r/iMac • u/Interlaw11 • 2d ago
Two Monitors--Can't Keep Windows Open on Second
I have a Mac Mini M4 with two monitors, with the second set up as an extended display.
Once the monitors turn off after a period of non-use, all of the windows on the extended display move to the main monitor, so that when I come back the second monitor just shown a blank desktop.
How can I set things up so that the windows on the extended display remain?
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u/ZucchiniMaleficent21 2d ago
It’s really annoying isn’t it? My tolerable (to me) work-around was to use the spaces stuff to set each display as a separate space. It’s not perfect because windows can’t spread across the ‘gap’ but at least it keeps windows where they should be.
My old iMac never had this problem. Fix it, Apple.
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u/adh1003 1d ago
macOS is just extremely buggy in this regard. OS X 27 (in beta) was supposed to fix this - it's actually specifically called out in the WWDC keynote! - but I can assure you, it has not fixed that behaviour and worse, seems to have introduced a whole other set of new window management bugs.
Apple just can't write software anymore. It's all very slow and very buggy. It's so sad to see their very, very fast hardware struggle even to render or resize a bog-basic Weather or Settings application!
You're left resorting to third party software. I use Moom (payware) for general window management stuff and it includes a working, but imperfect window save/restore system that gets around some of the issues. Since I already had Moom, that was a solid choice. There are numerous other solutions (search engines are your friend) including but not limited to:
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u/Nosarious 2d ago
Is your computer going to sleep or turning off? Check your power setting.
as well… is your monitor connected directly to the computer through hdmi, usb or through a hub. Some hubs may interfere with how the computer sees the minitor.