I’ve tried both rebasing from F42-F43 (Silverblue) as well as installing a fresh F43 install. but both exhibit the same issue, this was not present in F42.
I have a laptop (lid closed) connected to a Thunderbolt 4 dock with two external monitors. Beforehand, when I booted up Fedora the login screen would display on one of my external monitors.
Since rebasing / re-installing fresh, when I boot up my external monitors just display a grey screen. However, it’s obvious from moving my mouse far-left there’s a third screen being rendered. If I open my laptop I will see the login screen.
I can simply move my cursor far left and (blindly) type in my password and log in.
Once logged in I just have my two external monitors being used, and if I move my cursor far left it stops at the external display boundary (as expected).
I suspect a change in GDM between F42-F43 has changed the behaviour, even with the laptop lid closed it thinks it’s there and at login thinks I have a triple monitor setup.
Does anyone have any pointers on what to try? I’ve tried trying for force a config - sudo cp ~/.config/monitors.xml /var/lib/gdm/.config/monitors.xml and chown’ing that file for gdm:gdm but no luck
same situation here. Gnome just does not seem to remember any of the display settings. I also tried putting monitors.xml in /etc/xdg. Saw some progress on logout, but reboot is still wonky.
I am hitting this as well, on two different ThinkPads, and it’s quite disruptive unfortunately. Starting the laptop with the lid closed, you have to open/close the lid to get the login screen on the external monitor. Once you login, you have to do this again. F43 Silverblue, once you roll back to F42 it goes back to normal.
I didn’t want to simply reply “I’m hitting this too”, however I looked in the GNOME GitLab and did not find anyone reporting this issue. I do know know enough about the impacted components to properly open a useful bug or issue.
Hi, I also ran into the same issue after updating from Bluefin 42.20251111 to 43.20251126.1 (which obiviously bumped the Fedora version). In my case, it helped to turn the internal display off in Settings->Displays and then copy ~/.config/monitors.xml over to /etc/xdg/monitors.xml.
This was a real hard deal right after I updated - I thought that something had gone wrong and the login screen was completely broken. Who would suspect that it forced displaying it on the internal screen despite the closed lid
A similar thing was reported in GNOME issue tracker here: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gdm/-/issues/168. After being moved several times, it ended up merged with a suggestion to display login UI on all available screens: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/3867. But obviously, quite recently contributors started an argument about development issues and in the heat of discussion just closed the thread
Log-out and display settings should instantly apply to GDM log-in
Before the cp global copy (after changing a GUI display setting to generate monitors.xml), I also enable Full RGB on HDMI and set 12-bit color (<rgbrange> and <maxbpc>; notes; no washed-out colors at log-in and desktop):
I have the same problem as you, but I don’t think the problem is in GDM. I use full disk encryption and I have auto login set in GDM. That’s why I don’t see the GDM screen at all.
I use a Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 5 AMD. I keep it closed in an aluminum stand. The laptop is connected to an external monitor and keyboard via a USB-C docking station. In the BIOS, I have it set to automatically turn on when connected to the power supply. So to turn on the laptop, I don’t open it at all, I just connect the USB-C cable with power.
After upgrading to Fedora 43 (I use Bluefin), the laptop behaves as follows:
The laptop boots up and displays the password field for disk decryption on the external monitor.
The system boots up to the desktop, but I don’t see the top system bar on the screen. It’s as if the internal monitor is the primary display (even though it’s closed) and the external monitor is the secondary display. To fix it, I have to open the laptop a little and close it again. This deactivates the internal monitor and makes the external monitor the only active display.
I’d be happy to help with troubleshooting if you can guide me. Or point me to a page that addresses this issue.
True - the problem doesn’t have to be GDM itself, but the fact that the internal display gets activated on boot even though the lid is closed. Still don’t know what changed between 42 and 43 that introduced this bug.
GDM/GNOME will re-enable the built-in screen if external isn’t connected. One option could be to disable the built-in from GNOME Settings, copy the config to GDM, then re-enable built-in freely on GNOME.
After starting the computer, the internal monitor is “active”, but it is not visible in the settings. By “active” I mean that my cursor is not vissible and is “somewhere” behind the edge of the external monitor. There is no top system bar on my external monitor.
I am sending a screenshot of the settings immediately after login (sorry for the local language). I only see my external monitor. So I do not see a way to disable the internal display through the settings:
I have a 2018 Dell Latitude with external monitor, keyboard, and mouse that won’t wake from sleep until I crack the lid open, but external display does get the top line. In the past I used etherwake, but now it goes to sleep immediately after waking.
Things to know:
First, yes, you do need to have your laptop lid open before you try and disable the laptop screen in display settings. It will not show up to be disabled if it’s not open and displaying your desktop.
Second, no idea if the gsettings step is required, but I ran it.
Third, when booting sometimes I no longer get a boot progress screen, it’ll go from a blank screen (my monitor basically getting ready to turn off) to the login screen after the normal boot time. Sometimes I do get the progress screen, but most of the content isn’t on the screen.. my laptop vertical screen res is higher than my monitor’s .. so the system logo ends up really large and cut off, and I don’t really see the bottom of the screen.. although there’s a fedora logo with a spinner in the right place… kinda weird… but regardless.. I get to the login screen and things are normal.
Forth, opening my laptop screen while connected to the monitor will now do nothing.. my laptop screen is disabled. This is expected, but not really desired.
Fifth, disconnecting my laptop from the dock and opening the lid.. .the laptop screen works. Plug it back into the dock, the screen goes off and the external monitor comes on. Stating this last one just so you know things don’t reset to how they were before the fix if you use the laptop without it being connected to something. This is true after a reboot as well (for anyone worried about that).
