https://faq.i3wm.org/questions/Frequently asked questions and answers about the i3 window managerenCopyright i3, 2012Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:36:16 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5312/how-to-toggle-onoff-external-and-internal-monitors/I have a laptop and a external TV plugged in HDMI. I have troubles when plugin in the TV on hdmi port after i3 had started. I have to log off so lightdm recognizes the tv and then log in again. after that, once logged in, and both screens are working, I would like to disable the internal screen leaving only the TV as active screen.Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:29:17 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5312/how-to-toggle-onoff-external-and-internal-monitors/https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5312/how-to-toggle-onoff-external-and-internal-monitors/?answer=5313#post-id-5313Here is a method that will swap between mode : - both monitors in best resolution - external only - internal only - both in clone mode First execute the command xrandr in a shell to check the names of your plugged in monitors. In my case they are LVDS1 for the internal and HDMI1 for the TV. Create a script like this updating accordingly external and internal outputs variables : #!/bin/bash EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="HDMI1" INTERNAL_OUTPUT="LVDS1" # if we don't have a file, start at zero if [ ! -f "/tmp/monitor_mode.dat" ] ; then monitor_mode="all" # otherwise read the value from the file else monitor_mode=`cat /tmp/monitor_mode.dat` fi if [ $monitor_mode = "all" ]; then monitor_mode="EXTERNAL" xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --off --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto elif [ $monitor_mode = "EXTERNAL" ]; then monitor_mode="INTERNAL" xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --off elif [ $monitor_mode = "INTERNAL" ]; then monitor_mode="CLONES" xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --same-as $INTERNAL_OUTPUT else monitor_mode="all" xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --left-of $INTERNAL_OUTPUT fi echo "${monitor_mode}" > /tmp/monitor_mode.dat then add this command to i3 to bind the toggle bindsym $mod+Shift+s exec --no-startup-id /home/mylogin/bin/monitor Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:36:16 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5312/how-to-toggle-onoff-external-and-internal-monitors/?answer=5313#post-id-5313