@Dice1035
Given that Chrome starts up OK, that will help Brave compare details.
Important for Brave to succeed at testing repeatability … but your setup requires Brave’s simulation for testing repeatability. (Requires resources and time available?)
Yet Brave may otherwise have a hunch and figure out some detail of Windows setup, that Brave may treat in some Brave file … that gets updated, eventually.
Also, some member of this Brave Community might come along with a solution.
You might also consult with some online AI services - ChatGPT, Grok AI, and Perplexity.ai - all do lookups/searches. Present your setup and issue.
And of course, Brave Search AI.
Following includes a suggestion (#3) about deleting “Local State” ← do not; I would skip that.
Grok AI Response:
This is a specific (and relatively rare) bug triggered by your custom NVIDIA resolutions + per-monitor scaling on a mixed-resolution setup. Brave (Chromium-based) saves window positions, sizes, and full-screen state using display metrics from Windows. When you use non-native/custom 3840x2160 resolutions on 1080p panels + 200% scaling, those metrics can become inconsistent after a full restart (even though everything works fine when all monitors were native 1080p @ 100%). Firefox handles this more robustly; Chrome apparently does too (per reports on the same thread you posted).
Your exact issue was posted on the Brave Community forum today (April 3, 2026), and it currently has no official fix or workaround from the team — it’s an open report. Brave devs would need to improve how the session-restore code (the files that track “where windows were”) deals with custom resolutions/scaling.
Quick workarounds you can try right now
Here are the most effective fixes people use for similar multi-monitor + DPI/custom-res window-reset problems in Chromium browsers:
-
Clean up “ghost” monitor entries in Windows (most common fix after changing monitors/resolutions)
- Right-click Start → Device Manager.
- Go to View → Show hidden devices.
- Expand Monitors.
- Right-click and Uninstall device any grayed-out/old monitor entries (especially anything from before you added the 4K monitor or custom resolutions).
- Restart your PC.
Windows often keeps stale monitor data, which confuses apps like Brave on restart. This has fixed window-position resets for many users after hardware/display changes.
-
Force Brave to ignore Windows DPI scaling (helps with the “very small” size)
- Right-click your Brave shortcut (or Brave.exe) → Properties → Compatibility tab → Change high DPI settings.
- Check Override high DPI scaling behavior and set Scaling performed by to Application.
- Apply → OK.
- Test a restart. (You can also do this for all users if you use multiple accounts.)
-
Reset Brave’s saved window positions (nuclear but safe)
- Completely close Brave (check Task Manager → end all Brave processes).
- Go to:
C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\
- Backup the folder first.
- Delete the file named Local State.
- (Optional but often needed) In the Default subfolder, open Preferences in Notepad, search for
"window_placement" or "bounds", and remove those sections (keep the JSON valid).
- Restart Brave, manually arrange your windows full-screen on each monitor once, close normally, and test a restart.
This clears the corrupted saved coordinates without losing bookmarks/passwords/etc.
-
Switch from custom resolution to NVIDIA DSR (recommended long-term)
Your current setup (custom 3840×2160 on 1080p panels + 200% scale) is essentially what Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) is designed for.
- In NVIDIA Control Panel → Manage 3D Settings → Global Settings → enable DSR - Factors (try 4.00x).
- Then in Windows Display Settings, the higher resolutions become available natively.
- Set the 1080p monitors to the DSR 3840×2160 and keep 200% scaling.
Many users find DSR is more stable with apps than manual custom resolutions.
-
Other quick tests
- Temporarily set all three monitors to the same native resolution + same scaling (as you said it worked before) — if the problem disappears, it confirms the custom-res/scaling combo is the trigger.
- Try Brave Beta or Nightly (they sometimes have newer window-management fixes).
- As a last resort, create a small AutoHotkey or PowerShell script that runs on login to move/resize your Brave windows (many users do this for stubborn multi-monitor setups).
Next steps / reporting
- You already posted on the Brave Community — great. Link the devs to your exact reproduction steps there.
- Also open a GitHub issue at https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues (label it OS/Desktop + Bug). Include:
- Brave version (1.88.138)
- Exact monitor setup + NVIDIA custom-res details + scaling
- That Firefox + Chrome work fine
- NVIDIA driver version
- Screenshots of Windows Display Settings + NVIDIA Control Panel
This gives the team everything they need to reproduce it. In the meantime, the steps above should get you stable again without switching browsers.
If none of these work or you want help with a specific step (e.g., the JSON edit or DSR setup), just paste your NVIDIA driver version + Windows version and I’ll give more targeted instructions. You shouldn’t have to ditch Brave for this — it’s fixable on the app or driver side.
More tips found, searching online:
Manually resize the window by dragging its edges or corners to full size, then close Brave while holding the Alt key—this can help “reset” the saved size for future launches.
For multi-monitor users, ensure all displays match resolutions or scaling before restarting, as mismatches trigger the issue; test by temporarily disabling secondary monitors.
