Multiple monitor behavior - I cannot Alt-Tab to, close, minimize or maximize a window on a monitor no longer connected, open windows are orphaned

Winver: 25H2

What am I missing or doing wrong in this use case:

I have a Windows 11 laptop. I usually (not always) use two external monitors. The monitors are arranged in a T pattern, the two monitors sit above and to the left and right of the laptop screen. I know the geometry doesn't matter but I want to mention it. The monitors have a greater resolution than the laptop screen.

When I sleep the laptop and leave a window open on either of the two external monitors, and then resume the laptop but with only one of the two external monitors connected I cannot connect to (Alt-Tab), reduce/minimize, maximize, close or ever see the window (or windows) that was previously (and still is) open on the (now) disconnected monitor. I know it's still open because I can see it in the Alt-Tab list, and on the main window's (laptop) taskbar, yet I cannot use the Alt-Tab list or the taskbar to do anything with it, the only thing I can do, excluding reconnecting the monitor, is use Task Manager to kill the process. The window (or windows) is kind of orphaned from any desktop control.

I am at the point of always moving any open window off the external monitor (first reducing then moving) and back to the laptop screen before sleeping the laptop. It seems like there should be a better way, what am I missing?

I use Thunderbolt 4 to connect the monitors, I have also tried this with Display Port and HDMI, and a mix of Thunderbolt 4 and DP or HDMI. I get the results under all of these configurations.

Coal Miner said:

It seems like there should be a better way, what am I missing?

Click to expand...

I don't do Sleep, nor do I disconnect/reconnect displays so, I can't attest to any strange behavior, but, have you tried checking/unchecking some Multiple Display options in Settings?

Hello,

In addition for now, you can use an available option in the tutorial below to move the open off-screen windows back on-screen.

Coal Miner said:

When I sleep the laptop and leave a window open on either of the two external monitors, and then resume the laptop but with only one of the two external monitors connected I cannot connect to (Alt-Tab), reduce/minimize, maximize, close or ever see the window (or windows) that was previously (and still is) open on the (now) disconnected monitor.

Click to expand...

Can you clarify exactly what you mean by resuming with only one of the two external monitors? That is, is only one monitor physically powered on/connected? Also, I'm presuming that the power off/disconnect happens after your laptop has been put to sleep, correct?

So, I have three external monitors and I also use sleep, but I always wake to and use all three monitors. It works fine for me but, extremely rarely, a glitch happens and I have to use the steps @Brink provided above.

The reason I asked for the clarification is that for one of my external monitors, I use a second input for another laptop. When I change input to laptop #2, Windows on laptop #1 stays unaffected (as it should); that is, I can still move my mouse and other windows to/from that monitor, Alt-Tab, etc., but I can't see it because the input is currently set to laptop #2. Thus, I'm thinking that maybe your Windows is resuming and believes it is still running as if two external monitors are connected? Because if I ever physically power off or disconnect any of my external monitors, Windows automatically moves its windows to one of the other connected/available monitors.

When you resume, go into Display Settings and check if the setup is correct (i.e., how many external monitors is Windows detecting?).

You can use the paid app DisplayFusion if you are not finding the settings in Windows to help you

Why disconnect the third monitor while the laptop is sleeping? Wake it first and then disconnect it. All open windows should automatically move to the nearest active monitor.

PS: I have a rather different issue. When I play an old game full screen at a lower resolution than my primary monitor, all open windows move automatically to the secondary monitor because they don't fit. I am not sure, but I think this also happens for minimized applications. When I close the game and the primary monitor returns to native resolution again, all windows remain on the secondary monitor. Is there some script or otherwise to save their original size and position on the primary monitor and automatically restore them after playing? Manually moving 10+ windows is not very convenient. Thanks.

joeandmarg0 said:

In para 3---When I sleep etc ---How have you " disconnected the monitor "---? and why do you expect to be able to use a disconnected monitor?

Click to expand...

Use a disconnected monitor, ... ah no. How did you read that into the description.

nuspieds said:

Can you clarify exactly what you mean by resuming with only one of the two external monitors? That is, is only one monitor physically powered on/connected? Also, I'm presuming that the power off/disconnect happens after your laptop has been put to sleep, correct?

So, I have three external monitors and I also use sleep, but I always wake to and use all three monitors. It works fine for me but, extremely rarely, a glitch happens and I have to use the steps @Brink provided above.

The reason I asked for the clarification is that for one of my external monitors, I use a second input for another laptop. When I change input to laptop #2, Windows on laptop #1 stays unaffected (as it should); that is, I can still move my mouse and other windows to/from that monitor, Alt-Tab, etc., but I can't see it because the input is currently set to laptop #2. Thus, I'm thinking that maybe your Windows is resuming and believes it is still running as if two external monitors are connected? Because if I ever physically power off or disconnect any of my external monitors, Windows automatically moves its windows to one of the other connected/available monitors.

When you resume, go into Display Settings and check if the setup is correct (i.e., how many external monitors is Windows detecting?).

Click to expand...

The two external monitors are connected via Thunderbolt 4 daisy chain, i,.e., one Thunderbold 4 USB cable from the laptop to a Thunderbolt 4 hub, one TB 4 cable to monitor 1 form the huib, one TB4 cable from Monitor 1 to Monitor 2. However, I get the same problem when I connect the two monitors via a Display Port or HDMI directly to the laptop, so to me that removes TB 4 from being the problem.

When I put the laptop to sleep, I pull out (physically disconnect) the TB 4 cable from the laptop. If you are not familiar with TB 4, it uses one cable to the laptop to supply power, network (internet), other USB connections (such as a mouse), video and audio. The (one) TB 4 cable to the laptop connects to a TB4 "hub" which has many ports, including TB 4 video, HDMI, DP, USB, sound, etc., etc. Again, see the preceding where I get the same behavior even with the external monitors connected directly to ports on the laptop, e.g., not using the TB4 hub.

> When you resume, go into Display Settings and check if the setup is correct (i.e., how many external monitors is Windows detecting?).
Thanks, I will try this.

spapakons said:

Why disconnect the third monitor while the laptop is sleeping? Wake it first and then disconnect it. All open windows should automatically move to the nearest active monitor.

PS: I have a rather different issue. When I play an old game full screen at a lower resolution than my primary monitor, all open windows move automatically to the secondary monitor because they don't fit. I am not sure, but I think this also happens for minimized applications. When I close the game and the primary monitor returns to native resolution again, all windows remain on the secondary monitor. Is there some script or otherwise to save their original size and position on the primary monitor and automatically restore them after playing? Manually moving 10+ windows is not very convenient. Thanks.

Click to expand...

I disconnect because 1) that's what TB 4 is fully intended for (reference: all the pictures on Lenovo and (etc. Dell) websites showing this, e.g., this.), and 2) I have more than one laptop but limited desk workspace. The desk is crowded (to the point where there's no room on the desk for a mouse) if I try to have both laptops running at the same time.

So, at times when I use a different laptop (call this Laptop #2) I connect one of the two external monitors to Laptop #2 and keep one monitor connected to Laptop #1, even though Laptop #1 is usually, but not always, turned off (in sleep mode). Laptop #2 does support TB 4, so I can't move the one TB 4 cable from Laptop #1 to Laptop #2, I have to use a Display Port cable to connect to one of the external monitors. This is the root problem, when I sleep Laptop #1 with windows open on external monitor #2, and then connect external monitor #2 to Laptop #2, and then resume Laptop #1 now only having one external monitor connected, all the windows on external monitor #2 are inaccessible (orphaned is a good way to describe them). I thought windows was smart enough to not allow this, but maybe it's me because I don't know how to (re)connect to the seemingly orphaned windows. The tutorial from @Brink above seems promising but I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet.

This is your convoluted phrasing ----- that was previously (and still is) open on the (now) disconnected monitor. I know it's still open because I can see it in the Alt-Tab list, and on the main window's (laptop) taskbar, yet I cannot use the Alt-Tab list or the taskbar to do anything with it, the -----from para 3 and is why I questioned it,read your ---- How did you read that into the description. ----

Coal Miner said:

When I put the laptop to sleep, I pull out (physically disconnect) the TB 4 cable from the laptop. If you are not familiar with TB 4, it uses one cable to the laptop to supply power, network (internet), other USB connections (such as a mouse), video and audio. The (one) TB 4 cable to the laptop connects to a TB4 "hub" which has many ports, including TB 4 video, HDMI, DP, USB, sound, etc., etc. Again, see the preceding where I get the same behavior even with the external monitors connected directly to ports on the laptop, e.g., not using the TB4 hub.

Click to expand...

So, I'm totally aware of daisy-chaining and I tried it once, ages ago, but because of resolution limitations with 3 monitors, I opted not to use it.

My only guess is that because the physical disconnect happens after Windows sleeps, is that it wakes up thinking that the connections are still alive, as they were prior to the sleep; however, I have a secondary location with just one external monitor, also via a TB4 hub and, at times, I have awoken my laptop with the monitor off/disconnected and all my open windows appear on my laptop screen.

Coal Miner said:

> When you resume, go into Display Settings and check if the setup is correct (i.e., how many external monitors is Windows detecting?).
Thanks, I will try this.

Click to expand...

Did you get a chance to try it?

For what it's worth, in my 3-monitor configuration, they are all connected via a DisplayLink adapter on a TB4 dock and the issue I mostly experience is that upon resume, Windows does not always detect/remember the configuration fast enough and most of the open windows are then moved to my laptop screen.

Did you try Display Fusion? It fixed my multi monitor issue.

Spunk said:

Did you try Display Fusion? It fixed my multi monitor issue.

Click to expand...

I have not tried it. But thanks for the suggestion, it's the fallback plan, for now.

nuspieds said:

So, I'm totally aware of daisy-chaining and I tried it once, ages ago, but because of resolution limitations with 3 monitors, I opted not to use it.

My only guess is that because the physical disconnect happens after Windows sleeps, is that it wakes up thinking that the connections are still alive, as they were prior to the sleep; however, I have a secondary location with just one external monitor, also via a TB4 hub and, at times, I have awoken my laptop with the monitor off/disconnected and all my open windows appear on my laptop screen.


Did you get a chance to try it?

For what it's worth, in my 3-monitor configuration, they are all connected via a DisplayLink adapter on a TB4 dock and the issue I mostly experience is that upon resume, Windows does not always detect/remember the configuration fast enough and most of the open windows are then moved to my laptop screen.

Click to expand...

I did try Display Settings, and yes after awaking it shows both external monitors connected. So that appears to be a root cause.

The tutorial @Brink linked solves 99% of the problem. Options One, two and there in the tutorial work for most but not all windows. A Tor browser is the biggest app for which this doesn't work, the Right-Click and the Restore-Move-Size-Minimize-Maximize menu does not pop up, (no menu pops ups, in any of three options in the tutorial). That seems to be by design.

what if you click the taskbar icon to make it the active window, then hold Left WIN+SHIFT and use the Arrow Key to move it to the other monitor? that should work in any scenario....