Protect desktops assignment on macOS

[pokrovskyy]

I have 4x4K setup connected to MBP. Oftentimes upon wake after sleep the desktops would "travel" between displays. Any way BetterDisplay can prevent this from happening? Like some kind of desktop-monitor arrangement protection. Thank you!

[waydabber]

Yes, there is a full featured layout protection feature under Settings/Groups. However if the problem is because (some of) the displays are identical (same maker, model, serial), then the core issue is that the OS can't tell the displays apart and will assign them randomly based on connection order.

[pokrovskyy]

I appreciate the response. I know about Groups and was hoping that would help, but it still does not (reliably). I believe my monitors are recognized properly - they do seem to have distinct auto-detected names, so I assume OS does distinguish them?

I do notice though that they have different wake-up time, meaning they don't all turn on at the same time when the system wakes up. So it seems that macOS moves desktops to other displays and does not re-arrange after the slower ones eventually appear. So my expectation was that BetterDisplay would remember the desktop-display association and restore it once displays appear, even if with a delay

[durandom]

The same seems to happen to me. In my case I have a DELL U4025QW and I changed the EDID to support 100HZ refresh rate on a M1 macbook. I have set "Automatically apply custom EDID up detection..." to on, and my guess is that this is causing some delay and the windows get collected on the internal macbook display.

[waydabber]

Yes, it might cause a delay.

[durandom]

Is there any way to workaround this? With my previous monitor I could create a DisplayVendorID-xxx directory, but afaik this doesnt work with ARM based macs anymore

[waydabber]

I am not sure why the issue, by default (if something is not messed up) Windows should stay where they are. If the main display changes due a display disconnecting but then it comes back with the main status intact, Windows should simply move around fine. Also, display settings are per layout saved by default.

[pokrovskyy]

Hi, just an update from my issue - after switching to 2 x ASUS ROG Swift PG32UCDM the issue is gone, my MBP can go to sleep and wake up just fine without messing windows around. Moreover, when I detach it and use like a laptop and later reconnect - the arrangement is mostly preserved. So idk maybe it is some sort of monitor identification issue, or something got fixed 🤷‍♂️

[waydabber]

Note: meanwhile the app supports an additional identification method that takes into account the port the display is connected to - this should help with identical displays.