Dual monitors setup resets windows positions to main display and desktop when I log off, sleep, or hibernate my computer.

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Darkranger919

Let me explain the issue i am facing in detail first:

I have a dual screen setup that I use regularly with my laptop (laptop display and external monitor) and I am avid user of the windows desktop feature (I have 4-5 desktops active at a time). Due to this use-case, my issue is very annoying.

There has been an issue that has spontaneously appeared a few months ago that I have been trying to solve but never resolves no matter what I do. Every time my computer goes to sleep naturally, the windows on all desktops rearrange and go back to the display I've set as my main display (my external monitor). Furthermore, all windows of a certain app spread across the different desktops (I use multiple instances of chrome and adobe reader) automatically snap to whatever desktop was open at the time (all other windows of different programs were unaffected). Due to my use case, this issue is extremely annoying as I have to reset my windows and desktops every time I log on, or whenever I get up and take a break.


The issue started a few months ago, I don't recall how exactly. One day, I noticed that the windows stopped automatically setting to their original screen when I woke my computer from sleep. Then, I started using one screen for a period of time (I was only gaming and wanted to use my external monitor to cut down on distractions) and ever since then, the problems above started appearing in full force. I tested a few things out. I found out that the windows also stopped returning to their original position if I am to disconnect my monitor and reconnect it, while it was working fine before.


So I've done a bit of research on the issue and tried the following things:

Resetting display adapters had no effect; they're always up to date as I prefer to be on top of updates. I haven't tried resetting them, and I'd rather not.

I dug a bit around in the windows registry, as per a the instructions from an individual from a thread on a similar issue. The registry address they gave listed the names and registry info of all the display configs the my computer has used up till now. I didn't recognise the names of some monitors that my computer had apparently connected to, but I did notice that there were duplicate entries for my current setup. Somehow, a triple monitor setup was also listed, which may be from when I experimented with wireless displays with another windows laptop I had.


One thread also told me to delete old, placeholder "displays" from the device manager control panel. These are the greyed-out monitors in the monitor section of the device manager when hidden devices can be viewed. Nothing.


I ran scans to test the integrity of the system and fix errors. Nothing came back from the scan. Did an antivirus scan just in case too; again nothing!




I've read several other windows support threads on the same issue (I would list them here, but unfortunately I do not recall their links). Apparently, this issue has persisted ever since windows 7! I couldn't find any active discussions in the near past, so I decided to reopen the issue. Furthermore, my findings are sort of unique as I haven't read anyone complain of windows of one app resetting to one desktop in multiple desktop mode before. I hope these help in finding the exact issue causing this. Anyone with more expertise have any ideas?

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