Plasma forgets window positions

[mirto]

Hi all,
I have a full AMD machine with 2 monitors:

• a 4k primary monitor on a display port
• a full HD tv set secondary monitoron an HDMI port

With sddm whenever I login all the applications start on the secondary monitor.

So I tried to switch to plasma-login-manager but the behaviour is the same.

What can I do to force the applications to start on the primary monitor?

TL;DR

The secondary monitor is plugged into the HDMI port that is the first port on the graphic card.

I tried every combination of desktop session restore without success

• save at the session close: logout / login / reboot - everytime all the windows on the secondary monitor
• save manually the session: logout / login the windows remain on the primary monitor - reboot all the windows on the secondary monitor

My configuration

sh-5.3$ inxi -Fazi
System:
  Kernel: 7.0.3-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-7.0-x86_64
    root=UUID=95b01923-1bed-4694-bb66-72e635384b04 rw quiet splash
    udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.6.4 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.25.0
    wm: kwin_wayland vt: 3 dm: N/A Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI (MS-7C84)
    v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required>
    Firmware: UEFI vendor: American Megatrends LLC. v: 1.H0 date: 07/16/2024
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 3
    level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
    model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 0 microcode: 0xA20102E
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 8 threads: 16 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 512 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 4 MiB
    desc: 8x512 KiB L3: 32 MiB desc: 1x32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3596 min/max: 556/4854 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: powersave cores: 1: 3596 2: 3596 3: 3596
    4: 3596 5: 3596 6: 3596 7: 3596 8: 3596 9: 3596 10: 3596 11: 3596 12: 3596
    13: 3596 14: 3596 15: 3596 16: 3596 bogomips: 121601
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a
    ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: old_microcode status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: Safe RET
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW;
    STIBP: always-on; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsa mitigation: Clear CPU buffers
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
  Type: vmscape mitigation: IBPB before exit to userspace
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 33 [Radeon RX 7600/7600
    XT/7600M XT/7600S/7700S / PRO W7600] vendor: Sapphire driver: amdgpu
    v: kernel arch: RDNA-3 code: Navi-3x process: TSMC n6 (6nm) built: 2023+
    pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 8 ports: active: DP-1,HDMI-A-2
    empty: DP-2,HDMI-A-1,Writeback-1 bus-ID: 2f:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:7480
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Microdia Webcam Vitade AF driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 5-3.1:3
    chip-ID: 0c45:6366 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.22 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.11
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
    gpu: amdgpu d-rect: 5760x2160 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: DP-1 pos: primary,left model: LG (GoldStar) HDR 4K
    serial: <filter> built: 2024 res: mode: 3840x2160 hz: 60 scale: 150% (1.5)
    to: 2560x1440 dpi: 139 gamma: 1.2 size: 697x392mm (27.44x15.43")
    diag: 806mm (31.7") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 3840x2160 min: 640x480
  Monitor-2: HDMI-A-2 pos: right model: Sony TV 00 serial: <filter>
    built: 2015 res: mode: 1920x1080 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 51 gamma: 1.2
    size: 952x535mm (37.48x21.06") diag: 1092mm (43") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: radeonsi
    wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 26.0.6-arch1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (radeonsi
    navi33 ACO DRM 3.64 7.0.3-1-MANJARO) device-ID: 1002:7480
    memory: 15.62 GiB unified: no display-ID: :0.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.341 layers: 2 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
    Radeon RX 7600 XT (RADV NAVI33) driver: mesa radv v: 26.0.6-arch1.1
    device-ID: 1002:7480 surfaces: N/A
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: lact wl: wayland-info
    x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 31 HDMI/DP Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 8
    bus-ID: 2f:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab30 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 31:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Microdia Webcam Vitade AF driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 5-3.1:3
    chip-ID: 0c45:6366 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  API: ALSA v: k7.0.3-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
  Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.6.4 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 25:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8125
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp37s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 26:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8125 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp38s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-3: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 28:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: br0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: unknown mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  IF-ID-2: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  IF-ID-3: virbr1 state: down mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  IF-ID-4: virbr2 state: down mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, nfsd, sshd, systemd-timesyncd,
    wpa_supplicant
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 8087:0029
    class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 20.92 TiB used: 9.18 TiB (43.9%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Sabrent model: Rocket 4.0 Plus
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: RKT4P1.3 temp: 33.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:1 vendor: Sabrent model: Rocket 4.0 Plus
    size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: R4PB47.2 temp: 32.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST2000DM008-2FR102
    size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0001 scheme: GPT
  ID-4: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Seagate model: ST18000NM000J-2TV103
    size: 16.37 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: SC02 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 915.53 GiB (98.32%)
    used: 179.03 GiB (19.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:3
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 328 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 49.1 C mobo: 43.5 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 51.0 C
    mem: 67.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 115
Info:
  Memory: total: 64 GiB note: est. available: 62.72 GiB used: 5.08 GiB (8.1%)
  Processes: 397 Power: uptime: 19m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 25.03 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
    power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 260 default: graphical
    tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 2001 libs: 455 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
    Compilers: clang: 22.1.3 gcc: 15.2.1 Shell: sh default: Bash v: 5.3.9
    running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.40
sh-5.3$ 

[soundofthunder]

@mirto

What can I do to force the applications to start on the primary monitor?

Typically, selecting the other monitor as primary would likely take care of that; though, as I don’t use a multiple monitor configuration, this is at best a guess.

[BG405]

Swapping which is primary should work. However, I mostly use the second monitor with the laptop display off (the laptop display is primary), so my setup isn’t exactly standard either.

What I do find is when I have the primary (laptop) iopen, apps which were previously used there switch to it.

@mirto
If swapping which is primary doesn’t work, I’d suggest temporarily setting Plasma to start with a fresh session (not previously-saved) as this will hopefully clear corrupted configs and then once you have it how you want it again, re-enable the save-session. (In fact, I’d do that anyway). Hopefully it’ll work, then.

[mirto]

Hi @BG405 it didn’t work.

What I’ve done:

1. set start with an empty session
2. close session and login: the session is empty on both monitor
3. open 5 applications on the primary monitor
4. set start session with the last closed session
5. close session
6. login and … all applications on the secondary monitor

Don’t know what to try.

[BG405]

I guess this is technically a workaround to the actual issue, but you could try specifying which program window should go where via right-clicking the titlebar and going to:
More Actions → Configure Special Window Settings.
Maybe these are set already?

Worth checking via System Settings for any pre-existing Window Rules and purging them. I had to do this in the past, probably when Plasma6 arrived.

[scotty65]

Session restore isn’t fully implemented yet in Plasma. At the moment it is using a “fake session restore” workaround they announced last year:

This Week in Plasma: The beginnings of Wayland session restore

This week there’s big news: at long last, KWin has gained support for the initial version of the Wayland session restore protocol! This work was done by David Edmundson and Vlad Zahorodnii, and lands in Plasma 6.4.

Now, before you go celebrate in the streets, there are some big caveats:

1. This version of the protocol only supports window sizing, positioning, and virtual desktop placement.
2. It doesn’t govern windows saving their internal content yet. That’s coming later.
3. Toolkits and apps still need to opt in; nothing automatically starts working for free.

But this point is… this stuff is coming soon and in motion! Exciting times.

Although it should still remember window positions, so I am not sure why your apps are shifting from the primary monitor to the secondary one. Does the primary monitor take longer than the secondary one to power on & become active? Maybe Plasma is only seeing the secondary one as active/available when it restores the previous session, so it moves everything to that display?

The good news is that Plasma 6.7 will fully support the Wayland session management protocol, meaning implementation of full session restore shouldn’t be too far away (hopefully) on Plasma.

This was announced a few weeks ago:

Notable in performance & technical - This Week in Plasma: Per-Screen Virtual...

Notable in performance & technical

Plasma 6.7

KWin now supports the Wayland session management protocol! This is an important step for apps to be able to remember their sizes and positions after restarting the system. The next step is for toolkits, libraries, and apps to implement support. We’re getting there! (Vlad Zahorodnii, KDE Bugzilla #436318)

There are a couple of longstanding bugs related to this:

436318 – Support for real session save/restore for window content and state...

15329 – Use Wayland session restore to save and remember size, position,...

Plasma 6.7.0 will be released on Tue 2026-06-16. It might take a while to roll out to Stable branch, however Unstable branch should have it available within a few days of release, and Testing branch hopefully a week or so later. So you could look at switching branches if you want to see if Plasma 6.7.0 solves the issue:

Switching branches instructions

To switch to Testing branch:

sudo pacman-mirrors -a -B testing && sudo pacman-mirrors -f && sudo pacman -Syyu

or, to switch to Unstable branch:

sudo pacman-mirrors -a -B unstable && sudo pacman-mirrors -f && sudo pacman -Syyu

To return to Stable branch:

sudo pacman-mirrors -a -B stable && sudo pacman-mirrors -f && sudo pacman -Syyuu

Note: the extra u is required to enable package downgrades when moving from Unstable to Testing or Stable, or from Testing to Stable

Switching Branches - Manjaro

[dmt]

I don’t have a primary option, I have a “Change Screen Priorities” selection, possibly because I have 3 monitors. I’m also on unstable so YMMV.

My windows sometimes opened on another monitor, I started making sure my mouse is on the main monitor before the windows opened and I haven’t had an issue since then.

However I haven’t tested it properly, so it may be entirely coincidental.