The best way to prevent problems when docking and undocking your laptop is to dock/undock properly. The method explained here will help prevent problems with the display and peripherals after you redock. This assumes you have not changed any docking/undocking options.

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Step-by-step guide

Undocking your laptop

With the laptop still docked, open the lid and wait until the laptop's screen mirrors your external display or for both the displays to be on.
Press the undock button, on the left-hand side of the laptop, next to the release lever. This is a small, physical button.
A small icon next to the button will flash a few times and then turn green. At the this point you can use the release lever to undock the laptop.

The images below show the buttons on the docking stations for the X230 and X220 and the X201, indicating the undock button should be pressed before using the lever.

Redocking your laptop

Before placing the laptop in the docking station, open the lid and wake the computer from sleep, if it is in sleep mode. The docking station should never be docked while in sleep mode. It can be docked while it is completely off.
Once the laptop is awake and the screen is on, place the laptop back onto the docking station.
After the external display mirrors the screen on the laptop, you can close the lid. If the laptop goes to sleep when you close the lid, the power option is not properly configured.
If you use both the external display and the laptop display, leave the lid open.

These instructions apply to Thinkpad X201, X220 and X230 laptops.

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