I have the UD-3900PDZ connected with two monitors to a Macbook Pro M1. It’s been working great until this morning. I just updated to Ventura 13.3.1, and now the second I connect the Plugable dock via USB-C while the DisplayLink Manager software is running (latest version as well, 1.8.1), it immediately boots me to the login screen. And when I log back in, there’s a windowserver crash log.
I’ve tried completely uninstalling displaylink manager, rebooting, and reinstalling it (while the plugable dock is unplugged from power and from my mac). Still crashes every single time.
I can connect the Plugable dock when DisplayLink manager is not running, but of course I only get a single monitor.
Hoping someone can help?
I can share the windowserver report if that’s helpful.
Thank you for contacting us, I am sorry this is not working as expected and I am happy to help!
With the latest macOS 13.3.1 update we have started to see reports of the macOS window server crashing on Apple Silicon based computers (M1/M2 processors). Either at login if a DisplayLink based docking station or USB graphics adapter is connected to the computer, when connecting the DisplayLink controlled display to the computer after login, or when launching the DisplayLink Manager App with the external display connected to the computer. This matches the behavior you are describing.
We have seen this behavior when the macOS’s display persistence files have become corrupt, or include incompatible display configurations or settings. The fix was to manually remove two display persistence “.plist” files, however now the DisplayLink Support Tool for macOS has an option to reset the display persistence to quickly resolve this behavior, the process is detailed below:
Unplug the DisplayLink controlled external display from the computer and log into the desktop
Download the DisplayLink Support Tool for macOS
Select the “DisplayLink Support Tool for macOS6.3.163-EXE.zip” from the downloads to extract the “DisplayLink Information.app” to the Downloads directory, a Finder window should open showing the extracted file
Double-click on the “DisplayLink Information.app” from the Downloads folder to start the tool
This will open a window for the DisplayLink Information tool, however we can ignore this for now. From the macOS top bar, next to “DisplayLink Information” select “Advanced” then “Reset screen layout”
You will be prompted for the account password to proceed, enter your password, then click the “OK” button
Next you will be prompted to reboot the computer, save and close any open applications then click on the “Reboot” button to proceed
After rebooting the computer, log into the desktop and reconnect the external display(s), you may need to rearrange the external displays through the Apple Menu > System Settings > Displays > Arrange settings panel
Please let me know if this helps to restore normal behavior with both external displays in macOS and if not we can proceed from here.
I did try removing the plist files to no avail. But this Displaylink Info software to reset the screen layout appears to have resolved the issue. Thanks again!
This issue has been documented in our Knowledge Base here ( https://kb.plugable.com/1919746 ) and if we find any additional settings or recommendations that may help we will update the KB article.
We will be closing this thread, if you have any additional questions, or if there is anything else we can do to help, please feel free to start a new thread or contact our support team via email at ‘support@plugable.com’.
