How To Mirror Computer Screen to TV with Chromecast

We can all agree that connecting a computer to a TV used to be a dreadful process. First of all, it required you to bother with a whole bunch of cables. Also, there was a constant need for adjustment so that the output matches your TV’s resolution.

Thankfully, modern technology has made this so much easier. Sure, you can still go with HDMI, but there’s a much more convenient solution. The most widely used one is Chromecast.

It simplifies the process of showing the contents of your computer screen on your TV, and it has a variety of different uses in addition.

If you haven’t done this before, here’s everything that you need to know:

How Does Casting Work?

Casting allows you to transfer the content of your computer screen to your TV wirelessly. There are two main ways to do this.

The first one is by using services that Chromecast supports, such as YouTube and Netflix. Basically, what you have to do is just tell Chromecast to show you a video from these services, and it will go online and look for them.

The second way is what we’ll focus on in this guide. It allows you to use your home network for streaming content from your PC. There are no online services involved, it’s just your PC, Chromecast, and the TV.

The biggest difference between these methods is that casting from your computer screen is highly dependent on the power of your PC, not just the network. There are other differences as well, and we’ll go over them in the next couple of sections.

Before You Cast

There are a couple of things that you need to check before you start casting your screen on your TV. The first one is making sure that both the computer and Chromecast are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. This is fairly easy to do, just click the Wi-Fi button on your screen and check the name of the network.

To check whether Chromecast is connected to the same network, open the Google Home app. This app is used to manage Chromecast, as well as other Google devices. Tap the menu icon, which is in the upper left corner, and select Devices.

Once you’re there, look for the name of your Chromecast, then go to Settings. When you open Device Settings, see if the Wi-Fi name matches the one your computer is connected to.

Casting a Tab

Chromecast allows you to either cast a tab or your entire desktop. Casting a tab is useful if you don’t want to show the rest of your computer screen.

If you want to cast a tab, here’s how to do it:

1. Open Google Chrome, then go to the page that you want to see on your TV.

2. Click on the Menu icon in the upper left corner, and go to Cast.

3. You’ll see a list of all the devices that you can use for casting. Before you choose the one you want, click on the arrow at the top. The ‘Select Source’ window will appear, and you can click on the Cast Tab option.

You’ll see that the entire tab is now on your TV, and you can navigate through the pages easily. After you’re done casting, either close the tab, or select the Chromecast icon and click Stop.

Casting an Entire Screen

The steps for casting your desktop are very similar to those of casting just one tab. The only difference is that you’re supposed to choose Cast Desktop when you click on the arrow for the list of options. After you do this, simply choose the name of your Chromecast from the list of devices.

In case you have two or more monitors, you’ll be asked to choose the screen that you want to cast. Select it and go to Share.

There’s one issue that you might face, though. When you cast your desktop, your PC’s audio is also casted, which means that you’ll have double audio. To prevent this, simply turn off the sound on your PC.

Once you’re done casting your screen, you can stop it in the same way that you saw in the previous section.

The Final Word

Using Chromecast to cast your computer screen is a very convenient way of streaming your favorite content.

As you can see, setting it up isn’t a tough process. In just a couple of clicks, you can have all your desktop content on your TV in no time.