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

Question

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
with an AMD Radeon R9 285X and the drivers are current. However I just switched from Windows 7 a month ago, and I changed from an NVidia card 3 months ago, all with the same result.
This is getting ridiculous Microsoft. This issue has been reported since 2009 and I have not seen a proper fix yet.  Please don't bother telling me to update the drivers, I've done that, with both cards and in both OSs. The only solutions I've read
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

Answer 1

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