Monterey seems to not remember which display should show which windows after sleep wakeup

My new morning work routine is get coffee, sit-down, wake up my MBP14, and then spend a few contemplative minutes figuring out where my dozen or so windows have wandered off to in the night and but them back to their happy homes on one of three screens (laptop and 2 externals).

BTW I'm not using any dock anymore so both the Samsung 32 and Scepter 27 are both connected directly (one to the HDMI and one to a thunderbolt with a HDMI dongle) so this isn't a dock issue.

As much as I enjoy my new morning meditation I'd really appreciate it if Apple can fix this one.

See my post above "This workaround works!" If you keep your mac or MB plugged in primarily. Install Rectangle v0.5 app + put to sleep using a button (instead of closing lid all the way. See if it works for you. I've been doing it for over a week now and all my windows and spaces on secondary display stay put!

Bump.

Same issue here. After it goes into sleep mode (or even screen saver mode) it returns and the open windows on my 32" Samsung monitor are now in the main iMac 27" 5K screen. The smaller 24" Samsung window seems to remember the windows in it and are not impacted by the "bug". Both monitors are driven by Thunderbolt ports to a DisplayPort on the monitors.

Possibly related or not.....when I upgraded to Monterey, my Time Machine got screwy with a display issue as well (google search and others have the same issue). When I manually start TM, I can't see most of the screen as it appears there is a "fantom" window covering a large portion of the center screen. The only way I've found to get rid of that issue is to unplug all external monitors which forces it to the main display and it no longer has the "fantom" black window. Not sure if others that have this issue (disappearing windows in external monitor(s)) also have the Time Machine problem. Curious to see if they are related....

Not sure if Apple thinks this is a bug or just settings on the monitor. I've tried different cables, setting the refresh to 30 HZ, but nothing seems to work. Did try setting PRAM but works for a few times but returns back to issue. I have turn off sleeping which works for awhile until it doesn't. Clearly by the number of people responding, others have this problem as well. Most on laptops but I think that is due to people not hooking up external displays on iMacs. I use my rig for stock/option trading hence the 3 screens. My guess is if others hook up external screens, they may experience the issue with *some* monitors.

Jeff-

4.2 GHz Intel i7 2017

48 GB DDR4

Monterey 12.1

32" Samsung 3840x2160 DisplayPort 60Hz Model: LU32J590UQNXZA

24" Samsung 1920x1080 DisplayPort 60 Hz Model: LS24E45KDSG/GO

With Monterey on my new Macbook 14" I have the same thing. Hooked up 2 external displays with Thunderbolt 3 to DisplayPort cables. Every time I come back to my laptop after a few minutes I have to rearrange all the windows back to their intended monitor/position. Stuff is totally random and pretty annoying.

No issue on Macbook 15" on Big Sur. All the same monitors, mainly the same software.

I did as well. This is the only way it is going to get on Apple's radar, if at all. Because it is apparent only with multiple monitors in Monterey, not many will notice it so I'd also encourage everyone experiencing the issue to report the issue as a bug in the OS.

As posted previously, I also have this problem and would love to see it fixed. As a (hopefully temporary) workaround, I have checked the "Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off"

With this, I am still able to "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" "Turn display off after ..." and lock my computer.

So, although it's not a full and proper sleep, there is at least some power savings for display and HDD - and my windows are staying where I left them. Hope this helps those of you that can leave your machines in a similar state.

Hey pommarg, and anyone on Monterey on M1 using an external display.

I may have have found a solution by accident which seems to work for me to prevent this disaster. However this is on my MacBook Pro M1, so I am not sure how that will show up on a M1 mini.

Go to system preference. Then click Battery. In the Battery section there is an option "Power Adapter". In here there is an option "Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off". Check this option.

I think on the M1 Mini this is in the section Energy Saver.

But I think it is a poor mans solution. When the computer is put to sleep it will have a bout of amnesia and can't remember where those windows belong, so it puts it all on the default display.

The only app that seems to stay where they belong (it it is not on the main screen) is Reminders of all things. I don't know of any other app that wants to control the screen. I'm a developer so it's mostly different IDEs and programming tools, couple of Electron based apps (ex Slack) and then standard Apple apps (Safari, Music, Calendar).

There does seem to be a time aspect to this. Everything stays in place if it only sleeps for an hour or so (ex if I go to lunch) but over night things definitely get scrambled.

That's all good and well, but I actually *want* my Mac to sleep when I'm not using it (what's the point of it being on the whole time) - it's also a laptop, hence I sometimes disconnect my external displays, but when I come back and re-attach (one HDMI, on USB-C->HMDI, one more USB-C->Hub->HDMI) I encounter the same nonsense.

Rather than workarounds, Apple needs to fix this. My Microsoft Windows 10 desktop manages to retain the identity and arrangement of 3 monitors; heck, it even retained that knowledge on another Windows machine after I changed GPU Cards! If Microsoft <shudder> can do it, I have full confidence that the might of Cupertino's finest can spend a few cycles on addressing this once and for all...

I have the same problem (two external 4k dells on a 14" m1 map max); something that may help - I find if I close the lid of the mpb before sleeping, then on wake the two dells (and windows on them) will be still arranged correctly.

Well, this is special. Since upgrading to 12.2, the workaround (Power Adapter mode, "Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off") stopped working.

My windows scrambled overnight and again today - after working for weeks with the poor but functional (for me) workaround.

Hi. I just bought a $4500 mac to help with productivity and having to chase displays and troll through hundreds comments to try to find an answer is the opposite of productive.

On the chance that there is a person here who is employed by Apple to provide solutions, can that person step forward by giving the formal answer? (BTW, I really do appreciate all others who have spent time and energy trying to do Apple's job by coming up with solutions).

i have a solution. i set my energy settings to never go to sleep, and my screen saver to the least inoffensive i could find (flurry). i may create my own screen saver of a black picture and therefore have a blank screen saver. but, all the windows come back correctly from the screen saver.

[Edited by Moderator]

I seriously doubt Apple developers are creeping around these boards to work on new bugs. The only way they will is enough people file bug reports.

Once enough are received, one would think that a company that is interested in being eco friendly would not want the work around to be never let their computers sleep and waste all that electricity.

Fill out bug reports to bring it to their attention otherwise we are stuck with never letting our machines sleep and increasing our carbon footprint.

I just installed 12.2.1 and this is happening. it was not, before the update. Is this a regression? I have a setup with 2 external monitors, and all the windows collapse to the main monitor ( the one with the dock ), shortly after I lock the screen. I I unlock right away, they will still be OK, but given a bit, they will always collapse!