How to Use a Wireless Display With Windows 11
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Windows has long let you project your PC’s screen to a different one via HDMI or wirelessly. The latter method is especially powerful since it lets you not only mirror the display but also control the remote PC with the local one’s keyboard and mouse. Even more useful is the ability to use the mouse and keyboard you have set up with the destination PC.
As for a real-world example, I can’t bear the thought of using my work laptop's cramped keyboard, small screen, and inconvenient trackpad since I’m so accustomed to a desktop PC setup with a 27-inch 4K Lenovo ThinkVision monitor, a Corsair mechanical keyboard, and a Logitech MX Vertical mouse. Windows 11’s wireless display feature is thus a godsend. I was also able to control my PC’s mouse cursor with an LG OLED TV's remote control in testing. TVs are a good option if you simply want the largest screen possible, but you're better off connecting to another PC in most cases.
If the screen you want to project to is connected to a Windows 11 PC, you need to set some things up first. The full procedure I explain here requires Windows 11 version 22H2 or newer, though Windows 10 has similar wireless display capabilities. (You can project from a Windows 10 PC to a Windows 11 one or vice versa.) If you just want to wirelessly project your PC’s screen on a larger display without using different peripherals, skip ahead to step five below.
Another option is to use a WiGig setup, but that requires attaching a dock to the screen you want to connect to. That method is mainly for projecting to a non-PC display, and many PCs (like the one I used for testing) don’t support it. The process I outline below is more useful to far more people because it relies on the widespread Miracast and Wi-Fi Direct capabilities available on most Android phones, smart TVs, and Windows PCs.
How to Connect a Wireless Display to Windows 11
Follow the steps below to connect your Windows 11 PC to another display without any cables. Make sure to scroll past the setup guide for tips on ensuring a successful connection. You should perform the first four steps on the PC with the display you want to project to.
1. Install the Wireless Display Feature
Windows 11 doesn't install the Wireless Display capability by default, so you need to do so manually. Start by going to Settings > Optional Features and click on View Features. This opens a list of optional features. Scroll down to the Wireless Display option or search for it directly.
Click the checkbox to the right of the entry and then press Next. On the subsequent page, press the big Add button at the bottom. Windows then downloads and installs the feature. This took a couple of minutes on my Dell XPS test PC, though I had uninstalled and reinstalled it several times for this article. The process might be quicker on your computer.
2. Set Your Connection Preferences
Go into Settings > System and scroll down to Projecting to This PC. Here, you can toggle the feature and configure some security options. With the first set of drop-down choices, you can turn the capability off, make it available to every internet-connected device that supports Miracast, or enable it only over secure networks (i.e., those that require a Wi-Fi password). The “Ask to project to this PC” options determine whether you want a dialog box to pop up whenever a device tries to use your PC’s screen. Finally, you can require a PIN for the connection (just the first time or every time).
3. Run the Wireless Display App
Start typing Wireless within the Start menu's search bar to find the Wireless Display app. If you use it frequently, consider pinning the app to the Start menu or taskbar. You can also start Wireless Display from the Projecting to this Display settings page, but that causes it to open in a full-screen view. By opening it as a normal app, you can choose its window size.
4. Note the Name of Your Intended Display PC
My PC’s name is HomeTower, but yours might be something more random. You need to know this name for a later step since your other devices and your neighbors might pop up in the list of potential connections. You can change your computer's name from the top of the Windows 11 Settings dialog box by clicking Edit next to the PC name. It's also possible to change the PC’s name within the Projecting to this PC settings page.
5. Start the Connection on the PC You Want to Project From
On the PC you’re projecting from, the quickest way to get started is by pressing the keyboard shortcut for Cast: Windows Key + K. You can also click the Quick Settings button in the taskbar, which is just to the left of the clock and date display (it contains speaker and network status icons). Here, select the Cast (Windows 11) or Connect (Windows 10) button. You can also type "cast” or “connect” in the Start menu search bar to find the Connect to a Wireless Display option.
After you use any of these methods, you see a list of available devices to connect to. The screenshot above shows how these options look in Windows 11 (left) and in Windows 10 (right). Make sure both devices you are using have an active Wi-Fi connection.
6. Choose the Display You Want to Use
After you identify the device with the screen you want to wirelessly project to, you have a few options. Just as with a wired external monitor, you can choose Extend, Duplicate, or Second Screen Only. The first two are self-explanatory, but the second causes the original computer's screen to turn off. This could be useful if you want to hide whatever is on the machine from people who are near it.
The final—and very key—choice is “Allow mouse, keyboard, and other input from this device.” This lets you see the other computer’s screen and control it remotely. It’s similar to using TeamViewer or other remote-control software but it doesn't require third-party software setup.
7. Voila, You’ve Got a Second Screen!
You can view the guest PC’s screen either in full-screen mode or a resizable window. Set the screen resolution and scaling on the source PC so that it looks right on the bigger screen. You can easily do this by right-clicking its desktop and choosing Display Settings from the context menu. The windowed view helpfully follows Windows 11’s Snap Layout system on the displaying PC. If you chose to use a PIN during setup, you might have to enter it before the connection happens. In testing, I had to enter the PIN every time from the same PC, even though I'd set it to require the PIN only upon the initial connection.
Tips for Using the Wireless Display Feature in Windows 11
When you want to switch the mouse from functioning in the projected screen to the local one, you might have to move it up out of the top bar of the Wireless Display window.
Other actions won't work the same as if you were using the local PC: The Delete key works as a Backspace key, and you can't take advantage of Clipboard History. Voice typing doesn't work, either.
Try not to switch to a different virtual desktop during a session or minimize its window for more than a few seconds. I found that the display connection often terminates after these actions. The same goes for when either PC goes to sleep because of inactivity.
If you don’t see the system you want to connect to in the Cast dialog, try shutting down and restarting the Wireless Display app. If that doesn’t work, restart either one or both PCs. Sometimes a neighbor’s TV presented a stronger signal than my own PCs in testing.
Your devices don't need to be on the same Wi-Fi network to use the Wireless Display app (otherwise, you’d never see your neighbors’ TVs in the list of screens to connect to), but setting them up that way can improve performance. A Microsoft support page explains the advantage of using the same Wi-Fi network: “The PC does not need to manage two simultaneous connections (a Wi-Fi connection and a Wi-Fi Direct connection to the receiver), each of which would only get half the maximum bandwidth [if they were on different Wi-Fi networks].”
If you want to see previous connections or blocked connections, hit Ctrl-S to open the Wireless Display app’s Settings page. This shows which devices you connected previously.
Scale the display in the projecting PC’s Settings so that it's readable on the other display. You can access this setting remotely if you activated keyboard and mouse control on the original PC.
More Windows Coverage
For more news and features about Windows, check out our dedicated Windows 11 series page. We also have a head-to-head comparison between Windows and macOS and lots more tips for using Windows 11.
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