Windows 11 cannot detect second monitor.

Anonymous

I just purchased a new laptop that’s running Windows 11. I am trying to set up duel monitors. When I click ‘Detect’ I get ‘We didn’t find another display’. I am using an HDMI cable to connect the second monitor to my laptop. Both screens work, but they are a mirror image. There’s no way showing to change that setting because the second monitor was not detected. No good.

I set up the second monitor on my main workstation that’s running Windows 10. No problem. Monitor was detected and set as ‘Extended’. Worked fine.

I reviewed everything I could find about this issue. I tried all the suggested fixes. Nothing worked. All available drivers are up to date, etc., etc.

Another thing I tried was hitting the Windows Key + P. That procedure did identify both monitors. In the settings it did show an option to detect the monitors. When I clicked ‘Detect’ it still came back with ‘We didn’t find another display’ I was able to changed the setting to ‘Extended’. I thought I had it working. However, all I get on the second monitor is the background screen, nothing else. No programs show up. I do get the toolbar. But when I click a toolbar link on the main monitor it activates on the second monitor. It’s a mess.

Has anyone had this problem? Is there a fix?

Thank you for any assistance.

Glenn

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Anonymous

I can say with full confidence that this might work for you. Definitely worked for me !

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51 additional answers

Anonymous

2025-01-13T19:25:18+00:00

I'm having the exact problem.
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Anonymous

2025-01-08T14:35:12+00:00

I know I am shouting into the void here, but I have the same issue with my Dell Precision laptop which I use for work.

What I have observed is that when I close the laptop or otherwise let it go to "sleep" with the monitor plugged into the HDMI port and then disconnect the monitor, the next time I wake up the computer and sign in the HDMI port is no longer functional. Plugging a monitor into a USB-C port seems to work just fine after this, but all attempts to use the HDMI port are futile. Since the USB-C port does not seem to support desktop extension however, this solution does not work for me.

If, however, you unplug the monitor before you put the computer to sleep and allow it to adjust the display, then the HDMI port works fine after you wake it up again.

Based on this, my theory is that when Windows 11 goes to sleep, it saves state information about what peripherals are hooked up in such a way that if an HDMI device is unplugged while the system is asleep the device driver freezes when it wakes up and can't find the device it was plugged into.

Windows does not seem to be able to detect that and/or restart the driver, and the "Detect Monitor" button must be naively written to merely "ask nicely". This would explain why uninstalling the device driver works: Windows has to stop the driver from running before it can uninstall it, but then of course you need to restart anyway. USB-C still works probably because of how legendarily glitchy USB support was in Windows 10 and Microsoft, you'd hope, prioritized it over other device interfaces.
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Anonymous

2024-12-28T12:09:19+00:00

Great you found a solution and thanks for providing details.

Our monitors don't have wi-fi, we still haven't found a solution.
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Anonymous

2024-12-28T03:36:17+00:00

No, it’s not working for me. The most annoying part of this problem is that the solution varies for each person.
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