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external Display should be the only Screen (Login + Work)
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2025 10:56 am
by chrissi55
I am new to MX Linux - started with the 23.6.1_KDE version and i'm using kernel 6.14.
I have it installed on a Notebook and an external Monitor is connected via HDMi.
My purpose is to have the internal Display is disabled (--off) on Login Screen so the external Display is the only one active during login and during sessions.
I found several pages with hints and help, tried to figure it out what is wrong in my case.
The command xrandr | grep -w connected delivers
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XWAYLAND0 connected 1920x1080+3200+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 290mm x 170mm
XWAYLAND1 connected primary 3200x1800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 700mm x 390mm
With that information i did the following, edited the file /usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup as follows:
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#!/bin/sh
# Xsetup - run as root before the login dialog appears
xrandr --output XWAYLAND1 --primary --auto
xrandr --output XWAYLAND0 --off
exit 0
The external display has a higher resolution so it is XWAYLAND1.
My question, does .../sddm/scripts/Xsetup only work with X11 (Xorg) or does it also should work with wayland as well?
If not, what steps / settings do i have to edit, to make my external monitor to be the "king in the game"?
At Login prompt the focus is still always on XWAYLAND0 (cursor blinking in password field on the internal display)
Thanks for your help, hope my infos are sufficient.
Re: external Display should be primary Login Screen
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2025 10:59 am
by j2mcgreg
We are going to need your computer’s complete profile before we can proceed, so you need to post the output from the QSI utility. The Quick System Info (QSI) utility is located in MX Tools and its output is automatically formatted for use here in the forum. Run the QSI utility, click “Copy for Forum” at the bottom and then just paste it here in your thread.
Forum Rules
Re: external Display should be primary Login Screen
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2025 11:04 am
by chrissi55
this is the output ...
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System:
Kernel: 6.14.10-2-liquorix-amd64 [6.14-13~mx23ahs] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0 parameters: audit=0
intel_pstate=disable amd_pstate=disable BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.14.10-2-liquorix-amd64
root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.5 wm: kwin_wayland vt: 8 dm: SDDM Distro: MX-23.6.1_KDE_x64
Libretto May 18 2025 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: XMG product: XMG P305 v: N/A serial: <superuser required> Chassis: Notebook
type: 9 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: XMG model: XMG P305 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 4.6.5
date: 08/21/2015
Battery:
Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Craft Advanced Keyboard serial: <filter> charge: 100%
(should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: full
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i7-4710MQ bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Haswell gen: core 4 level: v3
note: check built: 2013-15 process: Intel 22nm family: 6 model-id: 0x3C (60) stepping: 3
microcode: 0x28
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache: L1: 256 KiB
desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1638 high: 2495 min/max: 800/2501 boost: enabled scaling:
driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores: 1: 2495 2: 2494 3: 2494 4: 2425 5: 800 6: 800
7: 800 8: 800 bogomips: 39908
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities:
Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected
Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages
Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
Type: old_microcode status: Not affected
Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
Type: retbleed status: Not affected
Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW; STIBP: conditional; RSB
filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: CLEVO/KAPOK driver: i915
v: kernel arch: Gen-7.5 process: Intel 22nm built: 2013 ports: active: HDMI-A-1,eDP-1 empty: DP-1
bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0416 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 960M] vendor: CLEVO/KAPOK driver: nvidia v: 535.247.01
non-free: 530.xx+ status: current (as of 2023-03) arch: Maxwell code: GMxxx process: TSMC 28nm
built: 2014-19 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:139b class-ID: 0302
Device-3: Bison BisonCam NB Pro type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 2-8:7 chip-ID: 5986:055c
class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
Device-4: Logitech BRIO Ultra HD Webcam type: USB
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo bus-ID: 4-1.2:3 chip-ID: 046d:085e
class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.7 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.9 compositor: kwin_wayland
driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa alternate: nv dri: crocus
gpu: i915,nvidia d-rect: 4096x1440 display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 pos: primary,left res: 2560x1440 size: N/A modes: N/A
Monitor-2: eDP-1 pos: right res: 1536x864 size: N/A modes: N/A
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 25.0.7-2~mx23ahs renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 4600 (HSW GT2)
direct-render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio vendor: CLEVO/KAPOK
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 4-1.2:3 v: kernel chip-ID: 046d:085e bus-ID: 00:03.0
chip-ID: 8086:0c0c class-ID: 0300 class-ID: 0403 serial: <filter>
Device-2: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: CLEVO/KAPOK 8
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:8c20 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Logitech BRIO Ultra HD Webcam type: USB
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo
API: ALSA v: k6.14.10-2-liquorix-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:08b1 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: CLEVO/KAPOK RTL8111/8168/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 04:00.1 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 2-7:5
chip-ID: 8087:07dc class-ID: e001
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.0
sub-v: e00 hci-v: 4.0 rev: e00
Info: acl-mtu: 1021:5 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff
link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio,
telephony
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 2.73 TiB used: 1.14 TiB (41.9%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 2TB size: 1.82 TiB block-size:
physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 4B6Q scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 type: USB vendor: Samsung model: ST1000LM 024 HN-M101MBB
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 0200
scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 87.89 GiB size: 85.95 GiB (97.80%) used: 17.55 GiB (20.4%) fs: ext4
dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 500 MiB size: 499 MiB (99.80%) used: 5.4 MiB (1.1%) fs: vfat
dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 302.73 GiB size: 296.92 GiB (98.08%) used: 79.38 GiB (26.7%) fs: ext4
dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 6.41 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda5
maj-min: 8:5
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 62.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
Packages: 2726 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2710 libs: 1471 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala pm: rpm pkgs: 0
pm: flatpak pkgs: 16
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kopia.list
1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kopia-keyring.gpg] http://packages.kopia.io/apt/ stable main
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
1: deb http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/mxlinux/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
2: deb http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/mxlinux/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
Processes: 305 Uptime: 21m wakeups: 4 Memory: 15.51 GiB used: 4.08 GiB (26.3%) Init: SysVinit
v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI
Re: external Display should be primary Login Screen
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2025 1:41 pm
by BitterTruth
Hve you tried turning the internal display off in the bios? That way as soon as it boots, it will turn off the internal display and you should see the boot process on the extrenal display.
Re: external Display should be primary Login Screen
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2025 5:47 pm
by i_ri
does focus follow mouse?
Re: external Display should be primary Login Screen
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2025 1:07 am
by chrissi55
The BIOS is rather old, and there is no option to turn the notebook display --off.
What do you mean by "does the focus follows mouse"?
When klicking by mouse into the password field on the external display i get the cursor there, yes if that's what you think of.
Under another Linux environment with gnome and greeter was gdm3 it was possible to do the following to reach the purpose
1) make changes under X11 with the gui for display, resolution, etc.
2) sudo cp ~/.config/monitors.xml ~gdm/.config/monitors.xml
(to copy over the personal settings to the global settings and make them valid for boot time as well)
3) sudo chown gdm:gdm ~gdm/.config/monitors.xml
After a reboot the internal monitor (display) is black and the external display only shows login screen and had the focus.
I need some similar with sddm as greeter for the wayland display manager.
For the moment i activated both displays in the gui and told the system to have the external display as "primary".
With Super + P i can switch usually between "only external" -> "only internal" -> "both" -> and "extend display to right/left"
Re: external Display should be primary Login Screen
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2025 5:29 pm
by MXRobo
I'm not familiar with KDE, but does it have - or anything similar to - "MX-Tweak" and/or "Display"?
If so, this may work, check post #'s 5 & 7.
viewtopic.php?p=784808#p784808
Cheers!
Re: external Display should be primary Login Screen
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2025 12:41 am
by chrissi55
Thank you for the tip.
I checked MX-Tweaks from the MX Tools and have in my system the following register cards
I think there is missing some tweaks / settings maybe?
Code: Select all
Interesting (but not part of this topic!) is that MX Tweak seems not to show all settings taht have been made in my case ...
For my Oracle Virtualbox it was nescessary to disable the KVM at boot time. See the output of the Snapshot tool
GRUB options = kvm.enable_virt_at_load=0 quiet splash
But the tag beneath "Disable early KVM module ..." is not set although i think this is the corresponding GUI setting for the GRUB option i have set in /etc/default/grub manually ....
weird, isn't it?

Re: external Display should be primary Login Screen
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2025 1:51 pm
by MXRobo
First, I don't know if I referenced would affect the primary
LOGIN screen.
Searched: linux kde how to make external monitor primary screen
https://ao.vern.cc/exchange/askubuntu.c ... 57eccbde40
Settings --> Display and Monitor --> Display Configuration
So maybe KDE's "
Display and Monitor" is similar to Xfce's Display
I don't know KDE or linux really.
Good luck!
Re: external Display should be the only Screen (Login + Work)
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2025 12:43 am
by chrissi55
OK you are right -> renamed the title of the thread in "external Display should be the only Screen (Login + Work)"
That's exactly what i want - after pre-boot the dispaly should only be seen on the external monitor. For Login and later for work. The internal monitor should switch to blach ( --off)
That what you propose i already have been made, see Post #6
For the moment i activated both displays in the gui and told the system to have the external display as "primary".
With Super + P i can switch usually between "only external" -> "only internal" -> "both" -> and "extend display to right/left"
My purpose is to set the internal Notebook Display to
-off when Login Screen appears.
There is definitely no BIOS option to do that - i think this makes sense because, if i would plug out the external monitor it should be possible to reach the desktop in any way.
As long as the external monitor is pluged in MX Linux should do the "Super + P" -> choice "only external Monitor" each boot automatically.
I hope i could give some clarification for my problem that every boot both displays are
on and only the internal monitor has the focus for the login screen. After login -> both displays
resist on but then the external monitor gets the focus and becomes "primary" (too late for my purpose) but also the internal monitor is still activated but should be deactivated.
I maybe mistaken, but i think i could not reach my purpose by GUI there must be a setting made by konsole/terminal in any *.conf file or something like that?
Re: external Display should be the only Screen (Login + Work)
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2025 8:07 am
by chrissi55
I get the following errors in terminal when using this command in konsole
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xrandr --auto && xrandr --output XWAYLAND0 --off
then konsole delivers
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X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Major opcode of failed request: 139 (RANDR)
Minor opcode of failed request: 7 (RRSetScreenSize)
Serial number of failed request: 27
Current serial number in output stream: 29
So seems to be a xrandr problem first and that why the settings seems not to work on boot.
Can someone help me to understand this X Error code?
Re: external Display should be the only Screen (Login + Work) [Solved]
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2025 8:45 am
by chrissi55
Finally i got it working !
I switched from the login screen from wayland to x11 for one boot.
xrandr | grep connected delivers complately different names of the connected displays than under wayland!
So i tested from the command line the following
worked!
So i edited the /usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup file as follows
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#!/bin/sh
# Xsetup - run as root before the login dialog appears
xrandr --output HDMI-1 --primary --auto
xrandr --output eDP-1 --off
exit 0
that worked under x11 session!
Then i switched back to session type wayland and voila it worked for wayland as well.
on top i could use a script as follows (but that's a nice to have later ...)
https://forum.garudalinux.org/t/display ... ation/4526
