New M1 Pro Mac will not save display settings

I have the same issue. Fixed it with https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer

Please Steve, come back! We need more quality

Getting the same issue on a brand new M1 Mac Mini - every time my monitors sleep or the computer is rebooted, it resets all the previous display settings. Major PIA. One monitor on USB-C and one on HDMI.

I am having this same issue with my brand new M1 Max MacBook Pro. I have 2 external Apple thunderbolt displays and it's always changing my arrangement, switching the display arrangement, and changing the resolution on my MacBook Pro display back to "Default" instead of "More Space" under scaling. I never had issues like this with my Intel MacBook Pro.

Apple needs to get this fixed ASAP!

Same here. Macbook Pro 14 1TB with two ASUS PA278CV 2L displays connected with the ASUS supplied USB-C cables. Display settings change at random every time the laptop sleeps. Sometimes the displays are reversed. Other times one display is suddenly the main display with the cursor confined to that screen. Stranger still is when the arrangement changes to a single ultra wide display for both PA278CVs with a menu bar but opens the Display Settings window on the laptop screen, which I can’t access with the cursor. Display refresh rate, resolution, and color profiles change every time the problem occurs. This is a frustrating situation to say the least. Surely this isn't normal behavior. Any help?

Update and possible fix. Try disabling automatic source detection on your displays. I fixed this problem in my case by turning off "Auto Source Detection" and manually setting USB Type-C as the input from the ASUS PA278CV menu. So far so good. Update to the update: this only worked a few sleep-wake cycles and then the problem returned.

Thanks. I actually found something else that seems to work,

Because I have two monitors, one of them seems to wake up before the other one - the one I typically use as my secondary monitor.

By turning off that monitor and allowing the computer to wake connecting to the monitor I want as my main monitor first, and then turning on the second monitor, it seems to retain all the settings, even from sleep.

Not totally ideal, but requires two button clicks rather than resetting everything.

I also suppose I could just keep my main monitor awake all the time, though I would prefer not to waste the power when I’m not using the computer for an extended time.

I also had the same issues. Every time a boot or sleep, the external screen positions are switched. It seems it is a joke made by a developer of MacOSX to provoke some "change" somewhere. It is annoying to reposition the all the time the position. I also try to "trick" it at the limit of stupidity and change the connections physically. It works "as usually", executing its switching function ;)

I have this problem too ... new M1 MacBook Pro 16" with 2 external Samsung monitors, plus leaving MacBook open as Monitor # 1 and the Samsungs as #2 and #3. I use the HDMI port for 1 monitor, and a USBC Multi-port adapter for the other HDMI connection.

Every time my MacBook would sleep the Samsung monitors would switch order, I would go into Display settings and switch them back, and the next day, reversed again.

I spend some time with Apple Support on the phone and ran through a number of possible issues causing the problem, when I thought and asked the support rep if there is an order that the MacBook pick up the monitors when waking up? She didn't know. So I decided to move the USBC HDMI cable to the dedicated HDMI port, and vice-versa.

We tested a few times and it seemed to work. Woke up my MacBook from sleep this morning and my monitors are still in the correct order. It seems that when waking up it recognizes the HDMI port before the HDMI plugged into the adapter.

Hope this solution works for someone else using HDMI port and adapter.

Same scenario with a MacBook Pro 13” M1. Single external display connected. See issues with extended vs main display not being preserved, issue with resolution/scale setting not being preserved either.

happens on multiple displays and multiple hubs/adapters. Been a day 1 behavior since using M1. No issues on any of the with Intel based Mac prior for years with same monitor,adapters and cables

I had the same issue, but what has been working for me so far is tapping the ESC key once or twice, sometimes more, on wake up or reboot and it goes back to the settings I had made before.

Hope this works for you or anyone else.

If you are using the HDMI port the refresh rate is only 60. If your display is higher than that you have a problem. So, you’ll have to use USB-C to DisplayPort…

It worked not for me.

I have this issue on my 14 inch M1pro. It's absolutely maddening!!!!! How can this be a pro device when I need to reset my display configuration every time I use the device.