How can I swap my two screens, left to right?

Question

I pressed something and accidentally swapped my two screens. My left one is actually considered as the right one, and vice versa. How can I swap them back?

Edit - Specifically, I'm using Gnome, though we might also want to keep this question generic.

Edit 2 - It appears that my driver isn't compatible with xrandr. I'm attaching log of /var/log/Xorg.0.log here

Your upload only has the first 49 lines (and the relevant parts are later). Don't copy-paste from an editor, just upload the whole file. — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Apr 05 '11 at 18:06

score 49 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 04 '11 at 18:11

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Your desktop environment probably has a way, but you don't say which one you're using (if any).

If your display driver is compatible with the XRandR extension, which is the standard X.org method for managing display resolutions and arrangements, you can use the command-line utility xrandr. I think the proprietary NVidia driver bypasses XRandR, so if you're using it, you'll have to use a dedicated NVidia tool.

Run xrandr (with no argument) to see your monitor (screen) arrangement. You'll see lines like these:

DVI-0 connected 1600x1200+1600+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 408mm x 306mm
DVI-1 connected 1600x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 408mm x 306mm

This example means that I have two monitors called DVI-0 and DVI-1, and DVI-1 is at the top left (position +0+0) while DVI-0 is to its right (position +1600+0). To swap them, I would run

xrandr --output DVI-0 --left-of DVI-1

answered Apr 04 '11 at 18:11

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'

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I'm using Gnome. Having some problems with randr - http://pastebin.com/rZEjdN4B – ripper234 Apr 05 '11 at 06:34
@ripper234: Your display driver isn't compatible with XRandR. What display driver are you using (not just nvidia/ati/intel, but which driver: nv/nouveau/nvidia/radeon/radeonhd/fglrx/…)? If you're not sure, attach the contents of `/var/log/Xorg.0.log` to your question. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Apr 05 '11 at 07:18
here's the log, thanks. http://pastebin.com/wpNutkwp – ripper234 Apr 05 '11 at 07:54
That swaps them around but now I can't scroll the mouse in the correct direction between them. When my mouse is on my right screen, when I scroll left, the mouse stops at the barrier of the right screen - it does not continue onto the left screen. – 8bitjunkie May 10 '18 at 11:31

Edo de Roo · Answer 2 · 2020-07-29T13:41:59.160

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I use Ubuntu 20.4, and pressed Win-P accidentally, and fuzzled around with the several options. To switch back to my original setting I used:

press Win-P
selected "Built in only"
then pressed Win-P again
selected "Join Displays"

If this keeps it in the wrong order, use "External only" first instead of "Built in Only"

edited Jul 29 '20 at 13:41

answered Jul 28 '20 at 10:07

Edo de Roo

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worked for me as well – Erdem Tuna Dec 15 '20 at 16:53
I used to change the order of display from display settings every time I accidentally pressed Ctrl + P, this worked for me. Nice hack. – Saad Ismail Feb 28 '21 at 18:54
Not everyone using ubuntu... – holms Nov 13 '21 at 22:31
Did not work for me on Ubuntu 20 – Antoine Jan 21 '23 at 20:32
Now we're 2,5 years later, I do not have this issue anymore .. but I'm on Ubuntu 22.4 or 22.10 now, so it might have been fixed in a better way. – Edo de Roo Jan 23 '23 at 10:59

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 27 '19 at 14:00

5

Ubuntu 18.10 here with GNOME 3.30.2. Just go to Settings > Devices > Displays.

The display arrangement can be rearranged, with simple drag-and-drop.

I had better experience doing this rather than adding xrandr --output DVI-0 --left-of DVI-1 to my /home/.profile.

answered Mar 27 '19 at 14:00

Akhil

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This is awesone shortcut. Thanks @Akhil so many good things are already built we just need to discover – nanosoft Dec 24 '21 at 07:45
Awesome, thanks, this saved me so much time ! – Antoine Jan 21 '23 at 20:32

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 05 '11 at 20:14

2

I used the native Gnome Monitor Manager (from the System->Preferences menu) and it worked like a charm.

answered Apr 05 '11 at 20:14

ripper234

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 03 '18 at 12:43

1

I don't remember where I found this answer, but it works for me xrandr -o normal

answered Dec 03 '18 at 12:43

Vitaliy Sobol

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 29 '21 at 23:45

I use this script for that purpose

#!/bin/bash

xrandr --prop | grep "[^dis]connected" | cut --delimiter=" " -f1> "$HOME/currentScreens.txt"
echo "Number of active screens:" $(< "$HOME/currentScreens.txt" wc -l)
if [ $(< "$HOME/currentScreens.txt" wc -l) -gt 1 ]; then 
   xrandr --auto && xrandr --output $(cat "$HOME/currentScreens.txt" | awk 'NR==1') --primary
   xrandr --auto && xrandr --output $(cat "$HOME/currentScreens.txt" | awk 'NR==2') --left-of $(cat "$HOME/currentScreens.txt" | awk 'NR==1')
else
   echo "Nothing to do"
fi

How can I swap my two screens, left to right?

6 Answers6