543310 - thunderbird invisible after remote desktop connection to multi-monitor system

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Description

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

To repro with TB 3.0.1

* Start TB on a multi-monitor machine with TB on the second monitor.
* Connect to machine via rdesktop from a single-monitor machine.
* Try and switch to TB (click on taskbar; alt-tab, etc)

Actual Result:
* TB can't be seen
Expected:
* TB has moved and resized to the connected display.
Work-around:
* Right-click on TB taskbar icon, select 'Move', use arrow-keys to bring TB onto the display.

Bug 206435 and bug 483786 look similar, but are probably different.  This may also happen with Firefox (I'll check all of that tomorrow) - and a quick search across all products doesn't show any other obvious dupes, so I'm opening it for TB where I noticed it first (FF is generally on the main monitor when I connect...)

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

valid issue, but iirc this is a duplicate of an open or closed+invalid bug.

the "solution" is to move the message to the primary monitor, non-maximized, *and* resize the window height or width, the close it. it should then restart on the primary monitor.

Comment 2

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

To be clear: I understand how to make it restart on the primary monitor - but this isn't the problem.

The problem is that on PC1, thunderbird is already running but on the secondary monitor.  If you then remote-desktop from PC2 -> PC1, it is very hard to interact with thunderbird (ie, impossible without using the keyboard.)  The average user is likely to conclude TB is "dead".

Comment 3

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

So answering the Firefox question would definitely be a good idea. Presumably this works for other applications as well?

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to comment #2)
> 
> The problem is that on PC1, thunderbird is already running but on the secondary
> monitor.  If you then remote-desktop from PC2 -> PC1, it is very hard to
> interact with thunderbird (ie, impossible without using the keyboard.)  The
> average user is likely to conclude TB is "dead".

OK, you want thunderbird to move on it's own from monitor two in the dual setup?

Firefox's behavior will be the same (it's using the same "screen code". More generally, it's not really the app's job to facilitate what's happening with monitors. I don't know of any apps that do what you are asking for.

This is really an OS issue, and there's nothing more available than the basic windows functionality , which is arrow keys preceded by alt+spacebar+M or click taskbar + move

so => invalid

Alternatively, you can run your remote desktop connection such that it spans the two remote monitors.

Comment 5

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to comment #4)
> OK, you want thunderbird to move on it's own from monitor two in the dual
> setup?

... or to somehow indicate it's on a monitor that's not visible. That might be possible, but I can't imagine that drivers would accept such specialized code in Gecko for a rare usecase that has a standardize "workaround".