All spaces being moved to Display 1 after Boot/Reboot/Restart

Same thing happening to me after upgrade to Yosemite on a MacPro and two cinema displays.

Also the right hand display (DVI) is set as primary display and second display (mini display port) secondary on the left.

On boot up, the Apple logo appears on the right, then the progress bar disappears and appears on the left and the login screen appears on the left. Once I log in the screen flash as if resetting themselves to the correct position.

I wonder if you experienced anything like that?

Hopefully this can be fixed soon!

I have been having problems like this for a while now in Mavericks and Yosemite.

Setup:

Late 2013 Mac Pro (OS X 10.10)

Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch) (Monitor 1 - With Menu bar - Left) Plugged into Thunderbolt Port 1

Apple Cinema HD Display (23-inch) (Monitor 2 - Right) Plugged into Thunderbolt Port 2* via Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter

* The boot progress bar always shows on Monitor 2 which I thought was odd with it been on Bus 2?

Problem 1 (Mavericks and Yosemite) :

I have 6 spaces on Monitor 1

I have 2 spaces (Space 7 & 8) on Monitor 2

System Prefs/Mission Control ‘Displays have separate Spaces’ is ticked.

I have right clicked on the dock icons for the apps in Monitor 2 and selected “Assign to Desktop on Display 2”

Sometimes (not always), when I restart I have 8 spaces on Monitor 1 (Space 7 & 8 have the apps that should be on Monitor 2) and just 1 space (number 9) on Monitor 2.

Problem 2 (Yosemite):

On restart my monitor 'arrangement' is switched round so Monitor 2 has the menu bar and is on the Left.

My colleague has the same setup and is having the same problems.

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My hunch is that it is like it is starting up too quick and not having time to recognise the 2 monitors when the spaces are loaded???

I did have Auto Login turned on so I tried turning it off so that the login screen comes on. When I restarted I noticed some odd behaviour - my Wacom Bamboo tablet functioned like the monitors were swapped round but the mouse did not. This made me think that these problem could be related to the tablet driver somehow? Anyway, I have restarted 3 times now with the login window enabled and this seems to have solved both my problems.

Running into the same issue here.

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

Turning Automatic Login OFF seems to have solved it for me.

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Users & Groups, then click Login Options.

2. If the options are dimmed, click the lock icon to unlock it, then type an administrator name and password.

3. Choose Off from the “Automatic login” pop-up menu.

I think I've solved the problem of desk spaces ..

The problem occurs when the primary monitor is not connected to the main output of the video card.

I solved it by going to preferences, display preferences and the menu position (in Italian is "Disposizione" in English I do not know) I dragged the menu bar on the other desk, then I swapped to physically position monitors.

Now the login screen is displayed on the same monitor as the Dock and menu bar, and after 10 reboots was not created any desk space.

I hope it's really solved all

So sorry for my bad English, I translated with the help of Google Translate

Also the right hand display (DVI) is set as primary display and second display (mini display port) secondary on the left. On boot up, the Apple logo appears on the right, then the progress bar disappears and appears on the left and the login screen appears on the left.

Back when I had Mountain Lion I got Apple involved because it appeared to be booting in my secondary display. They explained that it was a hardware issue. The "mini display port" is seen as primary by the hardware so the boot screen is always going to be displayed first on a "mini display port" ahead of the DVI port. They suggested that I "live with it" or that I purchase adapters so that I can swap the ports my displays are using.

Once I log in the screen flash as if resetting themselves to the correct position.

Yes, I am seeing more-so in Yosemite than ML.

I solved it by going to preferences, display preferences and the menu position (in Italian is "Disposizione" in English I do not know) I dragged the menu bar on the other desk, then I swapped to physically position monitors.

Sure, but only if your two displays are the identical size. I don't know how this could possibly work when the two displays are different physical sizes.

YES, I am seeing this too and no matter how I reboot, all spaces are being moved to the primary display. The only solution is a total pain... that would be to make sure the secondary display contains no extra spaces just before reboot or shutdown.

Apple tech support explained to me that the "mini display" ports take a priority over the DVI port. However, since my "main" display is plugged into the DVI port, I'm getting a similar condition where the secondary monitor is booting as the primary and then they swap back after fully booting.

You really want to see a mess, check the box that says to re-open all windows after restart... hardly anything ends up where it was supposed to be... it's a mess.

I suppose I could take Apple's advice and plug my main display into one of the "mini display" ports, but that would require I spend more money on new adapters.

Turning Automatic Login OFF seems to have solved it for me.

I tried this and will confirm that it solves nothing.

I started with three spaces on primary and two spaces on secondary. After rebooting and logging in manually, I have four spaces on primary and one on secondary.

I tried what Apple suggested and it was a total waste of time.

I got the required mini display adapters and no matter where I plugged in my two monitors, the little VGA display is ALWAYS given top priority on boot... I've tried every possible configuration... I've plugged both in the mini display ports and swapped the two ports back & forth... every reboot, the little VGA is given priority. Taking Apple at their word that the mini display ports are given priority, using an adapter I moved the little VGA display over to the DVI port. Surely now my main display plugged into a mini display port will be top dog... NOPE!

It seems like no matter what I do, the smaller VGA display contains the boot screen. So subsequently any spaces, including the single default, shift over the other desktop on every reboot.

The only solution for me has been to give up and let the little VGA display be the primary desktop. I don't like this and now I'm constantly dragging notifications, windows, etc. from my little display over to my main display every time I do something. Either I allow the little display to be primary or I get spaces multiplying like rabbits... very frustrating!

Hi there,

I can confirm this behaviour on my MAC mini 2012. Basically, the primary display has to be set to the one, which is first active and boot process is on it. (eg Apple logo..) I.e. - If your left screen is displaying boot and then displays switches to the right one to be primary, issue is present. Or vice versa.

As for the mac mini, I'm using thunderbolt port via adaptor to DVI monitor 1 (left - now primary) and HDMI to DVI monitor (right). Thunderbolt seem's to be the first adapter for display and being used for boot.

Since I have switched cables/monitors to align my left/right setup, and having primary monitor on Thunderbolt port which is where it displays the boot/Apple logo, I have no issues across the reboots/powercycles. However, please note that after one reboot my Mac Mini started booting off the HDMI (non primary display) and then issue re-apperead. No idea why it booted on that one... this was just a once from another 20 reboots though.

Hope this helps to clarify this issue.

Bought a new MBP on February this year. Setup is as follows:

MBP on desktop center

Thunderbolt port to Elgato Thunderbolt Dock 2 HDMI port to Samsung S27B350 Monitor on Right

MBP HDMI port to Vizio 27" TV E260MV on left

About two months ago I noticed that there were about 19 additional desktops beside the three default ones that Mission Control would open for the three displays. For some reason these were being created at boot time. Since I was within the original 90 days of free support I called Apple and spent 2 hours trying different changes in the setup. Changed settings in Mission Control, reversed cables, etc. There was always a new unnecessary Desktop created after turning the computer off and re-booting. Also contacted Elgato, perhaps their device was causing this to happen but they could find no reason for this to happen on their side. I have tried also switching the primary display and the menu bar, this seems to work at times but after a while it returns to the same behavior. To this day the behavior remains as mysterious as at the beginning. I am glad to know that the same behavior manifest itself in other multiple monitors setups. At least is not something that is only in my head. The only thing I can say is that this behavior is triggered (at least on my system) at boot time but don't know what is triggering it.