What To Do When Your Second Monitor Is Not Detected

Don’t freak out, go down this checklist

Second monitors offer an easy and convenient way to improve productivity or enhance your gaming experience. Not only that, but it also gives you a larger canvas that acts as an additional workspace for general multi-tasking.

Connecting your second PC monitoris usually a plug-and-play process, but in some instances Windows 10 may not be able to detect the monitor. There are a few basic root causes of this problem, such as a damaged or malfunctioning cable, your PC lacks support for the second display, you have an outdated driver, or the display drivers can’t handle the second display.

If your second monitor is not detected, use this guide totroubleshoot and resolve problems with your monitor.

Fix Second Monitor Is Not Detected in Windows 10

You can start with the following basic troubleshooting tips. These may resolve your issue with the second monitor not detected before you need to dig deeper into other issues.

Restart Your PC

Restarting your computer works effectively for many issues, including when your second monitor is not detected. A restart closes all other processes that are running and that may interfere with the connection between your PC and the second monitor.

To restart your PC, clickStart > Power > Restart.

Force Windows 10 to Detect the Second PC Monitor

If there are no physical connection problems with your PC and second monitor, you can use the Settings app to force detection of the second display.

Connect a Wireless Display

If your physical connection (via cable) doesn’t help Windows 10 detect the second monitor, try connecting a wireless display instead.

Confirm that the wireless display is on and discoverable. Select the display from the list, and then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.

Check Your Display Adapter

If you’re able to connect one external monitor, but the second monitor is not detected, it’s possible that your graphics card (also called a display adapter) cannot support multiple monitors at the same time. In this case, adisplay splitterwon’t help you extend your display to the second monitor either because it duplicates the same signal instead of creating two independent signals.

If your PC only has a single video output port, it means you can only support one external monitor. To support multiple monitors, you’ll need a USB adapter for an extra video output port, or a docking station.

Update, Reinstall, Or Roll Back The Graphics Driver

A buggy, outdated, or corrupted graphics driver may be one of the main reasons why Windows 10 won’t detect your second PC monitor.

To resolve this issue, you can update, reinstall, or roll back the driver to a previous version to fix and restore the connection between your computer and the second monitor.

Windows Update will automatically download and install the update if it finds a newer driver. Check whether the second monitor is detected after updating the driver.

During startup, Windows will try to automatically reinstall the graphics driver, after which you can try to connect to the second monitor again.

A driver update can stop Windows 10 from detecting your second monitor. If this happens, you can roll back the previous graphics driver to fix the issue.

If the roll back driver button is available, clickYesand then restart your computer.

Manage Your Displays

If you used any of the fixes above, and Windows is now able to detect your second monitor, tell us about it in the comments section. For more on dual monitor setups, check out our guides on thebest software programs to manage dual monitors,how to connect two or more computers to one monitor, andhow to fix blank or black monitor problems.

Elsie is a technology writer and editor with a special focus on Windows, Android and iOS. She writes about software, electronics and other tech subjects, her ultimate goal being to help people out with useful solutions to their daily tech issues in a simple, straightforward and unbiased style. She has a BCom degree in Marketing and currently pursuing her Masters in Communications and New Media.Read Elsie’s Full Bio

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What To Do When Your Second Monitor Is Not Detected#

Fix Second Monitor Is Not Detected in Windows 10#

Restart Your PC#

Force Windows 10 to Detect the Second PC Monitor#

Connect a Wireless Display#

Check Your Display Adapter#

Update, Reinstall, Or Roll Back The Graphics Driver#

Manage Your Displays#

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