Connect two laptops via HDMI to get a second screen for your primary laptop (Windows or Mac)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มี.ค. 2022
- Use a laptop as a second screen for your laptop
Get a video capture card: a) amzn.to/3IZQGX4, b) amzn.to/3rYawyP, or c) amzn.to/46Ni4Da (affiliate links)
A second screen is great for PowerPoint Presenter View or for being more efficient at getting work done. If you don’t have a monitor to plug into your laptop as a second screen but you have an open HDMI port and a second laptop, you can use a video capture device that costs around $25 to use the second laptop as a second screen for your primary laptop.
This works between any combination of Windows or Mac laptops. The laptops don’t need to be recent ones, even older ones will work just fine (I use a 7-year-old Surface 3 in the video to prove it). In the video I show a Windows laptop as a second screen for a Windows laptop, a Mac laptop as a second screen for a Windows laptop, and a Windows laptop as a second screen for a Mac laptop.
If you want to use a Windows app to see the display full screen instead of the Windows Camera app, use the Webcam Viewer app I demonstrate in this video: • Use HDMI for laptop as...
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Thanks for your help on this. Everyone is so focused on doing this wirelessly but I wanted zero lag and no software install.
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Super smart work around, I never imagined using the capture card in that way, thanks man.
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thanks for the tips Dave. This is what I am looking for to use another laptop as a secondary screen. Brilliant 😀
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thank you very much for this super helpful video! I cannot even thank you enough I followed your instructions and everything worked great. You saved me a lot of time and time as my other option was buying a second monitor.
I'm glad you found the video helpful
wow this was such a detailed thorough video. thank you so much
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thank youuu! It worked for me, just tried it today. Who says Windows and Mac can't be friends hehehe
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thanks so much for sharing this workaround!
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thank you so much for making this! I have an older imac (2013) and for school I'm using a smaller dell laptop and being able to utilize the big imac screen while doing my schoolwork on the dell as a main is super helpful! I'm using Auto CAD a lot with it and it works great, really impressed. This way is super inexpensive helps me out a lot right now!
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Great video!! Well done, this was exactly what I was looking, thanks
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thank you for these great suggestions!
I'm glad you found the video helpful. If you want to get notified when I publish a new article or video, sign up at www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/vpnotify.
I am not a techie person but your video helped me so much!!! I did it, thank you!!! 😊
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
This is amazing! Exactly what I'm trying to do. Thank you very much for your video. I hope it will work for me too. I'm hesitant to buy a portable monitor just for a very short remote work period, but i badly need a second screen. I have an old macbook pro anyways, so got to try that one first. thank you zillion times!
Very helpful! Thanks a ton!
I'm glad you found the video helpful
Thanks so much. This is exactly what I am looking for since I work with sensitive data.
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Are you using this 2 screens
Thank you so much. Going to save me a lot of trouble 🙏🏽
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thanks so much! Saved me a lot of money from not having to buy monitors. Thanks for the Mac versions too!
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
This worked like a charm! Thank you sir!🤝
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thanks mate! I had problems with Miracast because my laptops are too old but now I will order this hdmi video capture :))
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
hey, is the old laptop giving you any lag? or was it working smoothly?
Thanks alot. Helped me❤
Finally! I found the solution to our dilemma whether to buy a new monitor or use our spare laptop as a second monitor. HDMI VIDEO CAPTURE Device is the key, I ended up buying a hdmi splitter yesterday. The guy in the store said I need the hdmi splitter, after I told him what we need. I'm gonna replace my hdmi splitter into this device. Thanks!
I'm glad you found the solution that will work for you!
Thank you so much sir, god bless you for your work and effort, this has saved me a lot! :)
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
This is awesome- thanks for this
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
that was amazing. so helpful and smart
I'm glad you found the video helpful
Thank u so much for the detailed video. I was searching this solution for a long time. But I have one question...can I take an output (duplicate) from the 2nd laptop to a tv screen using another normal hdmi?
200 IQ moment, thanks for making this!
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Great video. Only question I have is if you can use the mouse and keyboard with the laptop you are using as a 2nd display.
I'm glad you found the video helpful. The second laptop still functions as it did before so yes you can use the mouse and keyboard to control it.
Thanks, super useful!! Does it work mac to mac?
I found a solution to the camera not being full screen. You can use OBS instead of the camera app. Set up a scene with a source pointing at your video capture device, then right click the preview section, chose full screen projector (preview) and click the resolution context menu. Voila, full screen.
Thanks for sharing. For those who can install and use OBS this could be a good solution. Unfortunately the corporate professionals I work with have their laptops locked down by IT so they don't have the same options.
it is good
I worked perfectly! Thanks!
What is OSB? Do you have a video showing this way instead?
I think so.. may obs get the solved in my brain?
Thank you a lot for doing this video!!! I have been researching how I can do exactly the same thing with the two laptops (none is Mac) that I have. I will get a capture card as soon as possible.
However, I have a prety old monitor Dell 1905FP (only DVI and VGA inputs) and I wonder whether I can add it as a 3-rd screen to the setup that you present. I mean, having the primary laptop with its screen being extended on the secondary laptop and the Dell monitor. I see on some websites that they sell Video Capture Cards with one HDMI input, one HDMI output and one USB output. Do you think that such 3-screen-setup is feasible? Thank you very much in advance!
A 3 screen setup is possible, but the primary laptop needs to be feeding the output for each of the two external monitors in the scenario you describe. If your primary laptop has the HDMI output going to the second laptop it will need another output to go to the old monitor. One option is to use a USB DisplayLink adapter that allows you to connect a monitor from a USB port if you have a spare USB port from the primary laptop. This is one that offers VGA, DVI, or HDMI connections: amzn.to/3D1CrQE. I have used these type of adapters when the video port on a computer fails and they work well. Hope that helps.
Thanks! You are a genius!
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
great idea working great
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thanks for the video, super helpful! I have two questions. I am unable to use the mouse and keyboard of the second screen, should I be able to do this? Also when when they are connected I don’t see to get any sound out of either of them, is there a way to fix this?
I'm glad you found the video helpful. The mouse and keyboard of the second laptop should still work, but since the entire screen is taken up by the app displaying the extended screen from the first laptop there isn't much you can really do.
In terms of sound, by default the first laptop is likely sending the audio to the HDMI cable. Just change the audio output on the first laptop to the speakers of the first laptop and you should be able to hear the sound. Hope that helps.
Hi, thanks for the suggestion! Is there an alternative to using the camera app? I can't find any full size option and I have a slight delay when using the camera app.
I'm glad you found the video helpful. On Windows you would have to see if there is an app that will show a camera feed full screen without the UI. Because I work with corporate clients who can't install other software on their laptops I don't regularly research apps outside of the standard Windows & Office ones. In terms of the slight delay I am not sure another app would be any faster. The delay may be a function of the speed of both computers and the HDMI capture device.
I have been working on this for dayyyysss. a way to connect the laptops. it took the right keywords to find this. thanks so much. In addition to a surface and HP laptop i also have a philips monitor. maybe now i can daisy chain all 3?
Thanks for the video. Can I use a Macbook as a second screen to another Macbook. If so, what connectors/adaptors do I need. Thanks again!
You should be able to. The adapters and process are the same as you see in the video. The primary Mac laptop may not have an HDMI output so you would use an adapter like the Apple USB-C to HDMI adapter (amzn.to/3CV1BjJ) which is what I used in the video. The HDMI to USB adapter to take the HDMI signal into the second laptop would be the same as in the video. Hope that helps.
Thanks for this info! Started using my Surface pro as a second screen to a MacBook ; however, I’m the mouse has a slight lag when I transition from MacBook to Surface Pro screen. Any advice on what I can do to make that transition and windows second screen usage more seamless?
There are many factors that could influence the lag and most of them are related to hardware in the devices which can't be changed. One option may be to use the Webcam Viewer app instead of the Windows Camera app on the Surface Pro. It may have less lag. You can download it for free at download.cnet.com/WebcamViewer/3000-12510_4-75324168.html. I show it being used in this video: th-cam.com/video/Wa_9ciCyzGA/w-d-xo.html. Hope that helps.
Great video, I was wondering if I could plug the video capture card in directly to the second laptop and still have it work? do I have to use a dongle? it does have an hdmi port
I'm glad you found the video helpful. The HDMI port on a laptop only sends a signal out, it can't accept a signal in. That's why the video capture card is required. It takes the video out of the first laptop and provides it to the second laptop on the USB port, which can accept signals in or out.
Thank you!!
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thank you so much for this video - answers what I've been looking for since the last one year.
I use my iMac as a second screen for my work PC laptop. Now the display shows fine on the Mac, albeit 30fps but usable!
However there's no audio. I can see that the Mac is receiving audio signals via the HDMI-USB from the PC, but I can't get the Mac's speakers to output audio - do you know how to fix this?
I'm glad you found the video helpful. Usually a computer will not put a mic input through the speakers because it can cause feedback. The HDMI signal would be considered as a mic input. See if there is a setting to allow a mic input to be sent to the speakers. That might be a solution.
Thanks a lot for the video. Worked great. I have one more monitor. Can I also connect it to my main laptop as the 3rd display? so that my primary laptop is the 1st display, my second laptop is the 2nd display and my monitor is the 3rd display.
Yes, that will work. The only challenge you may have is if your primary laptop doesn't have another HDMI port. If that's the case, use an adapter that can create an HDMI output from a USB-A port. Here's one I recommend: amzn.to/3NveVS9
hi, do you know if this can be used with a LMDE Faye laptop as secondary for a W10 server?
Thanks for the video. It works windows to mac but not the other way around. The mac detects that there is another display to extend to. I can adjust the position. However usb video source is just a black screen.
I'm glad you found the video helpful. On the Windows laptop the Mac screen will show in the Camera app and when the correct camera is selected. Changing the camera input in the Camera app is often the missing step.
Do you know how to fix it just being black
wow big thanks
I'm glad you found the video helpful.
hey, i got a question.
Is there any other camera app that we can use for the 2nd monitor?
Because as u can see there still are the buttons on the right side and the borders are cropped; not like the mac versions where it looks perfect
Thanks.
Because I deal with corporate professionals who are restricted from installing other apps on their laptops I don't research apps that may have a cleaner interface. Someone suggested OBS but I am not familiar enough to say what it could offer.
nice video, Can I use this method for desktop PC to laptop as output monitor? (connect monitor from HDMI GPU output to usb capture video directly to laptop)
I'm glad you found the video helpful. I think that setup should work. The HDMI output of the desktop is the same as an HDMI output from a laptop.
@@ThinkOutsideTheSlide ok I try with 6700XT to HP Aero 13
will this method have lower delay than just using wireless display? btw nice video
Thanks. I am not sure the delay will be any less than a wireless display option. Both have overhead they deal with and both will be slower than a wired display.
Would this work using Chromebook as primary (I would need an HDMI extension like you did) and windows laptop as monitor? Thanks for posting!
It depends on whether a Chromebook can extend its screen to a second monitor. I am not familiar with Chromebooks so don't know if it would work. Maybe the Chromebook documentation would tell you if it has that capability.
Would this work for linux? I have a steam deck and I was wondering if I could use an old windows 10 laptop as a second screen for it.
If our primary is smaller one and if we want to set only second laptop(Bigger screen) for working , can we use that? If yes how to do that..
And what about audio, I think we need to connect to primary laptop only for audio purpose..please confirm..
Hi. On windows 11 I can not find the camera icon to switch over to video capture the other screen. many thanks
I will try this connection, thank you. What brand of HDMI adapter are you using? If you can share the link of where to buy it..Also, with this setup, can I connect the secondary laptop to a monitor, allowing me to have 3 extended screens?
I'm glad you found the video helpful. This is the adapter I am using in the video: amzn.to/3IZQGX4 (Amazon link). Adding a monitor to the secondary laptop won't give you a third screen. The secondary laptop is taking a feed as a camera from the primary laptop, not as an external monitor.
Thank you for the reply. I meant to ask about the adapter converter box that you used at 1:55, sorry for not being clear. What brand is that?
And can I get extended display if I connect my monitor to the primary laptop instead? Is that even possible? I just want to be able to extend my desktop across all three displays.
Sorry for the confusion. The adapter you are looking for is available at amzn.to/2iHUkKk. As long as you have the ports available, you can connect three screens - I have three screens in my home office setup. You may also consider wireless options for a screen. I have an article on many different ways to add a monitor to a computer setup at www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/options-for-adding-a-second-screen-to-use-powerpoint-presenter-view-in-teams-or-zoom-presentations/. I hope that helps.
Hello when using OBS, the second laptop that is suppozed to be the display crashes and get bluescreen of death, do you know why it happens?
I'm using a Windows laptop as a primary screen & a Macbook Air as a secondary. The text on the extended display in the Mac appears very small & not at all like on the Windows screen. Any workaround for this? Thanks
Hi thnx
Will it work on my 15 year old laptop dell latitude d620?but I am using zorin os
I don't have a change button (in camera app) on my PCs. How can I fix it? thank you
dose this work with Linux as well?
i have 2 laptops one is windows and another is a Kali Linux(still new on that)
i followed your instructions, it worked, but it is super laggy and noticable delay on the 2nd monitor. any solutions?
Can I share my screen of my second screen(mac) on teams call or Google etc.. to watch my primary screen activity via second screen(mac) for 3rd person
I tried using this setup with a Mac and got the rainbow screen/lines. Any suggestions as how to get past this?
what if i dont want to make the other laptop as second camera?i just want the other laptop to duplicate the screen of the main computer. do i need to use Video Capture Card?
Thanks. I just plugged everything and it starting working. The mouse is moving very slow, any solution for that?
I bought the video capture card, followed all the steps. I'm stuck at the second laptop opening the camera app, my windows app does not have the option to choose another camera other than the main webcam. I'm on windows 8.1 and the main laptop on Windows10. Is there any workaround?
Do you think this would work between the Google Pixelbook and a Windows 11 laptop? I want to use the pixelbook webcam for zoom and work on the windows. I appreciate your comments. Thank you.
This method will not do what you are wanting to do. It only uses a second device as a second screen. It does not give you access to all of the features of that device.
I guess you can use OBS, add as source "Capture Card", and show the preview in full screen. But I dind't test it myself, just guessing.
Hey! Is there any way to get the camera app to show the screen as full screen on windows?
The Camera app in Windows always has some Ui showing so it is not able to be shown totally full screen.
very nice information, but i can't stand with the delay. i hope there is other way to remove the delay.
thank you very much
I'm glad you found the video helpful. Delays can be caused by many issues. The best approach is to use an actual monitor as a second screen which has little to no delay. This video provides an option when a monitor is not available.
Quick camera wasn't available for some reason.
I downloaded OBS as suggested below and works great!
I'm glad the video was helpful and you found a solution that works.
Hi,
I have 2 windows 10 laptops connected with a HDMI cable and video capture card. The primary laptop doesnt detect the 2nd. Should the wifi be on or off?
When using windows laptop as a second screen for mac, does the picture quality depend on the camera quality (since my windows laptop camera is too bad)?
The camera quality on the second laptop does not matter. The second laptop thinks it has an external camera which is the capture card feed. The capture card feed is high quality. Hope that helps.
Sir I have a question?I am working with banking client. Will they know i am using capture card
My both laptop has hdmi port ..can i use double hdmi head cable and use it? Without using the hdmi usb stick
No. The HDMI port on a laptop only sends a signal out, it will not take a signal in. That is why the HDMI Video Capture card is required.
I prefer using "Projecting" option because it is easier to use and the latency is low too.
I'm glad that method works for you. For some the option does not exist because their laptop does not support it or the latency is too much and it becomes unusable.
I have a powerful laptop with very small monitor and a slow laptop with a large monitor. I want to combine them for gaming. would you recommend wireless projecting instead of hdmi to usb capture ?
@@sapitronhell no bro
I followed instructions but the 2nd laptop is only mirroring the primary laptop (and primary laptop is not recognizing the 2nd second laptop as a second monitory) . It says no other monitor detected. Any ideas? Thanks!
I have the same problem
Did you find a solution ?
If anyone successfully captured the source from Mac directly to OBS, could you share the video link here or just keyword. I tried it but only black screen showing. @ThinkOutsideTheSlide, can we send the audio output to the secondary monitor too? I can capture the audio on OBS but not the computer itself. Thanks
could you use a third party camera app for a cleaner UI and no borders?
I'm glad you found the video helpful. Yes, you could use a third-party app that would give a cleaner appearance. Most of my clients are corporate professionals who can't install apps on their laptops so I usually stick to standard apps in my videos.
Doesn't work for me. my main laptop has a HDMI port by design. I plugged the HDMI cable in there. I bought this exact video capture card thing in which the HDMI cable plugs in. The video capture device plugs into the second laptop. The second laptop knows something is there because if i go to the camera app and cycle through i can find the usb camera option but it only shows blocks of colours like the old TVs did. The main laptop never recognized that there is a second monitor. Not in the settings or anywhere else, despite having the hdmi cable plugged in.
I went to settings -> detect other display -> and it really doesnt see it. the cable is good i tested it separately on the tv.
the main laptop's port also works fine i tested it with the TV
I tried this yesterday, and it worked perfectly, now when I press the change camera on the second laptop I get the color bars. What is the issue?
It might depend on whether the second laptop thinks the camera went to sleep. I tend to unplug the card once I am done and plug it in when I want to use it the next time. That way it always does the proper connecting as if it was a new device. Hope that helps.
how do you lose so much space on the top screen of the second screen ?
Sir help me...
1 streaming laptop - for streaming
1 gaming laptop - for gaming
1 gaming monitor - connected to the gaming monitor
I will use the streaming laptop for streaming and the gaming laptop for gaming.
How to set this up?
Thank you in advance.
thanks for the video, but i might have to do it this way, both my laptops have a hdmi port, but the laptops dont detect it being connected
HDMI ports on computers are output only, that's why it won't detect an input plugged into it
@@ThinkOutsideTheSlide oh ok thanks I kinda thought that mightve been the reason
Can I record of its DRM protected video ?
i want to use a ubuntu laptop as an secondary screen for windows/ubuntu laptop(dual boot)
Can I only access teams ,zooms,PowerPoints? Or can I access everything? For second monitor
The second screen can be used for any purpose or app, not just for virtual meetings.
if the primary laptop identifies 2 screens, then can i not just press windows key+P to "extend" the display and not use the camera app at all?
The second laptop sees the input from the primary laptop as a camera from the Video Capture device so the only way to display it on the second screen is to use the Camera app.
I use wireless display for both Windows laptop. Run in full screen but it has delay on 2nd screen.
Wireless connection always introduce more lag unfortunately.
Can i Out HDMI from windows laptop and connect it to the hdmi to c connector which is the input to mac?
Note: i need to share my windows screen on mac
The USB-C connector that has an HDMI port is an HDMI out port, not an HDMI in port. so I don't think it will work. An HDMI port isn't usually a dual direction port.
must i use the video capture? both of my laptops have a HDMI port
Laptop HDMI ports only put a signal out, they do not take a signal in. That is what the video capture card does. It takes the HDMI signal in and converts it to a signal the laptop can use through the USB port. Hope that helps.
Will the second screen capture audio through the hdmi?
I think it is unlikely that the audio will get passed to the second screen.
Do you have ideas to why neither of my laptops recognize the other laptop/screen? I have my HDMI-cord connected to both, and the same cord work on my tv-monitor just fine, but I can't figure out what's wrong here
If you have just connected the HDMI cable to each laptop without using the HDMI to USB video capture card I show in the video it won't work. The HDMI port on a laptop only sends a signal out, it can't take a signal in. That's why the video capture card is required so it converts the HDMI signal to a USB input the laptop can recognize. Hope that helps.
can we directlly connect the mac and the windows laptop with the hdmi cable and will it work??
No, that will not work. An HDMI port on a computer only sends the video signal out. You need a different port to take the signal in and a way to display that signal.
Is there any other solution without that HDMI video capture, I mean with the HDMI cable directly? I need this because I can't install Linux on my Samsung Galaxy book 2 (the display goes to sleep), thanks in advance.
Unfortunately no. HDMI ports are unidirectional so a laptop HDMI port only sends a signal out, it won't take a signal in.
Hi, will this work if I want to use a Mac laptop as primary and a Chrome laptop as a second screen?
If the Chrome laptop can display an external webcam input then it could work. I don't have a chrome laptop so can't test it here.
What if I Don't have the hdmi flas
I have two laptops with HDMI ports. The dell laptop doesn’t has a working display. How can I get the dell laptop which doesn’t has a working display to show up on my primary laptop? NB: I don’t have a monitor
I think the method in this video could work. You would connect the old laptop HDMI port to the primary laptop USB port using the video capture device. Then boot the old laptop. The Camera app on the primary laptop should show the old laptop screen. Hope that works.
Does it work between Linux to Linux ???
Both computers need to have the same resolution? I tried to do this but the one who had 1980 x 1800 start to go crazy :(
I don't think they have to have the same resolution. If the second laptop doesn't tell the primary laptop the preferred resolution it could cause an issue. Use the display settings on the primary laptop to change the resolution being sent to the second laptop and see if that helps.
It will work for Windows as primary and Linux lite as a secondary screen?
I am not familiar with Linux and the different varieties of it. The OS needs to recognize an external USB webcam and have some way of displaying it on the screen. If it can do these two things I think it should work. Hope that helps.
how would i connect a laptop with a broken screen to another laptop? so basically so I can view what i need to do on the broken screen laptop? is there a way? i've not had an issue until my external display has decided to not work anymore
If you use the technique in the video, the second laptop essentially becomes an external screen. I hope it works for you. You could also use a TV as an external screen if that is an option for you.
@@ThinkOutsideTheSlide originally it was an option for me until my TV stopped working a few days ago and since I never repaired the broken faulty screen on my laptop I was using, I now can't use both but I have another laptop but all my things are on my other laptop arghhhhh 🙄
Only I'd get these issues Lol 😂
Hi. I want to be able to view 2 different websites at the same time.. Is this possible by using this system? Also my old laptop runs very slow... It sometimes takes forever for windows to open and in the past it froze up alot..(so I bought new laptop) Do you know if I'll have same problem? Is it better for me to just buy a used monitor? Thanks in advance.
You can view two different websites by opening two browser tabs or windows and placing them beside each other. You don't need a second screen for this unless you need a larger view of each website. If your old laptop is unreliable, this will not be a good solution, it is better to get a used monitor. Hope that helps.
Can an Android device without OTG support, use the capture card to output to the laptop screen?
I am not familiar with Android devices but in general if a device can output through an HDMI cable (usually using an adapter) to a screen like a TV, that signal can be an input to the second laptop screen using the capture card. The challenge with phones and tablets is that the operating system does not usually support two screens, it just mirrors what is shown on the device. So this setup would really only be useful for seeing the device screen in a larger size.
but what if i dont have all the fancy extension things for the windows and windows
There is no way to directly connect the two laptops with a simple cable so the method in the video is the easiest for most people and it does require a small dongle to make the output of one laptop appear as an input to the other laptop.