VLC Refuses to open on second Monitor

[gjdunga]

I have a weird issue.

While Running VLC 2.0.5 Twoflower with a dual screen monitor setup on Win7.

I have a secondary monitor, I would prefer to have VLC open in, persistently.

No matter what I change, it refuses, or VLC will refuse to load. I select the media from the secondary monitor, and i can drag the vlc window into the seconday monitor, but it does not want to stay there on the next file.

What am i doing wrong..

Thanks in advance.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Reset preferences.

[gjdunga]

Mr Kempf,

I've done this several times. It's stubbornness streak is very annoying.

If I Try to force the issue via Tools --> Video --> Direct X --> Display Device --> Display2 VLC will refuse to respond, and then I get to "Reset Preferences." I have even deleted the preference file!

I've Opened VLC, in (Windowed Mode). Dragged it to the second window, and closed it.. Re opening it, causes it to open in the first display.
(Thinking that perhaps it was a windows location preference issue. Chrome, and other programs do follow correctly with the standard notion.)

I'm under the impression I'm still doing something wrong.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Well, to be honest, VLC should, by default, reopen where you closed it.

[gjdunga]

Well. that was my thought as well.. However it is not doing that..

Is there some way to log what's going on to present it for issues?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Look at the data in %appdata%/vlc

[gjdunga]

After a considerable amount of frustration and "futzing". I've figured out the following. VLC will save its window location only if not "maximized".
If one puts VLC in Maximized mode, it loses it's display / window location, and tries to open on the first display.
FYI: I do not normally run VLC in "Full screen mode". would normally run it as maximized. Older versions of VLC do not show this, and I've replicated this on three separate computers. I have *NOT* replicated this on linux.. perhaps I need to request to move this thread..

Gabriel

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I am afraid this is a famous Qt bug on Windows.

[boxyau]

I have found exactly the same thing.
As long as you don't have it maximised on the second screen it remembers its last position. I am trying to use it on a projector. I have reverted back to windows media player as it remembers and looks nicer when it is opened fullscreen screen to start with. Hopefully VideoLan fix this bug in future releases

[w4m1]

2.1.3 - bug exactly the same place. Will you fix it?

[ferdilouw]

I managed to get VLC 2.1.3 on Windows 7 to open the video display on DirectX DISPLAY2.
Older versions (after 1.1.7) didn't work.

Is there a way for me to export my settings to you?

[neil324]

2.1.3

Same here if I close VLC in full screen it wont save it's last position. Since I nearly always use it full screen it's easy to forget.

Also when it opens to default it's always my 2nd display which is frustrating because that display is not always on. Changing the preferences doesn't do anything to make it open on the primary display.

[harrytapp]

I have also had this problem on multiple computers at multiple locations running Win7 X64 and Win 8.1 X64 for several years now. Not once have I ever been able to force open on the second display using preferences/video/... \\.\Display 2 At the church when the pastor wants to show a clip it is not desirable to have the mouse running around the screen dragging the video window then enlarging to full screen then drag the play head back to display 1, even for pre show play lists

[easyazz]

I have vlc on two Samsung UHD screens. One 55"(TV) and one 28"(monitor) running win7 on a 64bit system.
I use the TV as my second monitor. If I put vlc on there. I can't get it to go back to monitor 1.
I have to unplug the TV to get it back on Monitor 1. All good but now it is stuck on monitor 1.
The only way I can get it back on Monitor 2, is to uninstall it and reinstall it. Then just drag it over.
I've been to preferences and tried that but it makes no difference. Tried it on direct x too.
No difference.
It wouldn't be so bad if I could just drag it aground. But it won't move?
Annoyed!
Does anyone know how to do this easier?
Thanks

[auralarch]

Does anyone know how to do this easier?
Thanks

Have you tried the global Windows 7 shortcuts/hotkeys?

[WINDOWS key] + [SHIFT] + left or right arrow keys...

Hints: Make sure the window/screen is active (click somewhere on the playing video to make it active). For some mysterious reason this hotkey doesn't work the first time I press it in VLC- but this is the only app that I've experienced that with. This hotkey works with pretty much any window of any app as well as even fullscreen apps.
(If your displays have different resolutions sometimes there are issues- I resolved that by creating a custom hotkey to dynamically either maximize or restore the active window according to its current state.)

[auralarch]

when it opens to default it's always my 2nd display.

That's weird and frustrating! I wish we could switch! Because mine always defaults back to my primary- but that is where I NEVER want it to play!

I have 5 displays hooked up to my computer and it will ONLY open & begin playback on the one monitor I don't want it on. It even goes back there for every item in the playlist every time it changes to play a different file...

[auralarch]

This issue is actually specific to Windows platform only. It's been going on for quite a while now- and although it was claimed to be fixed it doesn't work for me (technically it's not that it's 'broken' but that it has been removed from the Windows version). A work around has been proposed but it is unacceptable- even though it fixes the fullscreen output display selection issue- because it requires using DirectX video output which is only recommended for XP & older because it is not compatible with the now standard Aero interface (which I use) which was introduced with Vista. If I use DirectX playback it forces Windows to switch to a basic theme which often causes problems with running apps. It also forces the video driver to reset a couple times (at LEAST), and this whole process takes no less than 15 seconds, not to mention that it doesn't even restore the previous theme when quitting VLC (in fact any changes you made to the theme are lost and app or background process crashes are typical. Nothing about that is OK!

This issue is really a constant frustration for me. No matter what I do the fullscreen output reverts to the primary monitor every time the playlist advances (or is changed) whether automatically or manually.
The majority of my time using VLC I am playing 10+ clips/segments or short videos to a group of people in an adjoining room. The audience can not see the monitors I'm working on, nor do they have access to my computer controls. Since I'm often multitasking (on or off my computer) playback advances leaving my audience with audio only until I realize/return and manually move the playback to the correct monitor using [WIN+SHIFT+ARROW keys] & restart the file if necessary.

I wish I could find some official news, a statement or an explanation about this issue- like: what is the actual problem anyway, what's causing it, will it ever be fixed, when might that be...??? All I've found are various threads here in the forums, but many of the responses/statements/solutions/recommendations are dismissive, contradictory/inaccurate or ineffective. I've been checking back every few months for a long time but my hope is fading.

I really like VLC & so many of its features- I've been an enthusiastic supporter, promoting VLC to everyone for years, touting its flexibility, features & open-source status. But I really think I'm going to have to force myself to figure out what the next best available alternative for me will be because VLC's problems outweigh its benefits in my situation.

[harrytapp]

This should very simple like powerpoint and propresenter....You select display 2 as presentation screen...Done. Then when you run media it appears on display 2/projector in full screen and the controls are on display 1 the main/computer screen. Press stop and the display should blank or have an option to show desktop background. You should not have to use windows hot keys or be dragging windows around and maximizing them.

My only solution at the church is to open a media file with vlc. drag it onto the second display and full screen it. Then mouse back to the main display hovering over the tack bar icon for vlc and from there I can pause the player with aero pop up and if I right click, choose close, the next time a media file is opened it automatically begins playing on the second screen in full screen. Remember the actual controls always stay with the outputted screen.

Now that I have propresenter which stutters video playback due to insufficient computer resourses. I can start the video with vlc and pause it before the service starts. Then turn propresenter output on display what ever I want which covers vlc. Then when ready I just start vlc playback and turn propresenter output off for the duration of the video.

I just wish vlc would be fixed to work like it is supposed to so the features in paragraph one work properly...even screen monkey got it right.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

There seems to be multiple issues here.

1) The display device parameter of the DirectX output obviously only works with the old DirectX output, and it only makes sense if UI video embedding is disabled in the preferences too. Indeed, that output is legacy and has serious problems on contemporarily supported Windows versions (Vista and later). But this is an intrinsic limitation and cannot really be fixed.

2) Qt allegedly does not save the position of the UI when maximized. If this is true, then that issue lies outside the VLC code base, the VLC developers cannot affect it, and discussing it the on VideoLAN fora is not going to solve anything. If someone cares, (s)he should bring it up to the Qt Company. Note that they are a commercial venture and will probably ignore anyone who's not a paying customer though.

Regardless, I would advise disabling embedded video in the preferences. That would avoid any limitation in Qt and should ensure that the video window remains on the same monitor when toggling full screen mode. If someone cares, (s)he could probably add a device parameter to the Direct3D output plugin (or to all Windows output plugins) minicking the existing DirectX-only parameter.

[kodela]

@gjdunga

Have you not integrated the video in the interface?

If so:
- where is your second monitor, left or right of the primary monitor?
- What is the width
- a) the first monitor
- b) the second monitor
- Which is the difference for the Y-coordinate between the first and the second screen?
- If the second monitor is to the left and both monitors are top of the same height, you set, for example:
-- Advanced Preferences - Video - Video X coordinate = -1200; Video X coordinate = 20

So it must work, or have I misunderstood something?

[MDF]

I think I just found a way around this frustraring bug.
You have to open your file or playlist from the second screen, this way when the next video is reached VLC won´t jump back to screen 1, it,ll stay on screen 2.
Hope this little trick will do it for you as it did it for me.

[capucci1]

When I move VLC to another monitor it crashes. I opened it on the second monitor and it crashed instantly. I moved it back to the main monitor and it remained there. Any thoughts? Running win 10 pro.

[paulwalker]

Try with different monitor.