How Do I View My Laptop Monitor on My Desktop Monitor?

You can use an external monitor with your laptop, or view both monitors at once.

You can view your laptop's screen on either its own built-in LCD monitor or an externally attached monitor. You can also use both monitors at the same time in many cases. To view your laptop screen on an external monitor you need to connect the external monitor to the laptop's video connector, and typically follow this by pressing a key combination on the keyboard.

Things You'll Need

• Laptop computer
• Desktop monitor
• VGA cable (monitor cable)

Instructions

1. Start your laptop.

2. Attach the external desktop monitor to your laptop by connecting the VGA video cable to the 15 pin video connector, usually found on the back of the laptop and colored blue.

3. Power on the monitor.

4. Use the correct key combination to switch from your laptop monitor to the desktop monitor. This may happen automatically when you power on the desktop monitor. If it does not, you will typically have to press a key combination like this: "Fn" and "F3", or "Fn" and "F5", or "Fn" and "F8", or "Fn" and "F9". The combination varies based on computer manufacturer, but assuming your laptop uses the "F8" key then you would press the "Fn" key and then the "F8" key simultaneously. To determine which function key to press you can look on your keyboard for "CRT/LCD" or an image of a computer monitor on or next to the "F3", "F5", "F8" or "F9" keys. CRT and LCD are types of computer displays.

5. Continue to press the key combination until your display shows on the desktop monitor. Some computers will cycle through a few options like laptop display, external display or both.

Tips & Warnings

• If none of the key combinations work, check your laptop user guide or the manufacturer's website for the proper key combination.

References

• Computer Hope: How to connect an external monitor