How do I get my desktop Icons back on my primary display?

Question

So, I have read several questions - with and without answers - and though this is similar to others, I have found nothing particular to the issues I am experiencing. It is a three-part problem and I think they're all related erego why they are being posed as a single question.

1. My desktop icons are all on my secondary display and I can't move them back.
2. I can no longer maximize windows on my primary display by dragging them to the top of the screen, this results in them being dragged to a desktop with no display that shouldn't be an accessible area anyway.
3. After hours of searching for solutions, I was finally able to write a script that will create and assign the proper resolution and position to my secondary display, and leave it alone if it isn't connected. The catch there is that I have to log in first, so prior to login I am stuck with a sideways login screen that is, oddly enough, on my secondary display.

I am using an older VAIO laptop with a VGA output (hence the need to create the proper resolution for my external monitor) and running Ubuntu MATE 16.04.

Here's a screen shot:

And here's my script: feel free to do whatever you want with it. It may be of use to people with display configuration issues.

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --auto
cvt 1920 1080
xrandr --newmode "1920x1080_60.00"  173.00  1920 2048 2248 2576  1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode VGA1 1920x1080_60.00
xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080_60.00
xrandr --output VGA1 --rotate right
xrandr --output LVDS1 --pos 0x1281 --output VGA1 --pos 1281x0
xrandr --auto

Answer 1

I fixed this in in Display settings (System Settings --> Display). The three monitors I use are different sizes, but after dragging the monitors so that they were aligned along the bottom axis, my icons returned my primary monitor on the left

Like this

Answer 2

I am running Gnome and have a dual monitor setup. If I hit Alt+Space a menu pops up on my primary display and "Move to Monitor Right" or "Move to Monitor Left" is highlighted. Click that selection and the icons move to the other screen.

Answer 3

I wrote the iconic script to give control over which monitor icons are placed on. It also ensures icons don't get placed into the "black hole" that exists when monitors of different resolutions are used.

Here are a few screenshots of iconic to give you an idea of how it works.

iconic Monitors Notebook General Tab screenshot

On this notebook tab you can also specify the number of seconds a test will last. Press the Test button to place icons on the Desktop using currently defined each time you change the reserved screen space.

iconic Monitors Notebook Monitor 3 tab

Assign a user friendly name to each monitor. Set the number of rows and columns to utilize for icon placement on each monitor.

Use the Test button to view what icon placement after number or columns and/or rows are changed.

Answer 4

solved, right click on task-bar, under taskbar tab (box that opens) under 'multiple displays' panel, tick 'Show taskbar on all displays' -> in drop down box below box you just ticked is called ' Show task bar buttons on:' select 'All taskbars'. click apply,

problem solved.

Answer 5

Struggled with this and couldn't find an answer through searching. However, I discovered that the Gnome Tweak Tool took care of this. Just open the Desktop tab, and turn Icons off and on. They jumped right back to the left hand, primary monitor. Plus there are lots of other good tweaks in the tool.

Answer 6

The 'Ugly fix' works well.

• File Manager > Desktop >
• In this file manager don't hesitate to resize the window to fit the icon to your liking.
• Then Ctrl+A to select all icons
• Then drag&drop into your desktop display of you choice.

Answer 7

My problem was solved with “Lock panel/Unlock panel”

My panels were locked, and when I have added additional display to mu configuration, all locked panels stayed on new display.

I did:

1. unlock all panels
2. move them to my preferred display
3. lock them again
4. save display configuration

that helped.

Answer 8

This may help someone in the future:

I have a dual monitor system on my laptop, and sometimes I will close the lid but leave the second monitor running.

What I believe is happening is that when I close the laptop lid, It shuts down the display, and my secondary screen becomes primary for a bit.

I am guessing, that sometimes, even if the lid is reopened and the laptop screen comes online again, the set display properties don't return to normal, so sometimes the primary screen icons will stick to the secondary display.

Thus, I figured out that by going into the display settings and toggling the secondary screen to primary and applying the setting, and then putting the laptop screen back to primary, the icons all go back to their respective places.

Hope this helps someone.

Answer 9

On Ubuntu 16.04, I solved this problem by duplicating desktop icons in the desktop folder: link1, link2,... and link1(copy), link2(copy), for instance. Then I place the duplicate icons as I wish in the two desktops with respect to the two monitors. Everything is fine even if I do monitor manipulations or reboot, etc...

In your case, if you have three monitors, you need three links for the same thing in the desktop folder.

Answer 10

The Issue

Icons stay in the top blank black spot of the smaller display (usually laptop)

✅ Ugly Fix

File Manager > Desktop > Drag icons to the smaller display & they will relocate

• Pros: Very quick
• Cons: Repeat every time a new icon is added