How can I fix misplaced dock and incorrect wallpaper on external monitor after waking MacBook from sleep?

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Level 1

4 points

How can I fix misplaced dock and incorrect wallpaper on external monitor after waking MacBook from sleep?

Dock appears in wrong place on external monitor after waking from sleep. OS UI layout seems to think the screen resolution is the same as the MacBook Pro's internal display

After waking from sleep, the dock is in the middle of the screen, and the wallpaper is the incorrect size until I unplug and reconnect the external monitor. The wallpaper is also missing from the built-in display. It's as if part of the macOS UI doesn't know an external monitor is plugged in.

This seems like a bug in part of macOS. Is there a fix or at least some workaround? I'm fine with needing to set up a script or automation to force it to update; I just don't want to have to re-plug the cable every time I wake the MacBook up.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Feb 12, 2025 04:30 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 13, 2025 12:03 PM in response to d3veloper

Does the same happen if you sleep and wake your mac while running in Safe Mode?

FWIW, I use my mac with an external display every day for many hours (and with different displays at work/home), and I never saw this. Maybe it is something peculiar about your display or (more likely) some software conflict - especially if the problem disappears in Safe Mode.

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Answer 2

d3veloper Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 21, 2025 12:49 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I have not tested safe mode. I would not be surprised if it's something our IT department forces on us that causes the issue, as this is a company macbook. This particular issue only happens when my display is connected via this ugreen hub and an HDMI cable.

I have noticed another issue that occurs less often. The display will be very... blurry? Not quite the right word. It's distorted. Unplugging and re-plugging the hub fixes it. I never had any issues when using this dock to connect my tablet or switch to the TV.

I could switch back to usb-c to displayport cable, but I also had an odd issue that occurred with that. The mouse cursor would occasionally be flickering/jittery, and the problem would go away after re-plugging the usb-c to displayport cable.

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Answer 3

d3veloper Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 12, 2025 04:33 PM in response to d3veloper

Looks like running the command

killall -KILL Dock

fixes it. I guess I'll try setting up an automation to do this after waking from sleep until I hear of a better solution.

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