Can anyone help??
I've just moved to macOS Sequoia 15.3
Now my second display (thunderbolt) which worked perfectly, about 2 hours ago is now dead and cant be detected. I've looked on line and it turns out it's a common problem. I wish I had just left the upgradfe.
IS there a fix?
Thank you
iMac 27″, macOS 15.3
Before the latest update to 15.5, I was able to fix this problem by running:
sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.displays.plist
However, this doesn't work any more. With the help of ChatGPT I used the search described elsewhere in this thread :
sudo find / -name "*windowserver*" 2>/dev/null | tee ~/Desktop/windowserver_files.txt
The suggestion from the AI was to run:
sudo rm -f /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.displays.plist \
/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.displays.plist \
~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.displays*.plist \
~/Library/Containers/*/Data/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.displays*.plist \
GPT: "Yes, it’s very likely macOS now references or prioritizes:
Then shutdown:
sudo shutdown -r now
This worked for me. It looks like the displays.plist is now in a different location after the update, but I haven't bothered to work out exactly where yet. - This narrows it down a bit though. I hope this helps someone else, it's a really frustrating problem that has cost me a few days work over the last year.
eugene-w wrote:
Didn't work for me though. The file keeps getting recreated after the restart!
I would expect the file to be regenerated, given that macOS uses it, and that it is not there for decoration.
As far as determining "was this a fix?", the question is not whether the file goes away, but whether the problems with detecting a second display do.
This is a great fix,
I have been facing the same issue from yesterday. Even had a call with apple support , and about 3 hours ,
Still can't fix. At last they even made me reinstall the os , and still didn't fix. Now this solved my issue.
Thanks
I’m using a Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K). It doesn’t show up under Displays in Sequoia, although the tablet itself is still functioning. It works perfectly fine on my other macbook with Sonoma. I really rely on this for work, so the issue is very frustrating.
I have upgraded to 15.6.1. I have just recently discovered this issue because I had my work PC plugged into my 2 external monitors and my Mac just plugged into one. But I switched and went down the rabbit hole and found out this hasn't been fixed in a long time. I have both monitors up, but they won't extend. They are only mirrored. And when I go to displays, only one monitor shows up as available so I have no idea what's happening. I've switched docks, cords, restarted, gotten rid of the plist. I'm not going back to Sonoma. Apple needs to fix this.
When I plug the PC in, both monitors work just fine.
@geapgr. Hi there.
What was the remedy? I hope it works.
by "close the mac" do you mean sleep it via the lid or power it off?
The disconnecting everything solution did not work for me. My monitor goes automatically into power-saving mode. It works fine when connected to a borrowed PC.
Worked like a charm. Thank you.
need to follow the timeline to. when! and why
not working for me :(
This does not work for everybody. Even if it did, it *clearly* indicates some kind of OS issue.
I have the same issue here. I escalated this to Apple support Germany to increase more awareness. I hope this will be fixed soon.
Thanks @sgreadly
It works for me!
I've tried all of these things suggested below 10 times and nothing is working for me! Please fix it asap
This must be joke...
External monitors are not working after the upgrade and Apple doesn't even care to give a response!
macOS Sequoia 15.3 wont let me detect my second display
