How to move Unity Launcher to a different monitor?

Question

I have two monitors. The left monitor is set as primary, but the Unity Launcher appears on the right monitor.

How can I move it to the other monitor?

Answer 1

This is a bug:

• Launcher is shown on the wrong screen in some multi-monitor setups

(taken from the bug report)

Permanent workaround (requires logging back in again):

Edit ~/.config/monitors.xml, find the monitor you want the launcher to display on and change:

<primary>no</primary>

to:

<primary>yes</primary>

Now log out and log in again.

Temporary workaround (no logout required):

Open a Terminal window and...

1. Run xrandr to find the NAME of the output you would like to make primary.
2. Run xrandr --output NAME --primary && nohup unity --replace &

Answer 2

It isn't configurable in 11.04, but it is a known issue and I think I've read that it's fixed in 11.10. Not sure though.

Answer 3

If you are using Ubuntu 13.10 and up

On the same window where you set your screen orientation (System Settings>Displays:Launcher Placement) you can set the screen(s) on which the launcher show show up:

Answer 4

A couple things to try. You can follow the instructions here.

In summary, run xrandr to get a list of your monitors. The first one listed (e.g. VGA1) will be your primary monitor. Then run sudo xrandr --output VGA2 --primary to make your second monitor primary. Note that your monitors may not be called VGA1 and VGA2. You'll need to look at the xrandr output to find the correct names.

Secondly, your monitors look like they might have the same connection type. If that's the case, you could try switching the cables they use to connect.

Lastly, if all else fails, you could just switch the physical location of the monitors. Maybe not the best solution, but also probably the simplest.

Answer 5

for 11.10 there is no workaround, but there is a ppa on launchpad (unsupported) that fixes the issue.

To install:

1. sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vanvugt/unity
2. sudo apt-get update
3. sudo apt-get install unity

You will need to relog for the changes to take effect.