How to select display to record in RecordMyDesktop

I have a dual monitor setup and wish to only record the 1st monitor with recordmydesktop, but I am unsure of the settings to do this via the command line. So far I have this:

recordmydesktop --display=1 --width=1920 height=1080 --fps=15 --no-sound --delay=10

But I get this error message:

Cannot connect to X server 1

How do I find the right X server to connect to and are the rest of my settings correct?


You have no need to set the display to 1 since probably you are running a multi- screen setup on the same X server.

The correct command would be:

recordmydesktop --display=0 --width=1920 --height=1080 --fps=15 --no-sound --delay=10

Reduce the width and the height parameters if that is including your 2nd screen.


Display parameter is irrelevant. The trick is setting coordinates correctly.

All screens are considered as whole.

Say you have two screens,

  • primary has 1680x1050
  • secondary has 1024x768

Your coordinate space is : 2704x1050 (sum of both screens' widths and the height of the biggest one)

To capture second screen

-x=1680    # width of primary screen
-y=0       # default
--width=1024
--height=768
--display=$DISPLAY # in my ubuntu 13.10 

The command would be (tested on Ubuntu 13.10):

recordmydesktop --display=$DISPLAY --width=1024 height=768 -x=1680 -y=0 --fps=15 --no-sound --delay=10

I think you are over thinking this. Record My Desktop has an option to "Select Window" before you start to record. Maximize the Record My Desktop Window on the monitor you wish to record, click the "Select Window" It will grab the whole screen. Then simply minimize Record My Desktop window used for selecting that monitor You can then move the Record My Desktop Window to the other monitor if you like it out of your recording and click "Record" you will be on your way!