Launcher shows up on the wrong monitor

Question

I have nvidia drivers and dual monitors.

nvidia drivers It worked fine in 11.10 but since todays updates, my unity "launcher" is only on right monitor.

launcher on the middle

On vanila ubuntu display settings it recognizes only one monitor. And it looks like this: ubuntu configuration

So, the questions might be:

Why Ubuntu's "Displays" shows only one monitor where nvidia drivers shows two? I assume nvidia overwrites?
After Lot of playing between these two settings, I can't manage to move menu launcher to left screen. Any suggestions?

Should be closed as too localized, scroll down for OP's accepted answer. — Tom Brossman, Sep 08 '12 at 09:37
@TomBrossman The answer is reported not to be working by several people. — gertvdijk, Jan 17 '13 at 14:14
@gertvdijk Hmm, strange. It is still clearly too localized and should remain closed. If this is a bug and is affecting others still, it should be reported on Launchpad and not re-asked here. — Tom Brossman, Jan 17 '13 at 16:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 29 '12 at 16:56

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Maybe it's a bug. Have you tried the Ubuntu2d setting on the Ubuntu button at login?

answered Apr 29 '12 at 16:56

Shannon_VanWagner

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I assume you meant Unity 2D. Unity 2D will probably work, but I really want Unity 3D. I prefer gnome shell instead of Unity 2D – confiq Apr 29 '12 at 17:53

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 01 '12 at 00:43

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As a workaround, you could try physically plugging the monitors into the opposite ports on your video card.

answered May 01 '12 at 00:43

cdaddr

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I even tried that... didn't work! :) – confiq May 02 '12 at 18:44

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 03 '12 at 08:12

I had the same issue and what solved it for me was first selecting the left screen in the 'X Server Display Configuration' and setting the position to 'Right of'.

This resulted in the launcher at the correct position on the virtual desktop but with my displays physically swapped, so I simply physically plugged the monitors in the opposite ports of my video card.

I guess the bug is that the launcher is always displayed on the monitor that is physically plugged in in the first port of the video card, ignoring the position you configured in the Nvidia tool.

I hope this works for you.

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 07 '12 at 09:10

I'm facing the same bug (I think it is).

OS: Ubuntu 12.04 Graphic Card: GeForce 310M

On dual monitor configuration the unity launcher is on right (wrong) screen.

I tentatively solve this by setting the primary monitor's position to Right of and then setting it back to Absolute. I do this on every reboot (!).

Furthermore I set this via gconf-editor:

/apps/compiz-1/plugins/unityshell/screen0/options/num_launchers=1

This forces the launcher to appear in only one monitor (otherwise for me it appears on both)

Naver had problems with Ubuntu 11.04

Hope this helps.

Edit: Actually I use to set both monitor to Absolute with the right one positioned from the pixel width of the left one.

So, in my case:

1366x768  Absolute +0+0 Primary
1280x1024 Absolute +1366+0

Do you still have this bug? In my machine it's fixed – confiq May 13 '12 at 06:56 — confiq, May 13 '12 at 06:56

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 11 '12 at 06:19

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I think it's because of your configuration. If you select "twinView" in nvidia-settings, for gnome displays tool it's like there's just one gigantic display. Try the "separate x screens" option in nvidia-settings.

answered May 11 '12 at 06:19

cortex

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That creates totally distinct displays. You can't even drag windows between them. – Timmmm Jul 14 '12 at 15:55

confiq · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-17T14:12:05.627

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It appears this was a bug in Unity. I've update last week and tried again, problem is fixed.

Thanks for all answers!

Edit: After reading few comments, It seems I just got lucky, people still have same problem that I had. Interesting thing is that I've changed computer and graphic card since I asked the question and it's still fixed for me :(

edited Jan 17 '13 at 14:12

answered May 13 '12 at 06:54

confiq

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What means "fixed"? Does it now recognize the Twinview configuration? Because for me it still doesn't, so I now get a launcher on both screens, which I find much more annoying. – kynan Jun 29 '12 at 13:43
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Didn't work for me too... – Anthony O. Jul 23 '12 at 08:54
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Just to say that at 15 Out 2012 hasn't been fixed, by any update at all. You probably just got lucky and the unity launcher got placed on the right screen. However It mostly doesn't, and in order to get it in the right place you have to toy arround with the position and resolution of your monitors, and by some change you might get it right. However far as Ubuntu 12.04 updates go nothing to "fix" this as you say sorry. – Fábio Antunes Oct 15 '12 at 00:10
@FábioAntunes: I edited my answer. – confiq Jan 17 '13 at 14:12
The reason Unity doesn't place the launcher in the right place is because both monitors are being recognized as one (Unity or X.Org problem maybe), like it shows in the image presented with this question. However far as I know this isn't a localized bug, because in 4 different monitors I have here to test with, they are all recognized as a single monitor in under 3 different installations of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. (continuing...) – Fábio Antunes Jan 20 '13 at 16:17
For that reason Unity places the launcher on the left side of the combination of monitors (usually). However I've noticed that when changing the position and resolution of the monitors using NVIDIA X Server Settings GUI, with some luck you are capable to place the launcher in the monitor you want, after toying around with the position of the screens in the NVIDIA GUI, and after a while you get the hand on it and becomes easier. Maybe in future versions of Unity or X.Org this problem will be fixed. – Fábio Antunes Jan 20 '13 at 16:18

Launcher shows up on the wrong monitor

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