Changing Primary Monitor

Hi All,
I have a G5 Dual 2.5ghz running OSX10.5.2 that came with an ATI Radeon 9800XT video card. I am using 2 monitors, a 17" Apple studio display (DVI connector) and a Dell 24" LCD (DVI-I? connector - it plugs into the ADC port). The Apple display comes up as the primary display with the menu bar and such. The Dell comes up as the secondary display. I want to use the Dell as my primary monitor. How can I tell OSX to make the Dell my primary monitor? I can't seem to find a control for this in Display Preferences. Please advise. Thanks

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
In Apple menu -> System preferences -> Displays, locate the white bar on top of the icon representing one display and drag it to the icon representing the other display. This switches which monitor is primary.

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Dual monitor setup - primary monitor blank upon startup

Hello -
This has been vexing me for some time now. I've seen hints of this issue from other people but never the exact same circumstances and never do I see a definitive answer.
I have a dual monitor arrangement on my 8 core Clovertown (first generation) Mac Pro. After shutting the machine down, when I start it back up, the primary monitor almost always flickers very quickly then goes black while the machine boots, and the secondary monitor kicks on. Note - this never happens on restarts or waking up from sleep mode; just after starting up after completely shutting the machine down.
Exact specs are:
The afore mentioned first-gen 8 core Mac Pro (spring 2007), combined with an ATI 4870 graphics card, with the 24 inch Cinema Display LED serving as primary monitor (the one that's useless upon starting up), and my older 23 inch LCD as secondary display. Also worth noting - I'm aware the ATI 4870 is not officially supported in this generation of Mac Pro, however there were so many reports on the web of it working that I did the swap-out myself, and ended up getting the 24 inch LED since I then had the Mini Displayport on the back of my machine.
The only way I manage to get my machine working after starting back up is to restart it several times - literally up to over a dozen attempts sometimes, before the primary display finally does start functioning and I can begin working as normal.
Because there were many reports of the ATI 4870 working fine with this Mac Pro and word of other flickering monitor problems, I thought I'd ask despite the graphics card not being officially supported. Any ideas on how to remedy this problem so I don't have to keep restarting over and over before both my screens eventually work?
Thank you in advance.

So I have the same issue. I run dual 23" Apple Cinema Displays. For a while now the main monitor has had trouble waking up. I have also been unable to put the Display to sleep from the power button on the display. The other monitor seems to go to sleep fine. So when I get it to sleep and it won't start up, I usually restart and everything is fine. Today I can't get that monitor to come up at all. In addition, I have swapped ports on the video card switching the order of the monitors, no change. I also checked in my System Preferences>Display, and the system is still recognizing two monitors. So I am guessing my issue is related to the Display itself. What can be done at this point?

Windows (7/8/8.1) moves everything to primary monitor after they are powered off.

When using multiple monitors Windows moves all open windows and apps to the primary monitor after they have either gone to sleep or been powered off. I have been looking for 2 months now trying to find a solution. My current setup is running Windows 8.1
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about involve using questionable hardware measures in order to fix a "feature" Microsoft is imposing on people. With more and more industries moving to multiple monitor setups this seems like a poor decision on Microsoft's part. Somehow, forcing
people to leave their monitors on constantly in order to make them work properly seems a violation of energy star compliance.
The following are just some of the threads that relate to this topic in one way or another, all run my Microsoft and none with a proper fix, only MS saying its a feature, or update the drivers, or some other none helpful answer.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/multi-monitor-problem-on-windows-7/ecefb1e5-22c9-4014-a2ad-dbf56570b25c
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/8a9b5aa7-fe33-4e6d-b39b-8ac80a21fdc2/disable-monitor-off-detection-how?forum=w7itprogeneral
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/579e675f-9246-4205-bfd8-5bfcd1bdf4e6/auto-detect-unplugged-monitor-where-to-turn-off?forum=w7itproinstall

Hi,
As mentioned in this link (and this has been already mentioned in the link posted above)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Understanding-multiple-monitors
When you disconnect the additional monitor, the original display settings are restored to your primary display. In addition, all open files and program windows are moved to the primary display. The next time that you connect the same monitor, Windows
automatically applies the display settings that you used the last time that you connected this monitor. (same in OS Windows 7\8\8.1)
According to your description, the monitor is automatically disconnected when it has either gone to sleep or been powered off that causes the annoying issue, If possible, I suggest you check whether there's a "source detection settings"
(or something like this) for the monitor, set the monitor always active as a alternative solution.
Yolanda Zhu
TechNet Community Support

Choose Primary monitor in 2 Monitor setup

Not a biggy but a personal preference. I've been working with the Grid open on the secondary monitor, and Develop on the primary monitor.
I'd actually prefer to have the Grid on my left, and Develop on my right.
This would be doable if there were an option to switch the primary and secondary lightroom screens between the two monitors.
Paul Wasserman

Just an opinion...
It would be easier for the user if we could "swap" the screens in dual monitor mode, as we can "swap" images while in compare mode (1 click).
Compared to:
1. Minimizing each screen
2. Dragging each screen to the other monitor, and then
3. Maximizing each screen...
every time we want to change the information being viewed in dual monitor mode (which, for some, may be quite often).
While this may seem like a small issue, sometimes it's the small issues that can make a difference :-)
Regards, JML

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There is some confusing information in your post. You say iMac g5 & 10.6.6. The iMac g5 cannot run 10.6.6. 10.6.6 requires an intel machine.
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There have been many reports of capacitor problems with these machines. There are capacitor replacement kits if you want to experiment with a soldering iron.
You could try a new battery.
Since you are having succes running the machine, I'd say it is a hardware problem. I've read a little on the capacitor problem. Seems to fit what I have heard.
google: g5 capacitor replacement kit
Seems rather inexpensive.
http://thecapking.com/applg5.html
& lots of info on repairing on this site. Offers this good suggestion.
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http://jimwarholic.com/2008/07/how-to-repair-apple-imac-g5.php

Catalyst + dual head = incorrect primary monitor

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Hi Brian,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. You can mirror the displays or make whichever display you want the primary in Extended Desktop mode. See this article for details:
How to use multiple displays with your Mac
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5019
The white bar at the top of the left blue box represents the menu bar and determines which display is your primary display. To change your primary display, click the white bar and drag and drop it on the blue box representing the display you would prefer to be your primary display.
Cheers,
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OSX: 10.9
Safari version: 7.0
Hello,
I recently upgraded my operating system from 10.6 to 10.9. While on 10.6, I was using Safari version 5.0.5 but after upgrading, version 5.0.5 will not work so I am now using Safari version 7.0. I have noticed that when using multiple monitors, JavaScript pop ups initiated from a window on the secondary monitor will not display on that (secondary) monitor. It seems that the pop up's coordinates are overridden and display on the primary monitor as close as it can to the secondary (all the way to right).
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cre8ive.park wrote:
Hi, I'm also testing dual screen for mac mini these days.
It seems like, if two displays are connected (mini-DVI and mini-DP)
Mac mini displays the boot screen to mini-DisplayPort.
So, if you want to see boot apple logo, that monitor should be connected to DisplayPort.
This seems correct, however, Mac OS X itself (and Windows) have both defaulted to using the Mini DVI connection as the primary monitor. Which means I can't just switch them around.

Spaces only on Primary monitor

Hey,
Is it possible the enable Spaces only on the Primary monitor.
I have a second monitor specially for Itunes. No matter what happens... I dont want the second monitor to change a bit. It HAS to give me Itunes... permanently.
So I was hopping to disable spaces on the secondary monitor.... Is this possible ?
Thanks Already... !

Thank you very much. This works perfectly.
Thanks!

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How do I do this???
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While you can't currently change your Apple ID to a Mobile/iCloud email address, I found a solution that helps with a related problem.
Suppose you've recently got an iCloud email address, but Apple are still sending all your iTunes Store, App Store and Mac App Store receipts to your old gmail address (the one that's still your Apple ID). And suppose they're also sending all the Apple Support Communities notifcation emails to your old gmail address. How do you change it? How do you fix it?
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• Go to your country's Apple Store website http://store.apple.com/
• Click on the Account button in the top-right corner
• Under Account Settings, click on Change your default shipping or billing info
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• The email address listed under Payment Information is the key
• Click on Edit next to Payment Information and change that email address to your iCloud address
That's all you have to do.

Cannot force Pages to open in primary monitor

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Hi,
I'm not aware to force this behaviour, but if it is a regular link you can drag the link onto the same tab heading you are currently looking at. Obviously this won't work for form submissions where there is no link to drag as such

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Dear
How can I change Primary UOM for the specific item to other Primary UOM, example from Piece to Unit?
Ahmad,

Hi,
Review the folloing MOS Doc.
APP-INV-43141 Error Displayed When Trying To Change The PRIMARY_UNIT_OF_MEASURE (Doc ID 1078914.1)
Also, Check out the following MOS link.
https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/CommunityDisplay?resultUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.oracle.com%2Fthread%2F3535958&resultTitle=How+to+change+primary+UOM+of+newly+created+item+code.&commId=3535958&displayIndex=1&_adf.ctrl-state=vnwgftksh_126&_afrLoop=116529168856235
https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/CommunityDisplay?resultUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.oracle.com%2Fthread%2F3526698&_afrLoop=116688597198923&resultTitle=Need+to+change+the+UOM+for+Item&commId=3526698&displayIndex=8&_afrWindowMode=0&_adf.ctrl-state=vnwgftksh_177

[High level of difficulty] how to change the monitor display in the space of a full screen application

Hello everybody,
I have an application which when opening creates a personal space (I can get back to the desktop with F3).
But this application changes the display of my monitor : it sets "Adobe RGB 1998" (very painful)
The problem is : totaly impossible to change display monitor when i'm in the personnal space of the application.
How to open the monitor control panel when I'm in that space?
If i do F3 to come back on my desktop, the color of my display monitor return to LCD color, it's nice. However it's impossible to keep the LCD display when i come back on the application : "Adobe RGB 1998" comes automatically

Sounds like the application is the problem. What application is it?
Video Troubleshooting Internal and External Monitors

Switching your Primary Monitor - SOLVED

EDIT : Of course, I solved this right after I posted the question. In the System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement panel, you can drag the menu bar to the second monitor.
Hello all,
I was wondering if there is a way to switch which monitor Tiger uses as the primary monitor in a dual monitor setup. I have a PowerMac G5 with a video card that has an ADC port and a DVI port. I currently have an Apple 17" monitor in the ADC port and a 17" CRT monitor in the DVI port.
I have been considering buying an Apple 20" monitor to replace the CRT. If I have a 20" monitor though, I'd want it to be my primary monitor, however Tiger is using the ADC port as primary.
I know I could buy a DVI to ADC adaptor for the 20", then buy an ADC to DVI adapter for the 17", but that seems absurd. There must be some way to tell Tiger to use the DVI port as my primary monitor.
Any ideas?
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0, 4 GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.3) FCStudio / AJA IO LA
Message was edited by: Adam Raney

So I just tried setting it back up with my original monitor at home and now I'm still having the same problem.
The computer will boot into XP and I will actually see the XP desktop for a split second, then it will just go black. This is all on my laptop screen, it does not seem to be recognizing my external monitor at all anymore. Any ideas? Thanks!

Accidentally Changed Primary Display to TV and Cant Revert

I tried to hook up my TV as a secondary monitor in windows, but accidentally made it primary. Now my screen on my laptop shows nothing and has no icons. How do I revert back to making my laptop screen the primary monitor? I cannot locate the properties screen when I access it because it ends up on the screen in which it thinks is primary and I cannot access it. Please help.

Sounds that you installed a theme (Tools > Add-ons > Themes) that isn't working properly.
See [[Troubleshooting extensions and themes]]

Changing Primary Monitor

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