Dual Monitor Search-and-Rescue (Windows)
This tip is for anyone with a Windows laptop who has a second monitor on their desk and runs it in dual monitor mode (or is considering that). There are times when the laptop will be on the road, as laptops are wont to do, without the benefit of that second monitor. That spells trouble for certain software that knows how to play nice, but not super-nice.
Most software is considerate enough to remember the current size and position of the window when exiting. It’ll then use those settings the next time the program is opened. The idea is that since that’s where you placed it last time, that’s probably where you’ll want it to be again next time. That’s playing nice. The problem is, if the last time you had it on the secondary monitor, but this time the secondary monitor is not active, then the software should automatically reposition itself to the primary monitor. That’s playing super nice. Unfortunately, not all software thinks to do that (that is, not all programmers think to do that).
So, how do you rescue a wayward program from the phantom second monitor, when you can’t see it, and thus cannot manipulate it with the mouse? The trick involves the Task Bar and the arrow keys.
SQLyog is an example of a program that doesn’t recognize when the second monitor is inactive. (SQLyog is an otherwise excellent program for working with MySQL databases.) When a program is lost on the second monitor, you will see evidence of it in the form of a “minimized icon” in the task bar. Right clicking on the minimized icon brings up a context menu that is known as the “system menu.”
This is the exact same system menu that you would normally see by right clicking on the program’s icon in the upper left corner of the window (if you could see the window).
One of the choices in the system menu is “Move.” When you select Move, the mouse cursor changes to a move cursor (a four headed arrow), and the keyboard goes into move mode. This means that the arrow keys on the keyboard now control placement of the program window. So, depending on whether the secondary monitor is normally to the right, or to the left, of the primary monitor, you’ll want to press down on the left-arrow key or the right-arrow key, letting the keyboard auto repeat, until the program window appears on the primary screen.
Once the window is visible, press the Enter key. That will restore the keyboard from move mode to normal mode, and the mouse cursor will change back from the move cursor to a regular cursor.
Read more: Windows, Programming
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Comments
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Nice! As recently as 2 weeks ago, i was sitting in a coffee shop, cursing at the damn Business Objects for it’s disappearance act of the query panel. Much appreciated!
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Good tip! I’ve been there several times and have resorted to the same work-around.
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Hey, I know of an improvement for that tip: AFTER you tap the arrow keys to change them to movement mode, your mouse actually works as well, if you don’t press any of its buttons. You can move your window freely without any button pressed.
Good luck with that.
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Finally, I’ve managed to sort my errant windows. Thanks for the post. I was having problems in Google Sketch Up with disappearing windows in dual monitor mode.
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for a PC using Vista you don’t ordinarily see the Move command. But here’s how to get it: Alt-Tab to select the missing window, then Alt-space to activate the menu. Select Move, then use the arrow keys a bunch of times to drag the missing window back to the main screen.
It’s Not the Network! » Are you a Dual-Head fanatic? on 15 May 2007 at 9:36 am
[…] I am. I love multiple monitor setups. I have for a long time. At one point I had three 21″ monitors and a 14″ laptop all in a row, and I loved it. These days, I’ve ditched the humongous 21″ CRTs for a single 24″ Dell LCD aside my 15″ MBP, but sometimes I really miss the wide open space of that massive 4800×1200 desktop. I’m using a Mac most often these days, and it is amazingly intelligent when it comes to switching back and forth from dual monitors to the single laptop screen, but back when I lived in Windoze land, I would occasionally get some weirdness when I switched from dual monitor more to single monitor mode, and an application or two would get lost off the edge of the screen. At the time, I usually futzed around with things for a while until either giving up or successfully performing the magic keyboard and mouse incantation to get my screen back, but if only I had had this article at the time, I would’ve been much happier and had much more reliable results. Craig at Codejacked has done an excellent job of showing you exactly what to do to rescue your application from the purgatory that exists where your second monitor should be. […]