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External Displays Swapping - Arrangement Not Remembered!
- Thread starter Brenzo
- Start date
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This bug [problem] has been around at least since my 2010 Mac Pro was new. Don't expect it to be fixed by Apple now.
I'd love to have a fix since it's happening on my new Mac Studio (2 identical monitors that randomly swap as the main screen, and a 3rd different monitor).
I saw your other thread about this issue on the Mac Studio. Was hoping it wouldn't be present on that system, but oh well. I hear you about this issue being around since 2010, but it isn't and wasn't an issue on any prior Intel-base MBP I've owned, including my other 2019 MBP running the same version of Monterey as the MBP M1 Max I own. So...Apple's reintroduced the problem with the M1 line.
Hi there! Well, I spoke too soon... the issue has returned for me again now, back to manually swapping my monitor arrangement every other time the Mac wakes from sleep etc.
Sigh.
Oh man I was hoping we'd have some luck! Sounds like it's time to leave Amphetamine working to avoid this...
If you use different input types on identical monitors the problem will go away. For instance, if you are using DisplayPort inputs on 2 monitors change one to HDMI and the problem will go away.
My displays will not run at full resolution or in HDR over HDMI 2.0, so not really a solution for me.
I've been having this issue on my 2021 M1 Max MBP and found this thread. I may have FOUND A SOLUTION which has worked for me so far on my triple monitor setup in clamshell. I discovered it in this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251850559. I appreciate if others also test to confirm it works.
Go to Apple > System Preferences > Mission Control > un-check "Automatically rearrange spaces" and "Displays have separate spaces" to see if that helps.
Go to Apple > System Preferences > Mission Control > un-check "Automatically rearrange spaces" and "Displays have separate spaces" to see if that helps.
I already use Stay app and can confirm it does not remedy the issue of monitors switching. Try this:
Go to Apple > System Preferences > Mission Control > un-check "Automatically rearrange spaces" and "Displays have separate spaces" to see if that helps.
Same issue here - in my case it's a 2020 M1 Mac Mini.
@Dbrink329 I tried your idea, but that prevents me from independently swapping between full-screen content on each monitor separately.
@Dbrink329 I tried your idea, but that prevents me from independently swapping between full-screen content on each monitor separately.
@Dbrink329 I also tried your idea and ran into an issue similar to the one described by @dadude999. So I tried rechecking "Display have separate spaces" while leaving unchecked "Automatically rearrange spaces based on most recent use." And it's working! No issues for nearly 48 hours. We'll see if it holds.
I'll repeat what's working for me: Go to System Preferences > Mission Control > uncheck "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use." Five great days and counting of no display swaps, not once.
GitHub - jakehilborn/displayplacer: macOS command line utility to configure multi-display resolutions and arrangements. Essentially XRandR for macOS.
macOS command line utility to configure multi-display resolutions and arrangements. Essentially XRandR for macOS. - jakehilborn/displayplacer
github.com
Bash:
#!/bin/bash
IDS=$(displayplacer list | grep "id: " | cut -d ' ' -f 4 | while read -r PERSISTENT_ID CONTEXT_ID
do
echo $CONTEXT_ID
echo $PERSISTENT_ID
done)
FIRST_PERSISTENT_ID=$(echo $IDS | cut -d ' ' -f1)
SECOND_PERSISTENT_ID=$(echo $IDS | cut -d ' ' -f3)
FIRST_CONTEXT_ID=$(echo $IDS | cut -d ' ' -f2)
SECOND_CONTEXT_ID=$(echo $IDS | cut -d ' ' -f4)
displayplacer "id:$FIRST_PERSISTENT_ID res:1920x1080 scaling:off origin:(1920,0)" "id:$SECOND_PERSISTENT_ID res:1920x2160 scaling:off origin:(0,0)"Somewhat dumb script for rearranging via command/shortcut for my MacBook 16" setup — Closed lid MBP + 2 external. Just adopt and it eases the pain a tiny bit.
This is the option I used to fix this issue on both my Monterey MacBook Pros and it has worked great. Seems macOS treats monitors as "Spaces".
Thank you for posting good to know they are working on it.
I already had it unchecked. sadly not working for me.
Partial "fix" so far:
Go to System Preferences > Mission Control > uncheck "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use"
For me this is working to some degree for about 5 days. Sometimes it works perfectly. And sometimes it doesn't. BUT, when it fails, all I have to do is unplug and replug the external monitor cable from the Mac. This is still annoying.. but much much less annoying then having to open display preferences and rearranging them again.
My set up:
Macbook Air M1
Multi port dongle plugged in
HDMI plugged into dongle goes to one external monitor.
Again, when the screens rearrange, I unplug the entire dongle from the Air, and plug it right back in. And that seems to be working.
Rant:
But I will add my gripe to the others'. It's infuriating that this is an issue that is not fixed. And it's not the first one with the M1. The indexing doesn't work right, the system sounds lag sometimes, and a host of other annoying things that should be BASIC, and ones that worked flawlessly on my 10yr old MBP.
I don't need 99% of the pointless bells and whistles. But I do want my brand new Apple computer to do the basics right.
Go to System Preferences > Mission Control > uncheck "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use"
For me this is working to some degree for about 5 days. Sometimes it works perfectly. And sometimes it doesn't. BUT, when it fails, all I have to do is unplug and replug the external monitor cable from the Mac. This is still annoying.. but much much less annoying then having to open display preferences and rearranging them again.
My set up:
Macbook Air M1
Multi port dongle plugged in
HDMI plugged into dongle goes to one external monitor.
Again, when the screens rearrange, I unplug the entire dongle from the Air, and plug it right back in. And that seems to be working.
Rant:
But I will add my gripe to the others'. It's infuriating that this is an issue that is not fixed. And it's not the first one with the M1. The indexing doesn't work right, the system sounds lag sometimes, and a host of other annoying things that should be BASIC, and ones that worked flawlessly on my 10yr old MBP.
I don't need 99% of the pointless bells and whistles. But I do want my brand new Apple computer to do the basics right.
I don't believe "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use" will do anything to fix the problem. Identical monitors will still be assigned randomly on startup. I'm not sure what is happening if a Macbook screen and an external monitor are getting swapped, but it probably relates to not reading an HDMI EDID correctly (read on for similar problem with 2 identical external monitors).
If you uncheck "Display have separate Spaces" in Mission Control that should fix the problem (always has for me). But you may not want that particular functionality (I don't).
If you run 2 identical external monitors the only "fix" I know that works with "Displays have separate Spaces" checked is to get 2 identical monitors to use different input connections on the monitors. i.e. if both use HDMI inputs you can have the problem. If you switch one to a DVI input (the other to HDMI input) the problem will go away. (The problem is caused by Mac OS not correctly differentiating serial numbers in the monitors otherwise identical EDID's. Using a DVI connections will produce a much different EDID than an HDMI connection and the monitors will be differentiated.) I don't know if using an HDMI input on one monitor and a USB-C input on the other will solve the problem or not, but I would try that if you don't have an HDMI and DVI inputs.
BTW, this problem has existed in different Mac OS's going all the way back to when my 2010 Mac Pro was new. It currently exists on the Mac Studio (where I encountered it again after years without it) and MacBook Pro's. Probably anything running Monterey with an M1 chip, but I don't know that for certain.
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