thing to fix.

Are you switching the laptop back to "Computer Only" before you disconnect the second display?

I believe if you revert to using only monitor 1 or 2 (i.e. to NOT extend the desktop across both monitors, but to only use whichever monitor is your laptop screen), that Windows will automatically force all window openings, taskbar, etc., to be located only on the monitor that you tell it you have.

It's only detecting one monitor when the 2nd one is unplugged, so it's not an issue there, and doesn't make a difference if I unplug the cable or uncheck the 2nd monitor box first of all.

In the nvidia panel (just as an experiment) under 'Set up multiple displays' tab, you have the numbered monitors, and can drag the icon around to suit the orientation of the screens. Well in that section, even if I drag the 2nd monitor icond from far right to left, or above/below WITH the second monitor plugged in (remember experiment here), the secondary floating windows of the applications are still opening where it was originally (in my case far right).

Obviously one solution which I have done before, is I've spent 15 mins just opening the program and most of the floating windows to inside the laptop monitor. Obviously that way, it remembers and it's fine. But I don't always have time, plus it's easy to forget one or two functions and you're stuck.

I'm thinking this is perhaps now a fault of the 3rd party software I use.

You tried the Windows key + P,



and set it to "computer only", either before or after disconnecting the second monitor?

OK, I just wanted to confirm if you were switching back to single or not. I run dual displays on my desktop and switch to single to play games. If forget to switch back to dual display and launch an app that would normally be displayed on my second monitor, it just opens on my main monitor instead. I have shortcuts on my taskbar to switch back and forth that are the equivalent to doing the Windows key + P.
To get a window back you could do the Windows key + tab then Windows key + shift + left or right arrow key. A work around but not a solution.

alphanumeric said:

Windows key + shift + left or right arrow key.

Ah ha !


Believe it or not this works !
I just have to make sure I've clicked one of the buttons which makes the floating window, then to make sure i hit WK+Shift+left/right and it works !

Excellent, that will definitely do for now, thank you.

Yes, you just have to switch focus to the window you can't see first. Alt TAB will help you select it too.

stormy13 said:

You tried the Windows key + P,



and set it to "computer only", either before or after disconnecting the second monitor?

I don't have a keyboard with a Windows key, so I can't try this. I have an ATI video card, not an Nvidia card, so there may be some relevance to that fact.

But it seems to me that the four graphic images/options presented in your screenshot from Windows key + P are conceptually identical to the four choices I showed in my "standard" Win7-provided "display resolution" screen: (1) computer only <-> show desktop only on 1, (2) projector only <-> show desktop only on 2, (3) duplicate <-> duplicate these displays, i.e. "clone mode", and (4) extend <-> extend these displays, i.e. spread the single large Windows desktop across both monitors.

So it seems using the simple method (not Windows key + P) of right-click on desktop and select "screen resolution" to get that screen I showed, from which you can also select either of the "show desktop only on 1/2" options which corresponds to the laptop screen... that these are apparently two different methods of getting the exact same settings option set (to allow the large monitor to then be unplugged and have all windows open on just the laptop screen).

Using the Windows key (if available on the keyboard) and something like "Windows key + tab then Windows key + shift + left or right arrow key" may be one of several keyboard shortcuts to accomplish the choosing process directly, it sure seems like the fundamental underlying four options shown on the standard "display resolution" screen are exactly what is going to be activated through the keyboard shortcut method.

The four options in my screenshot sure look like an exact 1-for-1 equivalence with the four options in your screenshot, though they're obviously not the same. I wonder if this difference is due simply to the ATI vs. Nvidia driver difference?

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