How to make XFCE reserve space for panel on the right monitor?

Question

I'm using Xubuntu 13.04 on my laptop that has an external screen attached. The big external monitor also has a vertical panel. My external screen is on the right side of my laptop.

When I maximize windows on my external monitor, the panel overlaps those. However, when I maximize windows on my smaller laptop monitor, there seems to be the panel's width reserved in space (which is just empty)

How can I make it reserve space on the right monitor?

My setup looks like this (generated with arandr and modified (right-of and primary are by me, trying to solve the problem):

#!/bin/sh
xrandr --output HDMI1 --primary --right-of LVDS1 --mode 1920x1080 --pos 1440x0 --rotate normal \
--output LVDS1 --mode 1440x900 --pos 0x368 --rotate normal \
--output TV1 --off --output VGA1 --off

Answer 1

For anyone looking into this problem, unfortunately this appears to be (a long standing) bug in xfce: https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9693. Also see my thread on the xfce forums that describe the same issue: https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=8802

Answer 2

OK, I fixed it!

I went to panel->panel settings->Unchecked "Lock panel". Now grepped the panel from outer right side (with the dots). I moved the panel up and forced it down again. This last step will cause the xfce panel to be recognized again as a bottom panel, meaning it will stay up front whenever I maximize a window.

You can now "Lock the panel" again within the settings. And exit the settings windows.

Answer 3

I usually workaround the problem by setting the resolution of the external monitor again.

xrandr output:

xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
eDP-1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   2560x1440     60.00 +  59.99    59.99    59.96    59.95
...
HDMI-2 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 521mm x 293mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+  60.00    50.00    59.94
   1680x1050     59.88

I change the monitor to a lower resolution (mode) then set it back:

xrandr --output HDMI-2 --mode 1680x1050

then

xrandr --output HDMI-2 --mode 1920x1080