I am yet another one struggling with this issue since I got a macbook pro from my work (I use Linux in my personal setup). To be specific, as pointed out by
jjvw42 post above, which I quote:
there are two groups of people here. There are people whos actual monitors are being rearranged after waking their computer, and then theres those whose *windows* are being rearranged to different spots and/or monitors after waking their computer.
I am part of the former group, 2 identical displays that keep being swapped every time the computer goes to sleep.
The following configuration:
MacBook M1 Pro - Main display
Asus VG27A - 2560x1440 - 144hz
Asus VG27A - 1440x2560 - 144hz (portrait mode)
The displays are connected via a Level 1 2-port switch that gets its signal from a CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 hub.
A couple of comments that might help clarify the issue:
1)
Everybody is in the latter group (Windows being rearranged across displays), with typical solutions being software-oriented, such as paid proprietary programs (e.g.
Stay,
Moon, and others), terminal scripts, and clever open source solutions such as
displayplacer. The level of success in tackling that issue varies according to each user's configuration.
2) Some of us are also in the second group (identical displays being rearranged). The core issue comes from MacOS inability to differentiate the displays. It sees the same IDID UUID of the display and rearrange them randomly after each boot or sleep. You can tell whether you are in this group by running the terminal command:
and verifying that your monitors have the very same EDID UUID (last line of the output for each monitor).
Typical workarounds for the latter include using different connections for each monitor. Yet, this is not viable in some workflows and/or situations, which unfortunately is my case.
This is a long running issue that Apple either cannot address or does not bother to do so, which really frustrates anyone who is genuinely trying to adopt its ecosystem (by choice or by need - e.g. workplace, development requirements, etc).
After following this for more than two years and going through a number of MacOs versions, I genuinely believe Apple will never address it since those affected are not a large portion of its regular user base. Thus, I grew used to lose a minute or two three times a day when I have to work on my Mac. Although this seems a minor price to pay, as suggested by
Fulles2000 post above, which I quote:
To be honest I wouldn't let it put you off. It's wrong for me about half the time I plug my monitors in. It is annoying but it takes about 30 seconds for me to rearrange my monitors and place my windows onto the correct monitor (I've had plenty of practice 😂). I shouldn't have to do this of course but compared to the productivity gain I get from having multiple monitors it's a tiny amount of time.
It is indeed a tiny amount of time but it is also a 3x daily thorn that drives me crazy every time I am punctured by it. Do not get me wrong, I wholeheartly agree with his post and rationale, but coming from an OS in which (1) this is not an issue and (2) problems usually get fixed by someone (distro maintainers, users, etc), makes me wonder why I have to put up with that daily dose of acute stress (other than being forced to do so).
I am sorry for not being able to provide a fix for this, but I will keep following this thread in the hopes that more creative minds could come up with a definitive workaround.
