Want to cast a screen to your PC? With the “Connect App” your PC can function as a screen-mirroring receiver, a cool but hidden feature for Windows 10 & 11. You will need something called ‘Miracast’ for this feature. Luckily most modern devices support it and the app will tell you if your device doesn’t. So it’s worth a shot.
Why would I want to cast a screen to a windows PC?
There’s plenty of reasons to cast a screen via the network to a windows PC:
- You have a HTPC (home theatre PC) hooked up behind the TV, and you(r friends or family members) want to show photo’s from their phone or laptop on the big screen.
- Stream the feed of a Microsoft Hololens 2 or other VR/AR headset to a laptop or screen so others can see what you see.
- A client or colleague has a defective or no HDMI port and really needs to show a presentation or specific software from his/her computer or smartphone on the big screen.
- You want to stream music and/or live video from a smartphone over the local network to a specific PC.
How to install and run the ‘Wireless Display’ app in Windows
This guide focuses on Windows 11 (with a video below). This Wireless Display also works in windows 10, but the steps might be slightly different.
- Go to Settings (Windows + i) -> Go to Apps and select ‘optional features‘. In this pane, you need to press the ‘view features‘ button.
- Here you can find and install the “Wireless Display” feature (+/- 5 or 6 MB)
- After it’s done, go back to settings and search for ‘projection settings‘ and click it.
- Click the “Launch the connect app to project to this PC” (! If you don’t have Miracast, you won’t see this link but a message in stead…) There are also a few settings here to revise.
When the app is running, your PC can be found/discovered in your local network by smartphones and other PC’s that support screen casting. I strongly suggest to pin the running app to your taskbar once it’s open, since it’s pretty annoying to do step 3 and 4 over and over again.
Now, all you need is to find other PC’s or smartphones to cast to your PC.
How to connect to a wireless display?
- Windows 11: press Windows + K to cast your screen.
- Windows 10: Press Windows + P and click the ‘connect to a wireless display’ link in the bottom of the panel
- Smartphones:
- Xiaomi: Go to settings and search for ‘Cast’ in the search bar. Next you should see something like “Wireless display”. Tested with my Xiaomi Mi 11.
- Samsung: Look for something called ‘Smart View‘ in your expanded toggle panel (swipe down twice from top-right to bottom). Tested with Samsung DeX on a Galaxy S10
And your Windows PC with the Wireless display app running (and maybe a smart TV and/or Chromecast) in the same network should show up.
Hope this article helped you out!
