Virtual Desktop Issue in Garuda Linux - Apps Carry Over to New Desktops

[Anindha]

I’m experiencing an issue with virtual desktops in Garuda Linux, and I’m hoping someone can help me resolve it. When I try to open a new virtual desktop, it automatically carries over all the apps from the previous desktop. This behaviour is quite frustrating because if I open an app on the new desktop, it switches back to the first desktop, which defeats the purpose of having multiple desktops.

I want to be able to open a new virtual desktop that is completely fresh, without any apps from the previous desktop being opened there. I’ve tried a few things to fix this, but so far, nothing has worked.

Here’s what I’ve tried:

1. Checking the desktop environment settings (I’m using KDE Plasma).
2. Looking for any settings related to virtual desktops in the system configuration.
3. Restarting the session and even rebooting the system.

garuda-inxi:

System:
Kernel: 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=880bb618-c2bf-46dd-8da1-2d21171aab87 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.2.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.9.0
wm: kwin_wayland with: krunner vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda
base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP ProBook 450 G5 v: N/A
serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: HP model: 837D v: KBC Version 02.41.00 serial: <superuser required>
part-nu: 3MC66PA#UUF uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: HP
v: Q85 Ver. 01.23.00 date: 11/29/2022
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 28.0 Wh (66.5%) condition: 42.1/48.0 Wh (87.7%)
volts: 11.5 min: 11.4 model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion
serial: <filter> status: discharging cycles: 88
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i3-7100U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Amber/Kaby Lake
note: check gen: core 7 level: v3 note: check built: 2017
process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8E (142) stepping: 9
microcode: 0xF6
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 2 cores: 2 threads: 4 tpc: 2
smt: enabled cache: L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB
desc: 2x256 KiB L3: 3 MiB desc: 1x3 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 400/2400 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 bogomips: 19200
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915
v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports:
active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0
chip-ID: 8086:5916 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Chicony HP HD Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-6:3 chip-ID: 04f2:b5ee
class-ID: 0e02
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.15 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.4
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting
alternate: fbdev,intel,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1366x768 size: N/A modes: N/A
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris wayland:
drv: iris x11: drv: iris
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.3.3-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
device-ID: 8086:5916 memory: 3.73 GiB unified: yes display-ID: :1.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.303 layers: 8 device: 0 type: integrated-gpu name: Intel
HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) driver: N/A device-ID: 8086:5916
surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 1 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM
18.1.8 256 bits) driver: N/A device-ID: 10005:0000
surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs bus-ID: 00:1f.3
chip-ID: 8086:9d71 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.12.8-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168NGW [Stone Peak] driver: iwlwifi
v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0
chip-ID: 8086:24fb class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 3168 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-7:4 chip-ID: 8087:0aa7
class-ID: e001
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 5 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 4.2
lmp-v: 8 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c010c
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 111.79 GiB used: 54.84 GiB (49.1%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: HP model: SSD EX900 120GB
size: 111.79 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: T1103F0L temp: 34.9 C
scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 111.49 GiB size: 111.49 GiB (100.00%)
used: 54.84 GiB (49.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 584 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 111.49 GiB size: 111.49 GiB (100.00%)
used: 54.84 GiB (49.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 111.49 GiB size: 111.49 GiB (100.00%)
used: 54.84 GiB (49.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 111.49 GiB size: 111.49 GiB (100.00%)
used: 54.84 GiB (49.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 7.64 GiB used: 2.56 GiB (33.5%)
priority: 100 comp: zstd avail: lzo-rle,lzo,lz4,lz4hc,deflate,842
max-streams: 4 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C pch: 40.5 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 8 GiB note: est. available: 7.65 GiB used: 5.71 GiB (74.7%)
Processes: 278 Power: uptime: 1d 9h 49m states: freeze,mem,disk
suspend: deep avail: s2idle wakeups: 4 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown,
reboot, suspend, test_resume image: 3.05 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: 1530 pm: pacman pkgs: 1522 libs: 415 tools: octopi,paru
pm: flatpak pkgs: 8 Compilers: gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: fish
v: 3.7.1 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.36
Garuda (2.6.26-1.1):
System install date:     2024-12-19
Last full system update: 2025-01-11 ↻
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
Failed units:

[elite]

Normally you add Desktops in the settings app.

You normally don’t add them on the fly.
Maybe change this setting. Maybe to “Do nothing”

I cant say it will help but worth a shot.

you also might have a window rule set that moves them as well or check in scripts.

[Anindha]

I actually have the same settings. What it does is that when I try to open a new virtual desktop, it automatically carries over all the apps from the previous desktop. Like in the ‘desktop 1’, I have opened Chrome. Now, if I create another ‘desktop 2’, it automatically carries Chrome. As a result, if I click Chrome, it switches back to ‘Desktop 1’.

What I want is that when I will create ‘desktop 2’, it will be completely fresh. I will open fresh ‘chrome’ on that, and no history from another desktop should be present there. I can’t find any options for that.

[elite]

If I am understanding correctly. I don’t think kde is built in that way creating a new desktop on the fly or with shortcuts. Normally like you said you have would would add the desktops. An they would be a simi permanent thing tell removed via settings. Normally when created like this the desktop will be empty.
Now there are scrips that will remove them. Like “Temporary Virtual Desktops”. But as I think you want more of the Window manager thing, idk if kwin is the best fit. Other then you having a window rule or maybe you have something like this set somewhere.
It also might be in KDE’s documentation.

Maybe give activities a go an change up the shortcuts to be more useful

[Anindha]

I have searched a lot but can’t find my desired settings on KDE. I think GNOME has this kind of functionality. However, I have now switched to Hyprland. It’s now fulfilling my needs.