How to mirror your laptop to a TV
Last updated July 14, 2026
A laptop can go on a TV screen four ways: an HDMI cable, a casting stick built for entertainment, the TV's own mirroring feature, or dashboard-based screen sharing software. For a screen you don't want tethered to one device, dashboard sharing is the flexible route: click share from any paired screen, and your laptop appears there in seconds.
With Screenbird, for example, the video travels directly between your laptop and the screen, peer-to-peer, and never passes through Screenbird's servers. Once your screen is paired, sharing to it takes one click and no cables.
The end result, live on your TV.
What you need
- A TV or monitor with an HDMI input
- A media player: Amazon's Signage Stick is hardware-tested for smooth mirroring, and the Fire TV Stick 4K, smart TVs, and Windows, Mac, or Linux devices work the same way
- A Screenbird account (free trial, then EUR 15 per screen per month)
- A laptop or desktop running Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari
Can't I just cast it?
You can get a laptop onto a TV in a few quicker ways, but they all have a catch for a screen you want to share to often or hand off between people:
An HDMI cable works every time, but it physically tethers your laptop to the TV, so you can't walk around, and someone has to bring the right cable and adapter.
A consumer casting stick (Chromecast, AirPlay) is built for entertainment, not meetings, and only works cleanly if everyone in the room has the matching ecosystem.
The smart TV's own mirroring feature exists on some TVs, but the steps, reliability, and even whether it exists at all differ by brand, so it isn't something you can count on in an unfamiliar room.
Screen sharing built into your signage dashboard exists for exactly this job: it works from any modern laptop browser, connects in one click, and coexists with whatever else that screen normally shows, switching back the moment you stop. That's the route in the steps below.
Step-by-step with Screenbird
For the full click-by-click walkthrough, see the Screenbird Knowledge Base.
Create your free account
Sign up for Screenbird in your browser. No installs needed on your computer, and the trial starts right away.
Pair your screen
Install the Screenbird player on the TV or media player in the room. It shows a 6-character pairing code. Enter that code in your dashboard to connect the screen.
Open Screen sharing in your screen's settings
Open the screen you want to share to from your dashboard, then find Screen sharing under its Advanced settings.
Click Share to this screen
Confirm "Share your screen?" and a browser tab opens on your laptop automatically, no code to type. In that tab, click Share screen.
Choose what to share
Your browser's own picker asks you to choose your screen, a window, or a tab. Pick one, and it appears on the TV within seconds.
Stop when you're done
Click Stop, close the tab, or use your browser's own "Stop sharing" control. The screen goes back to its normal content by itself.
The result
Your laptop is now live on the screen, and just as easily, it's gone again: stop sharing and the screen picks up right where its normal content left off, without anyone touching the screen itself.
Meeting room presentations
Click share and your laptop is on the room's TV in seconds, no cables, no dongle to dig out.
Classroom & training
A teacher or trainer mirrors their laptop to the class screen for a demo, then it returns to the normal lesson content.
Ad-hoc numbers
Walk a spreadsheet or dashboard through on a screen that already runs signage content the rest of the day.