How to Use your Windows 10 PC as a Portable Monitor

Having multiple screen real estate is really important for productivity. It allows you to work on multiple documents, spreadsheets, and other tasks at the same time. If you have a spared Windows 10 tablet or laptop, you can use that as an additional display by using a feature named “Projecting to this PC” introduced in Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

In this article, we will walk you through how to setup your Windows 10 tablet or laptop as a wireless display receiver.

Preparing your Windows 10 Tablet or Laptop

There are some requirements that both PCs, main PC, and wireless display receiver PC need to have in common.

• Both PCs must run Windows 10 with Anniversary Update or more recent.
• Both PCs must be connected to the same network (Local Area Network).
• For better performance, both PCs must support Miracast Protocol.

Configuring your Windows 10 Tablet or Laptop as a Wireless Display Receiver

To configure your Windows 10 tablet or laptop as a wireless display receiver do the following.

1. Click on Action Center icon.
   
2. Click on Connect button.
   
3. Click on Projecting to this PC button.
   
4. It will show up the Projecting to this PC settings page as following.
   
5. Make sure you selected Available everywhere or Available everywhere on secure networks from the first box.
   
6. Select First time only, if you want to confirm when a connection is being made for the first time.
   
7. If you want to use a PIN for confirmation, you can turn on the Required PIN for pairing.
8. By default, your computer can only be discovered when you connected to a power source. If you want it to be discovered anytime, you need to turn off the “This PC can be discovered for projection only when it is plugged in”.

Now everything is all set and done. Your computer is ready for accepting wireless display connection.

Projecting your Main PC to a Configured Windows 10 Wireless Display

Now you can project your main PC to your configured Windows 10 tablet or laptop by:

1. Click on Action Center icon.
   
2. Click on Connect button.
   
3. It will take sometimes to looking for your computer, once it found, click on the computer name.
   
4. You will need to confirm the connection for the first time. Do this on your Windows 10 tablet or laptop.
   
5. Once you confirm the projection, it will project your main PC screen to your tablet or laptop just like expect on a common monitor.

Enable Remote Mouse, Keyboard, Touch, and Pen Input

The Projecting to this PC feature also allows you to use your tablet’s input to interact with your main PC session. That includes mouse, keyboard, touch, and pen input. To do so:

1. Open Action Center.
2. Open Connect.
3. Click on existing projection, and check on Allow mouse, keyboard, touch, and pen input from this device.
   

Change Projection Mode

You can also change the projection mode just like a real connected monitor, by clicking on Change projection mode or just press Win + P on your keyboard.

Disconnect the Projection

After you finished your task, you can disconnect the projection by:

1. Open Action Center.
2. Open Connect.
3. Click on existing projection, and click on Disconnect button.