Xrandr

Related articles

• Xorg
• Multihead

xrandr is an official configuration utility to the RandR X Window System extension. It can be used to set the size, orientation or reflection of the outputs for a screen. For configuring multiple monitors see the Multihead page.

Installation

Install xorg-xrandr.

Graphical front-ends

• ARandR — Provide a simple visual front end for XRandR. Relative monitor positions are shown graphically and can be changed in a drag-and-drop way.

https://christian.amsuess.com/tools/arandr/ || arandr

• LXRandR — Screen resolution and external monitors management tool for LXDE.

https://wiki.lxde.org/en/LXRandR || GTK+ 2: lxrandr, GTK+ 3: lxrandr-gtk3

Testing configuration

When run without any option, xrandr shows the names of different outputs available on the system (VGA-1, HDMI-1, etc.) and resolutions available on each, with a * after the current one and a + after the preferred one :

xrandr

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3200 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 531mm x 299mm
   1920x1080     59.93 +  60.00*   50.00    59.94  
   1920x1080i    60.00    50.00    59.94  
   1680x1050     59.88  
…

Note: If your resolution is not present in the above list, see #Adding undetected resolutions

You can use xrandr to set different resolution (must be present in the above list) on some output:

$ xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 1920x1080

When multiple refresh rates are present in the list, it may be changed by the --rate option, either at the same time or independently. For example:

$ xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 1920x1080 --rate 60

The --auto option will turn the specified output on if it is off and set the preferred (maximum) resolution:

$ xrandr --output HDMI-1 --auto

It is possible to specify multiple outputs in one command, e.g. to turn off HDMI-1 and turn on HDMI-2 with preferred resolution:

$ xrandr --output HDMI-1 --off --output HDMI-2 --auto

Note:

• Changes you make using xrandr will only last through the current session.
• xrandr has a lot more capabilities - see xrandr(1) for details.

Configuration

xrandr is just a simple interface to the RandR extension and has no configuration file. However, there are multiple ways of achieving persistent configuration:

1. The RandR extension can be configured via X configuration files, see Multihead#RandR for details. This method provides only static configuration.
2. If you need dynamic configuration, you need to execute xrandr commands each time X server starts. See Autostarting#On Xorg startup for details. This method has the disadvantage of occurring fairly late in the startup process, thus it will not alter the resolution of the display manager if you use one.
3. Custom scripts calling xrandr can be bound to events (for example when external monitor is plugged in), see acpid for details. The #Scripts section provides you with some example scripts that might be useful for this purpose.

Tip: Both KDM and GDM have startup scripts that are executed when X is initiated. For GDM, these are in /etc/gdm/, while for KDM this is done at /usr/share/config/kdm/Xsetup and for SDDM at /usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup. This method requires root access and mucking around in system config files, but will take effect earlier in the startup process than using xprofile.

Scripts

Toggle external monitor

This script toggles between an external monitor (specified by $extern) and a default monitor (specified by $intern), so that only one monitor is active at a time.

The default monitor should be connected when running the script, which is always true for a laptop.

#!/bin/bash
intern=LVDS1
extern=VGA1

if xrandr | grep "$extern disconnected"; then
    xrandr --output "$extern" --off --output "$intern" --auto
else
    xrandr --output "$intern" --off --output "$extern" --auto
fi

Note: To leave the external monitor enabled, replace the else clause with xrandr --output "$intern" --primary --auto --output "$extern" --right-of "$intern" --auto.

Automatically switch configurations with autorandr

Autorandr allows you to easily configure xrandr 'profiles' that will activate automatically when you connect/disconnect displays. Install autorandr and set up some configurations like this:

autorandr --save laptop 

Now connect an external display. Set it up the correct resolution and screen orientation with xrandr, then save the configuration like this:

autorandr --save samsung

Now whenever you connect the monitor autorandr will apply your saved xrandr configuration, and when you disconnect it will reset to your normal configuration.

I found it useful to add

autorandr --change

to the autostart of my window manager, since Autorandr doesn't normally do anything unless it detects a display being plugged or unplugged. Now if I boot my laptop or restart X while the monitor is plugged in, autorandr will still apply the correct configuration.

Manage 2-monitors

mons^AUR is a POSIX-compliant shell script to quickly manage 2-monitors display.

It provides well-known modes like computer, duplicate, extend and projector mode as well as selecting and positioning one or two monitors among those plugged in (for more details, see mons).

Example 3

This script iterates through connected monitors, selects currently active monitor, turns next one on and the others off:

# get info from xrandr
connectedOutputs=$(xrandr | grep " connected" | sed -e "s/\([A-Z0-9]\+\) connected.*/\1/")
activeOutput=$(xrandr | grep -E " connected (primary )?[1-9]+" | sed -e "s/\([A-Z0-9]\+\) connected.*/\1/")

# initialize variables
execute="xrandr "
default="xrandr "
i=1
switch=0

for display in $connectedOutputs
do
	# build default configuration
	if [ $i -eq 1 ]
	then
		default=$default"--output $display --auto "
	else
		default=$default"--output $display --off "
	fi

	# build "switching" configuration
	if [ $switch -eq 1 ]
	then
		execute=$execute"--output $display --auto "
		switch=0
	else
		execute=$execute"--output $display --off "
	fi

	# check whether the next output should be switched on
	if [ $display = $activeOutput ]
	then
		switch=1
	fi

	i=$(( $i + 1 ))
done

# check if the default setup needs to be executed then run it
echo "Resulting Configuration:"
if [ -z "$(echo $execute | grep "auto")" ]
then
	echo "Command: $default"
	`$default`
else
	echo "Command: $execute"
	`$execute`
fi
echo -e "\n$(xrandr)"

Avoid X crash with xrasengan

Use this workaround to turn on connected outputs that may be in suspend mode and hence shown as disconnected, as is often the case of DisplayPort monitors:

declare -i count=2
declare -i seconds=1

while ((count)); do
    xrandr >/dev/null
    sleep $seconds
    ((count--))
done

xrasengan^AUR is an xrandr wrapper with this workaround built in.

$ xrasengan --force -on DisplayPort-0 -off HDMI-0

With the --force option, xrasengan will update status of all outputs before HDMI-0 is turned off, avoiding an X crash if they were the only connected/active outputs.

To force reload current settings, xrasengan provides a --try-reload-active-layout option, which uses --force and unxrandr from the arandr package to assemble the command line:

$ xrasengan --try-reload-active-layout

This can be used in systemd unit or in a keyboard binding to avoid blank screen when resuming DisplayPort monitors from suspend.

Troubleshooting

Adding undetected resolutions

Due to buggy hardware or drivers, your monitor's correct resolutions may not always be detected by xrandr. For example, the EDID data block queried from the monitor may be incorrect. However, we can add the desired resolutions to xrandr. Also, this same procedure can be used to add refresh rates you know are supported, but not enabled by your driver.

First we run gtf or cvt to get the Modeline for the resolution we want:

$ cvt 1280 1024

# 1280x1024 59.89 Hz (CVT 1.31M4) hsync: 63.67 kHz; pclk: 109.00 MHz
Modeline "1280x1024_60.00"  109.00  1280 1368 1496 1712  1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync

Tip: For some LCD screens (e.g. Samsung 2343NW, Acer XB280HK), the command cvt -r (= with reduced blanking) is to be used.

Tip: If you find that the screen goes blank when the modeline is applied, try lower refresh rate (e.g. 30 or 45 instead of 60). The refresh rate should be passed as the third argument: cvt 2560 1440 45

Note: If the Intel video driver xf86-video-intel is used, it may report the desired resolution along with its properties in /var/log/Xorg.0.log — use that first if it is different from the output of gtf or cvt. For instance, the log and its use with xrandr:

[    45.063] (II) intel(0): clock: 241.5 MHz   Image Size:  597 x 336 mm
[    45.063] (II) intel(0): h_active: 2560  h_sync: 2600  h_sync_end 2632 h_blank_end 2720 h_border: 0
[    45.063] (II) intel(0): v_active: 1440  v_sync: 1443  v_sync_end 1448 v_blanking: 1481 v_border: 0

xrandr --newmode "2560x1440" 241.50 2560 2600 2632 2720 1440 1443 1448 1481 -hsync +vsync

Then we create a new xrandr mode. Note that the Modeline keyword needs to be ommited.

$ xrandr --newmode "1280x1024_60.00"  109.00  1280 1368 1496 1712  1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync

After creating it we need an extra step to add this new mode to our current output (VGA1). We use just the name of the mode, since the parameters have been set previously.

$ xrandr --addmode VGA1 1280x1024_60.00

Now we change the resolution of the screen to the one we just added:

$ xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1280x1024_60.00

Note that these settings only take effect during this session.

If you are not sure about the resolution you will test, you may add a sleep 5 and a safe resolution command line following, like this:

$ xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1280x1024_60.00 && sleep 5 && xrandr --newmode "1024x768-safe" 65.00 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -HSync -VSync && xrandr --addmode VGA1 1024x768-safe && xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768-safe

Also, change VGA1 to correct output name.

EDID checksum is invalid

If the previous method results in an *ERROR* EDID checksum is invalid error during boot, see KMS#Forcing modes and EDID and [1].

Or xrandr --addmode might give you the error X Error of failed request: BadMatch. NVIDIA users should read NVIDIA/Troubleshooting#xrandr BadMatch. BadMatch could indicate an invalid EDID checksum. To verify that this is the case, run X in verbose mode (e.g. startx -- -logverbose 6) and check your Xorg log for messages about a bad EDID.

Screen resolution reverts back after a blink

If you use GNOME and your monitor doesn't have an EDID, above #Adding undetected resolutions might not work, with your screen just blinking once, after xrandr --output.

Poke around with ~/.config/monitors.xml, or delete the file completely, and then reboot.

It is better explained in this article.

Permanently adding undetected resolutions

Once a suitable resolution is found using xrandr, the mode can be permanently added by creating an entry in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "VGA1"
    Modeline "1280x1024_60.00"  109.00  1280 1368 1496 1712  1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync
    Option "PreferredMode" "1280x1024_60.00"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Monitor "VGA1"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes "1280x1024_60.00"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Device0"
    Driver "intel"
EndSection

Replace intel with the right driver, e.g. nvidia. When the X server is restarted, you should be able to set the new resolution.

If this doesn't work for you, try removing the Screen and Device sections and just leaving the Monitor section. [2]

Resolution lower than expected

Tip: Try #Adding undetected resolutions first, if it doesn't work, you may try this method.

If your video card is recognized but the resolution is lower than you expect, you may try this.

Background: ATI X1550 based video card and two LCD monitors DELL 2408(up to 1920x1200) and Samsung 206BW(up to 1680x1050). Upon first login after installation, the resolution default to 1152x864. xrandr does not list any resolution higher than 1152x864. You may want to try editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf, add a section about virtual screen, logout, login and see if this helps. If not then read on.

Change xorg.conf

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Screen"
        ...
        SubSection "Display"
                Virtual 3600 1200
        EndSubSection
EndSection

About the numbers: DELL on the left and Samsung on the right. So the virtual width is of sum of both LCD width 3600=1920+1680; Height then is figured as the max of them, which is max(1200,1050)=1200. If you put one LCD above the other, use this calculation instead: (max(width1, width2), height1+height2).

Correction of overscan tv resolutions via the underscan property

With a flat panel TV, w:overscan looks like the picture is "zoomed in" so the edges are cut off.

Check your TV if there is a parameter to change. If not check if the output has support for the underscan property (xrandr --prop), if so apply an underscan and change border values. The required underscan vborder and underscan hborder values can be different for you, just check it and change it by more or less.

$ xrandr --output HDMI-0 --set underscan on --set "underscan vborder" 25 --set "underscan hborder" 40

Correction of overscan tv resolutions via --transform

If underscan is not available another solution is using xrandr --transform a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i, which applies a transformation matrix on the output. See the xrandr(1) manual page for the explanation of the transformation.

For example, the transformation scaling horizontal coordinates by 0.8, vertical coordinates by 1.04 and moving the screen by 35 pixels right and 19 pixels down, is:

$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --transform 0.80,0,-35,0,1.04,-19,0,0,1

Full RGB in HDMI

It may occur that the Intel driver will not configure correctly the output of the HDMI monitor. It will set a limited color range (16-235) using the Broadcast RGB property, and the black will not look black, it will be grey.

See Intel graphics#Weathered colors (color range problem).

See also

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Resolution
• Debian Wiki - RandR 1.2 tutorial
• Xorg RandR 1.2 on ThinkWiki
• FAQVideoModes - more information about modelines