Can't save nvidia settings for screens after reboot

Question

I have two screens and sometimes I just want the 27" to display. So far I have tried to run the nvidia-settings as

sudo -s
nvidia-settings 

But every time I reboot I have to redo my preferences.. My laptop is asus g75vw nvidia driver version is: 331.38 Ubuntu 14.04

I have tried with new drivers, nothing changed exept now the standard settings make the screen duplicate...

Is there any alternative simple way I can set settings to persists after reboot?

The x configuratior file

   # nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 337.12  (buildd@charichuelo)  Wed Apr  9 12:25:02 UTC   
2014

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 331.38  (buildmeister@swio-display-x64-rhel04-15)  Wed 
Jan  8 19:53:14 PST 2014

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier     "Layout0"
Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier     "Mouse0"
Driver         "mouse"
Option         "Protocol" "auto"
Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier     "Keyboard0"
Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier     "Monitor0"
VendorName     "Unknown"
ModelName      "Samsung S27C590"
HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
VertRefresh     50.0 - 75.0
Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier     "Device0"
Driver         "nvidia"
VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName      "GeForce GTX 670M"
Option         "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1;  PerfLevelSrc=0x3322;    
PowerMizerDefault=0x2; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x2"

EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier     "Screen0"
Device         "Device0"
Monitor        "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth    24
Option         "Stereo" "0"
Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-2"
Option         "metamodes" "HDMI-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
Option         "SLI" "Off"
Option         "MultiGPU" "Off"
Option         "BaseMosaic" "off"
SubSection     "Display"
    Depth       24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Xrand gives me

    $ sudo xrandr
    Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 3840 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
   VGA-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   LVDS-0 connected 1920x1080+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 382mm x 
   215mm
    1920x1080      60.0*+   40.0  
    DP-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

   HD MI-0 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 
   598mm  
   x 336mm
   1920x1080      60.0*+   59.9     50.0  
   1680x1050      60.0  
   1600x900       60.0  
   1440x900       59.9  
   1280x1024      75.0     60.0  
   1280x800       59.8  
   1280x720       60.0     59.9     50.0  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       75.0     70.1     60.0  
   800x600        75.0     72.2     60.3     56.2  
   720x576        50.0  
   720x480        59.9  
   640x480        75.0     72.8     59.9  
   DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Answer 1

The simplest way is to run nvidia-settings as root:

sudo nvidia-settings

You will now be able to use the "Save to X Configuration File" button.

Alternatively, you can simply save the file generated as /etc/X11/xorg.conf but don't use the file in your question. That one is incomplete, presumably because you did not copy the entire thing.

---

It seems as though something is overwriting your xorg.conf file. As an (inelegant) workaround, you can use xrandr (without sudo) to activate/deactivate your screen:

1. To deactivate the second screen and use only your primary monitor:

   xrandr --output LVDS-0 --off 
   

2. To activate it:

   xrandr --output HDMI-0 --auto --primary --output LVDS-0 --mode 1920x1080 --right-of HDMI-0
   

   IMPORTANT: I'm not sure from your xrandr output if your screen's identifier is MI-0 or HD MI-0. I've never seen an identifier that includes a space which is why I used the former, but you might need to use xrandr --output "HD LVDS-0" --auto --right-of MI-0 instead.

If these commands successfully switch between your desired layouts (if not, let me know and we can tweak them), you can turn them into a simple script:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

if [[ $1 = "off" ]]; then
    xrandr --output LVDS-0 --off 
else
    xrandr --output HDMI-0 --auto --primary --output LVDS-0 --mode 1920x1080 --right-of HDMI-0
fi

Save that as switch_screens.sh and make it executable (chmod +x switch_screens.sh). You can now go into settings from the GUI, go to "Keyboard" => "Shortcuts" and create a custom shortcut for each command:

and for turning it off, set the "Command" to ~/switch_screens.sh off:

Choose whatever shortcut key combination you want and you can then activate/deactivate the screens at will.

You can also activate it directly from the terminal with:

~/switch_screens.sh

And deactivate it with

~/switch_screens.sh off

Answer 2

This worked for me on Ubuntu 17.04:

1. sudo nvidia-settings and change whatever settings you want,
2. save nvidia xorg configuration in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
3. go to ubuntu Settings -> Displays and click the Apply button (if the button is disabled, try to do some dummy modifications).

Number 3 may sound really silly, but that was what saved me.

Answer 3

When you click 'Save to X configuration file' does it give an error?

Do this:

Copy/paste the text from the generated X file to a file on your desktop named xorg.conf

Then in terminal, do:

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old
sudo mv /home/%user/Desktop/xorg.conf /etc/x11/xorg.conf

where %user is your user name.

If this breaks anything, drop to a TTY (by pressing CTRL+ALT+F1) and do:

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old /etc/X11/xorg.conf

This will at least put you back to where you are now.

Answer 4

In my case this worked:

• Update to the latest driver in Software & Updates > Additional Drivers
• Reboot and open your BIOS Configuration Menu (Entering this varies according to the manufacturer (in my case ,HP, pressing Esc repeatedly while booting takes me to the System Configuration menu)
• Disable SECURE BOOT under boot settings
• Reboot into Ubuntu
• Done!