[SOLVED] Desktop icons move from primary screen to second

Hi there, like the title says: desktop icons accidentally shift from primary screen to secondary screen in Zorin OS 15.2 Ultimate

I am from the Dutch forum and I see this title also appear on my forum.
Since I have had Zorin OS on my desktop computer for years and always use a second screen, I never had this problem.
But now a member on our forum appears to have this problem and I don't know how to fix it.

He connects a second monitor to his Dell laptop and puts all his icons on the secondary monitor.
After disconnecting the screen, all of its icons jump to the primary display and make a mess.
However, if he reconnects the second screen, it will be a complete disaster.
He says he doesn't have this problem with Linux Mint

I myself have not yet experienced this problem.
Of course I don't disconnect the second screen every now and then.
On my forum, this is not really advertising Zorin OS, moreover, he even claims to have Zorin OS Ultimate.

I can confirm that I have had this happen to me as well. I use a secondary monitor often on two different machines.
Not just Icons, but conky will also get moved over to the Primary screen and all jumbled up- and a mess if you put the secondary monitor back on.

Interestingly, although I do not use Linux Mint, on my main machine, I do use Zorin 15 with Cinnamon Desktop and it has never happened, even when I disconnected the secondary monitor and reconnected it, on the main machine.
However, it does seem to happen in Mate Desktop.

While the desktop objects were moved and jumbled on Lite or Core, they did get moved over. Whereas on the Cinnamon Desktop version of Zorin 15, they do not get moved over at all and are invisible or inaccessible unless I restart the computer with the other monitor unplugged. That makes them appear on the primary monitor and sometimes, the panel appears overlaid on the primary, as well.
I never sought a solution on it because it makes sense that if the secondary monitor was unplugged, any desktop items would need to be moved over in order to allow me access to them.
Since my secondary monitor is a different resolution than the primary monitor, it also made sense that things might be a bit jumbled. Is his or her secondary monitor also using a different resolution?
I just got used to doing a quick cleaning after removing or adding the monitor- and in keeping Very Few Items on the desktop.

Another option is to try the Iconic script:
https://github.com/WinEunuuchs2Unix/iconic
To try to regain what Gnome eliminated as a feature starting around gnome-shell 3.28

Hi Aravisian, thanks for your answer.

Maybe it is a good suggestion to use Cinnamon Desktop version.
But how do you get the Cinnamon version of the OS?

I also have asked the user in my forum if he had an other resolution.

Hensyr Wolf wrote:Hi Aravisian, thanks for your answer.

Maybe it is a good suggestion to use Cinnamon Desktop version.
But how do you get the Cinnamon version of the OS?

I also have asked the user in my forum if he had an other resolution.

Well, I had just installed from terminal.
I am running Cinn on Zorin Lite (Normally XFCE).
If installing on Core or Ultimate with Gnome, you will need to install Lightdm and switch to it rather than GDM.

Code:

sudo apt install cinnamon-desktop-environment lightdm

Hi dear Aravisian,
What do you mean with GDM
The user on the Dutch forum has indeed an other resolution.

Hensyr Wolf wrote:Hi dear Aravisian,
What do you mean with GDM
The user on the Dutch forum has indeed an other resolution.

GDM= Gnome Display Manager or currently, gdm3.

Cinnamon D.E. uses the Light Display Manager or lightdm.

Different screen resolutions appears to be a common element in the icon or conky (Or other desktop objects) problem.

Hi, i'm gonna mark this topic as solved.
The member on the Dutch forum has installed Cinnamon Desktop and that was the solution.