Hi. I have been using GIMP for many years and have a reasonable degree of familiarity with the program. I recently bought a new laptop and so downloaded the newest version of GIMP for Windows 11, (GIMP 2.10.32 - revision 1).

My toolbox and dialog boxes are locked into place at the extreme left and right sides of the GIMP window. I am used to having these boxes unlocked or detached from the main GIMP window so that I can move them around anywhere freely depending on what I'm working on.

I can't figure out how to unlock the boxes. I've been trying to do this for like a week but am having trouble figuring this out.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

If it is the single window, you go to the Tab Windows and uncheck "Single Window".



If it is the dialogs, go to the corner of the dialog box and uncheck "Lock Tab to Dock"

I unchecked "single window" and this freed or unlocked my toolbox. Thanks.

My layers/paths/channels box is still locked. I then followed your advice with the "lock tab to dock". It should work. But I keep on toggling that and nothing happens whether it's on or off. That dialog box remains locked.

Thanks. I figured out what was happening. Thanks to you.

Thanks again.

Well this is screwy. I figured out, thanks to this forum, how to detach the boxes from the window. But they don't show up. So I go into the Windows ---> Toolbox drop down menu to click on toolbox and then the toolbox will appear. But as soon as I click anything in the GIMP window, the toolbox disappears. I can get the Layers/Paths/Channels dialog box to appear through this drop down menu (Windows ---> Dockable Dialogs) but the same thing happens -- the layers/paths/channel box disappears as soon as I click anything. And there's no way I can get both dialog boxes to show up and stay at the same time. When one box appears, the other one disappears.

What gives?

Put back your GIMP in single window mode, then on each tab click on it then drag it out and release it outside (on the canvas for example)
I did try this and all the dialog "Tool Options", "Layers", "Channels" and "Paths" stayed above (did not disappear) even if I clicked on the image or use a tool.

Tip, you can even group them on a floating window by dragging their tab's name on the other window and drop it just beside the other tab

I logged off last night and shut down my laptop and came back today to try and fix it but now it's even worse. I took off the single widow mode but the boxes are still locked onto the GIMP window. I can get them back, but they disappear as soon as I click anything or type anything or take any action whatsoever. And to the extent I can even get them back, I can get them back only one at a time, because when I have one box showing, as soon as I take action to get the other box, the first one disappears.

Maybe the solution is somewhere in Edit ---> Preferences?

After you have the dialogue where you want them and before you click on any thing else try this. Top right of where the dialogue is an arrow, click on it a d in the drop down menu click on lock tab. You can also go to edit preferences to keep everything as is when you close down

Doesn't work, but thanks. I think I'm going to uninstall GIMP and then re-install it. When I re-installed GIMP after getting a new laptop, I first went into Edit ---> Preferences to set up GIMP the way I like it. Maybe I accidentally touched some setting in there that is causing this.

So I will reinstall and then, the first thing I'll do before anything else is to set the single window mode to off. I'm hoping that should do it.

So I uninstalled and then re-installed GIMP. First thing I then did was to disable the single window mode. And as soon as I did that, the toolbox and dialog box disappeared. Same problem. I think what I'll do is uninstall again, and then re-install, but an earlier version, maybe one or two before the latest so-called stable version.

Usually you have to turn Single window mode on.
So you probably turned it on not off.

Usually uninstalling GIMP doesn't help.
Your userfiles are the ones that screw up:
C:\Users\USERNAME\Appdata\Roaming\GIMP\2.10
So, to have a fresh GIMP close it, rename that folder, start GIMP again.

Much softer solution if this is just a problem with window positions/existence:

Edit > Preferences > Interface > Windows management > Window positions > Reset Saved Window Position To Default Values

I tried this. It didn't work. I'm at my wit's end because my GIMP is unusable. The toolbox and layers/paths/channels dialog box are behind the main GIMP window. I can bring them up on top of the GIMP window but as soon as I click anything, they disappear behind the main GIMP window. I can't believe I'm the only one who's had this problem. Because I figure that if it's happening to me, it should be happening to many others.

OK. We have some expert here in GC and you said you have this odd problems. But you haven't provide us with any image so we can have a clue of what you're talking about. Please, provide some images of this GIMP condition in your PC, so we can help you better.

There is that person at post #6 which took time to do some screenshots and write some explanations to give you an alternative where the channel/layers/tool options and so, stay atop the canvas, did you tried it?

Good Idea.
Picture #1. I open GIMP. I'm in single window mode. Both boxes are visible. The toolbox on the left and the layers/paths/channels dialog box on the right.


Picture #2. I click to disable single window mode. I expect the two boxes to still be there, only now, I should be able to move them around anywhere in the GIMP window. But instead, they're totally gone now, as you can see.


Picture #3. If I hover my cursor over the GIMP icon in my taskbar at the bottom of the screen, I can see the two boxes. So they are somewhere. Just not where I'd expect them to be. I can see the GIMP window on the left when I hover and the two boxes on the right.




Picture #4. This picture is a little screwy because MS Paint appears at the top of the screenshot. But below that, you can see the main GIMP window, and behind the GIMP window, the two boxes. There is a rectangular blue box and to each of its sides, you can see the top of the boxes. They are behind the GIMP window.


Picture #5. I can click on each of the boxes to bring them in front of the GIMP window, where they should be.


Picture #6. I can even move the boxes around anywhere in the GIMP window. Here I moved the boxes close to the center of the GIMP window and practically next to each other to show that I can move the boxes.




Picture #7. But as soon as I try and do anything else, click on a drop down menu task, type something, do anything, the boxes disappear and go behind the GIMP window. This repeats endlessly. My GIMP is obviously unusable like this.

right click on the title bar of each tools/layers/channels/etc... windows then select "Always on top"

You can also go on your task bar/panel/whatever you call it on the Microsoft's Windows, and use your mouse wheel while hovering the GIMP's icon to make the underneath Gimp's windows appear, or you can read what's in the post #16 of this thread, but it looks like you're very selective about reading post...

I think PixLab is showing a Linux solution. There is a Windows Utility to pin individual windows.

Looks like a real mess, my advice is go back to the default single window and start again.
In Gimp Edit -> Preferences -> Interface -> Window Management and click on Reset Saved Window Positions to Default Values Edit: You wrote earlier that this does not work. Try again it does work. Restart Gimp and if you want to go into multi-window mode, go do it, or detach docks, Set up Gimp the way you want. By default the last settings are saved.

Note, same place Edit -> Preferences -> Interface -> Window Management is a tick box for Save window positions on exit which is the cause of your woes. Untick that and then Save Window Positions Now then whenever you start Gimp the windows return to the saved position(s).

It might not be necessary if you want a maximised Gimp. Keep with single window mode. F11 toggles full screen and TAB toggles the docks on/off.

20 second animation of that https://i.imgur.com/SJm6SFS.mp4

Looks to me that your canvas window just needs to be made smaller - click on the box top right and minimise it.