<div dir="ltr">Hi Dex:<div><br></div><div>I see your question generated a lot of excitement here.</div><div><br></div><div>If you still want a suggestion, Look in the GUI for Panel Preferences (right click on a panel, choose bottom "Panel" item. If you do that, you see a widget "Panel Preferences" and in there we have a button "Span monitors". </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>I have a TOP panel, which is "Panel 1" in that widget's Title, bottom panel called "Panel-2". In there, you see "Span monitors". I think I'd poke at that widget, figure out which files it alters. If you look at xfconf configs, you see they are text files that can be altered either by program "xfconf-query" or the "xfce4-settings-editor". </div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfconf/start">https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfconf/start</a></div><div><br></div><div><div>Run this</div><div><br></div><div>$ xfconf-query -l -c "xfce4-panel"</div><div><br></div></div><div>to see all the settings in your channel. We can/should find same saved in an XML config file.</div><div><br></div><div>I'd play around with Panel Preferences to see the changes your xfconf script. I wonder if the "Panel Preferences" change as they are supposed to when you run xfconf-query</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Study how your xfconf-query works. I see:</div><div><br></div><div>$ xfconf-query -l<br>Channels:<br> thunar-volman<br> xsettings<br> xfce4-settings-manager<br> xfce4-notifyd<br> xfce4-screenshooter<br> xfce4-power-manager<br> xfce4-taskmanager<br> xfce4-settings-editor<br> xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts<br> xfce4-panel<br> thunar<br> xfwm4<br> displays<br> xfce4-session<br> pointers<br> xfce4-desktop<br> keyboards<br> xfce4-screensaver<br></div><div><br></div><div>Your code finds the channel "xfce4-panel" and the property to be set is " /panels/panel-1/output-name". So you tell it to Set the value that follows -s. </div><div><br></div><div>I am pretty sure your comment is incorrect: "while this one works, first telling the system to place panel 1 on hdmi-1, then on -2.". The second one changes the same channel/property to HDMI-2, overriding the previous xfconf. </div><div>You can check that for me. </div><div><br></div><div>Anyway, in my xfconf-query output, I don't see a property with name you mentioned. </div><div><br></div><div>I do, however see:</div><div><br></div><div>/panels/panel-1/span-monitors. You can look at that in XFCE Settings Editor</div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:ii_mhlhjcy30" alt="image.png" width="562" height="305"><br></div><div><br></div><div><div>Another idea: Restoring a suspended account with panels and so forth is handled by session management. If you log out, you usually see a question to save the Session. I wonder if yours is saving correctly. </div><div><br></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Sep 18, 2025 at 6:13 AM Dexter Filmore <<a href="mailto:Dexter.Filmore@gmx.de">Dexter.Filmore@gmx.de</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Hi all,<br>
<br>
I suspend this xfce machine usually, and when waking the machine the monitors <br>
come up in different orders, so I wrote me a little script that places <br>
monitors where they physically are and taskbars where they belong.<br>
<br>
Question: why did this not work, leaving the second bar untouched:<br>
<br>
#!/bin/sh<br>
xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 1920x1200 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal --output \ <br>
HDMI-2 --mode 1920x1200 --pos -1920x0 --rotate normal --output \ <br>
HDMI-3 --off --output DP-1 --off<br>
xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /panels/panel-1/output-name -s HDMI-2<br>
<br>
...while this one works, first telling the system to place panel 1 on hdmi-1, <br>
then on -2.<br>
<br>
#!/bin/sh<br>
xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 1920x1200 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal --output \ <br>
HDMI-2 --mode 1920x1200 --pos -1920x0 --rotate normal --output \ <br>
HDMI-3 --off --output DP-1 --off<br>
xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /panels/panel-1/output-name -s HDMI-1<br>
xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /panels/panel-1/output-name -s HDMI-2<br>
<br>
Curious,<br>
<br>
Dex<br>
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</blockquote></div><div><br clear="all"></div><div><br></div><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">Paul E. Johnson <a href="http://pj.freefaculty.org" target="_blank">http://pj.freefaculty.org</a><br>Director, Center for Research Methods and Data Analysis <a href="http://crmda.ku.edu" target="_blank">http://crmda.ku.edu</a><br><br>To write to me directly, please address me at pauljohn at <a href="http://ku.edu" target="_blank">ku.edu</a>.</div>