How to set default display for new windows in Gnome 3

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I have 2 displays, a monitor and a TV. The first one I use all the time and it has set as primary in Gnome settings, but a TV is turned on only when watching movies from a sofa. Mainly, everything is going as expected, but some apps opens at the TV which is turned off at the moment, thus, I have to turn it on and drag window to the monitor and it happens all the time with a certain apps, i.e. qBittorrent.

I spent a lot of time with Google but I failed to find a way to let all apps appear on primary display.

ozamodaz

Posted 2016-10-12T05:24:11.033

Reputation: 131

What is your default display manager? – Lefty G Balogh – 2017-04-26T13:17:40.337

Difficult to answer with your restrictions. Some options are "start one Xserver with two screens" (that's how I do it), or "use a window manager that allows you to specify placement", like StartsOnScreen for fvwm2. If the gnome window manager doesn't support it, and you want Xinerama, you are probably out of luck. – dirkt – 2017-04-27T12:22:38.153

but some windows appear on main display (or at least current) @dirkt – zb' – 2017-04-27T15:35:22.693

Answers

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Kind of old question I guess, but I reckon there are more people with this problem.

I don't think there is a setting to open all programs on the primary display on Gnome.

But as a workaround you can enable workspaces only on the primary display, and make rules for all the programs you want to force to primary.

Start gnome-tweak-tool.

Workspaces -> Turn on "Workspaces only on primary display"

Extensions -> Turn on "Auto move windows"

Press the gear to enter settings, press "Add Rule", choose program and workspace number.

Make a rule for each program you want to display on primary.

anders

Posted 2016-10-12T05:24:11.033

Reputation: 331

Just tried on stretch with gnome shell, didn' t work. It keeps opening windows on the secondary monitor. – Francesco Casula – 2018-03-08T10:49:50.753

First of, did you do this: Workspaces -> Turn on "Workspaces only on primary display" ? Are you sure you have the correct screen as your primary screen? When you add the rule to 'Auto move windows' make sure workspace 1 is selected. When multi monitors are properly aligned and setup, everything opens up on the last screen I used it. Without using any extension. Try adjusting your display positions, try different things, corners of screen matching etc. If I redock my laptop, every screen(3 of them) shows everything just like it was before I unplugged it. Same when I open applications. – anders – 2018-08-05T08:27:59.950

Asked: 2016-10-12T05:24:11.033

Viewed: 3 307 times

Active: 2019-12-05T12:00:20.833