Questions tagged [window-manager]

A window manager is the software component responsible for the tracking and placement of windows within a graphical interface. Examples: Metacity, Compiz, KWin. If your question is about a specific window manager, add its tag.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
268 votes
15 answers
361k views

How to determine which window manager (and desktop environment) is running

Is there any way (such as a command or environmental variable) to determine what window manager is the one actively running in the current session?
Anonymous's user avatar
  • 11.7k
214 votes
4 answers
129k views

How to make Gimp run as a single window?

Gimp is nice, but the one thing that drives me nuts is that everything floats around in front of each other, often hiding the main window and forcing me to minimize all open windows until I find the ...
Torben Gundtofte-Bruun's user avatar
178 votes
12 answers
54k views

How do I increase the resize margin on windows?

It takes me about 5 tries to resize a window on my computer. Is there a way to increase the resize margin on the edge of windows?
RyanScottLewis's user avatar
171 votes
10 answers
123k views

Quickly place a window to another screen using only the keyboard

I know that using Alt+F7, I can use the keyboard to move the window around. I can also use the "Grid" plugin of Compiz to position quickly the window around my current monitor. The grid plugin doesn't ...
Dat Chu's user avatar
  • 1,907
151 votes
4 answers
151k views

How do I set focus follows mouse?

Is there a way to set up "focus follows mouse" behavior in Unity?
dharmatech's user avatar
  • 2,553
128 votes
7 answers
102k views

What is the difference between a desktop environment and a window manager?

I'm having a really hard time trying to understand what the differences between a desktop environment and a window manager are? EDIT: From this article by Jack Wallen: There are basically three ...
Zolomon's user avatar
  • 1,799
127 votes
6 answers
85k views

Keyboard shortcut to move windows between monitors?

I remember there used to be a setting under Compiz that set a keyboard shortcut for moving applications between physical (but combined as a single xscreen) screens, similar to moving between logical ...
Andrew Bolster's user avatar
88 votes
4 answers
75k views

Moving windows from the keyboard

Is it possible to move windows from the keyboard itself without touching the mouse? I know I can do a Alt + Left Click and drag the window, however I am hoping there is something I can use to move it ...
user avatar
84 votes
7 answers
74k views

How do I disable window move with alt + left mouse button in GNOME Shell?

There are lots of posts on this about Unity, this is about GNOME shell. As with other posters, I use apps (Inkscape in particular) that uses Alt-Click and Alt-drag. GNOME shell is grabbing this off ...
artfulrobot's user avatar
  • 8,543
83 votes
7 answers
75k views

how to do ALT+ TAB for main system while in VBOX?

I have recently gone through this issue. I am running Lubuntu 13.04 in VirtualBox .So when I have maximized and if I would like switch to next window of main system usually we all do ALT+TAB but thats ...
Raja G's user avatar
  • 102k
75 votes
4 answers
296k views

Switching window manager/desktop environments?

In general what is the approach to switch the desktop environment or window manager on Ubuntu? The main difference between stock Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Lubuntu is supposedly the use of Unity vs. KDE vs. ...
0xC0000022L's user avatar
  • 5,720
67 votes
8 answers
54k views

Change default width of gnome-terminal and terminator windows

Only a short question but is it possible to set the default width (and height) of terminal sessions in gnome-terminal and terminator? I find I always resize the window once it pops up so and given ...
Oli's user avatar
  • 293k
66 votes
1 answer
100k views

What is the app, "compiz" responsible for on ubuntu 12.04?

When I open my system monitor and check the "processes" tab, I've noticed that regardless of what other apps I have running, "compiz" is always taking roughly 10% of my CPU. It might be a broad ...
Jiskya's user avatar
  • 2,165
62 votes
2 answers
7k views

How do I move child windows without moving or minimizing parent in GNOME 3?

I have Ubuntu 17.10 with GNOME 3. What happens: I have (for example) LibreOffice Calc open, with some data columns in it. I highlight the columns I want to chart, then I select INSERT > CHART. The ...
Monet's Chemist's user avatar
59 votes
10 answers
48k views

How do I save/remember last-used window position and size for applications?

When I log in Ubuntu, I would like all windows opened at previous session (terminal and Firefox mainly) to be re-opened automatically at the same size and position. How to proceed?
Eric's user avatar
  • 761
52 votes
7 answers
32k views

How to configure my system so that all windows start maximized?

Every time I open a terminal or an application like Inkscape I have to click the maximize button because by default they open in a small size. Is there a way I can configure my system so that whenever ...
amh's user avatar
  • 997
49 votes
7 answers
63k views

Can I minimize a window from the command line?

I would like to be able to choose any already-open window and minimize it from the command line. Is this possible?
ændrük's user avatar
  • 76.7k
48 votes
2 answers
158k views

How do I display two windows as split screen? [duplicate]

I have two open programs, but I want to view both of them at the same time. Dragging and adjusting them manually takes time, and I might have to do this every day. Is there any shortcut for doing this ...
Kharbora's user avatar
  • 599
47 votes
3 answers
16k views

How can I make the draggable window border thicker, without changing the appearance?

When you want to resize a window in gnome (as well as in other systems) you can click-and-hold at the window's border and than drag it. The problem is (and do correct me if I'm wrong here) that the ...
Malabarba's user avatar
  • 10.2k
45 votes
7 answers
229k views

How do I restart the window manager?

How to restart window manager so that styles (or whatever) are restored? After doing /etc/init.d/networking stop they feel completely broken. I have reinstalled lightdm. I have restarted lightdm. ...
Dmitrii Volosnykh's user avatar
44 votes
6 answers
55k views

Is it possible to have four equally sized windows on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS?

It is common to have two equally separated windows by either dragging each window to one side of the screen or Ctrl+Super+←/→, but I want to divide my screen into four quarters. I have encounterd ...
tet's user avatar
  • 845
43 votes
5 answers
90k views

Remove title bar and borders on maximized windows in Kubuntu

In gnome-shell there is an extension that removes the window borders, close buttons, title bar, etc on maximized windows to save screen real estate. How can this behavior be replicated in KDE?
Joshua Robison's user avatar
43 votes
5 answers
22k views

How to disable window move with alt + left mouse button? [duplicate]

I have problem with this function because i work in Maya and other 3D applications that use this key combination... This option on Ubuntu 11.04 was in "window" section so i could change it to ...
chovasie's user avatar
  • 431
41 votes
3 answers
70k views

Fresh install of Ubuntu with i3wm

I would like to use the i3 Window Manager with Ubuntu and not Unity. Since I am going to do a fresh install Id like to keep the bloat to a minimum. Should I just install it normally with the ...
b-m-f's user avatar
  • 965
40 votes
3 answers
85k views

Alt-Tab does not switch [duplicate]

Since upgrading to 12.04, my alt-tab occasionally does not work. I cannot determine the symptoms that lead to it, but there are some windows that just decide not to show. What happens is I alt-tab to ...
steprobe's user avatar
  • 513
38 votes
3 answers
34k views

How to start an app with "Always On Top" set?

There are a couple of applications that I find myself marking as "Always on Top" every time I use them, so I wonder if there is a way to automatically set them as so, whatever way I start them (menu, ...
Decio Lira's user avatar
  • 7,856
37 votes
5 answers
66k views

Is there a shortcut to tile windows to left or right side of the screen?

As Compiz Grid is not supported in ubuntu-2d, I am looking for alternative to tile windows. This video shows that xfce4 and xfwm4 can snap windows to a part of the screen. I would like to do that by ...
SoftTimur's user avatar
  • 3,069
32 votes
5 answers
14k views

Open Nautilus as a new tab in an existing window

Currently, if I click a launcher, shortcut icon, etc., I will get a new Nautilus window. If there is already a Nautilus window open, I would rather it open up in a new tab in the existing window (as ...
wim's user avatar
  • 12.7k
31 votes
8 answers
51k views

How do I arrange my windows automatically?

Is there some equivalent of Windows' "Tile Windows" in Ubuntu?
Lazer's user avatar
  • 659
30 votes
4 answers
78k views

How to disable GUI on boot in 18.04 (Bionic Beaver)?

It appears that sudo systemctl disable gdm3 && sudo systemctl disable gdm do not work in 18.04 to disable the windowing system at bootup. What's the method for doing this now?
ylluminate's user avatar
  • 1,449
29 votes
6 answers
9k views

Disable "middle click to lower window" behaviour on gnome

I am using the Chromium web browser, and standard gnome (i.e. not unity). Chromium (like lots of things) has many tabs, and allows you to middle click on a tab to close the tab. But if I middle click ...
Amandasaurus's user avatar
  • 1,816
26 votes
4 answers
29k views

How to close, minimize, and maximize a specified window from Terminal?

I am running Ubuntu GNOME 15.10 with GNOME 3.18 and I am wondering if there is a way from Terminal to close, minimize, unminimize, maximize, and unmaximize specified windows? Note - I've looked at ...
user avatar
26 votes
4 answers
18k views

How do I disable auto-maximizing of newly launched windows in GNOME?

Each time I open any application, it zooms to fill-up the entire desktop and so I am always forced to use "Unmaximize" using Alt+Space menu.
jsh's user avatar
  • 361
24 votes
4 answers
19k views

How do I permanently change window titles?

Which files are involved in generating the window title? For example, if you open Rhythmbox, you see the program name as the window title. But it’s not generated by the .desktop file. Which file(s) do ...
Maud Kon's user avatar
  • 561
22 votes
5 answers
14k views

How to show (raise) all windows of an application?

I have an application using multiple windows. How can I quickly bring all the windows of that application to the foreground? When I scroll through the applications with the scroll-wheel it only ...
Peter Zeller's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
1k views

HUD in other window managers (especially xmonad)

It seems that HUD (Heads Up Display) is tightly tied to Unity. However I just use xmonad as a window manager, especially I don't use unity. Is there a way to use HUD within xmonad (or more generally ...
student's user avatar
  • 2,312
21 votes
2 answers
10k views

How do I disable the window resizing when accidentally touching one of the screen edges in GNOME 3?

In Ubuntu 18.04, when moving the windows there is a resize effect that occurs when accidentally touching one of the screen edges. This control was available in CCSM and Ubuntu Tweak in previous ...
L. D. James's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
23k views

Resizing windows to a particular width and height instantly

For some reason, I wish to resize a window to a very large size, 4-5 times larger than my screen size. For now, I am doing it manually by moving the entire window but one corner out of the screen and ...
Pushpak Dagade's user avatar
20 votes
5 answers
11k views

How can I switch between windows of the same application?

I often have more than ten windows open at the same time and some of them are of the same applications, notably gnome-terminal. Often when I am currently on one terminal, I just want to get to ...
Yan's user avatar
  • 303
19 votes
5 answers
117k views

How to change the Xfce4 default window manager?

How can I change the default window manager for Xfce4? For some reason, xfwm doesn't run when I run xfce4 shell.
idgar's user avatar
  • 2,890
19 votes
5 answers
58k views

Volume sound and screen brightness controls not working

Recently I have installed i3 windows manager. The problem is that the footnote keys to control the volume and brightness don't work. How can I solve this? And how can I bind the mod key to the Win ...
Gabriel Sandoval's user avatar
19 votes
1 answer
13k views

Why are windows going to top left of the screen?

Recently I noticed all the new windows are popping up in the top left. This is annoying because the top bar blocks the title bar of the new window. See screenshot of Tunesviewer with Firefox, ...
NoBugs's user avatar
  • 1,400
19 votes
4 answers
7k views

How do I get Aero Snap in Unity 2D?

I really miss the "Aero Snap" window snapping feature present in Unity 3D. Is there any way I can get it, or an alternative to it, in Unity 2D?
Shibumi's user avatar
  • 495
18 votes
4 answers
24k views

Window title-bars missing occasionally in Unity

window (title and icon) sometimes doesn't appear. As a solution to this, I have to logout and login again. Is there something wrong with my system? How to make sure that this doesn't happen again?
Fanoy's user avatar
  • 1,665
18 votes
1 answer
33k views

Switching to i3 in 18.04

I installed i3 with sudo apt-get install i3. But if I try to launch it via terminal, it says another window manager is running. In older versions of Ubuntu, there was a round button at the login ...
yolo's user avatar
  • 183
18 votes
2 answers
4k views

How to set Alt+mouse drag to move the window and Ctrl+mouse to resize the window unity (fresh install of 20.04)

I fresh installed ubuntu 20.04 today and found the alt+mouse drag for move and ctrl+mouse drag for resize doesn't work. How can I turn the function on? (I don't know why ubuntu people didn't set it ...
Chan Kim's user avatar
  • 1,969
17 votes
3 answers
15k views

Make chrome app windows be always on top

Simply put: Is there any way to make chrome app windows have the always on top button when right clicking them? I am using xubuntu 14.04, and google-chrome dev. Selecting 'use system title bar and ...
Mitch's user avatar
  • 4,697
17 votes
5 answers
28k views

Is there a keybind to minimize all windows, without a toggle?

I know about the show desktop keybind (default Ctrl+Alt+D), which I use often enough. However, I'm looking for a way to minimize all windows without activating "show desktop". I'm on a default ...
George Marian's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
868 views

Can I minimize a window into a box on Unity?

On Irix's 4Dwm, there was an ability to minimise windows into a box (contrary to the task bar used by modern window managers). I have seen this also on an old HPUX. See the "console" square in the ...
Artium's user avatar
  • 313
17 votes
2 answers
4k views

What causes the deviation in the wmctrl window move command

About wmctrl With wmctrl (not installed by default), we can get information on windows, their id, their geometry, the pid they belong to etc. We can also move or resize windows with several commands. ...
Jacob Vlijm's user avatar
  • 83.7k

1
2 3 4 5
17