Broken Laptop Screen? Drive It From Another Monitor

Your laptop screen has a crack across it, or a black half, or nothing at all, and everything you own is on the machine behind it.

Good news: the computer is almost certainly fine. A laptop with a dead screen is still a working PC with a broken monitor attached, and Windows will happily send the picture somewhere else.

I have no broken laptop here, so nothing on this page is reproduced from one. What I could do was read how Windows labels the screens it has, and that turned out to be the useful part.

First, get a picture on something

Before anything else. Every other step is easier once you can see.

⭐ Plug in any external monitor or a television. HDMI on the laptop, HDMI on the screen, and pick the right input on the screen itself.

⚡ Then press Windows key and P. Microsoft states the four options plainly on its multiple monitors page. The one you want is "Second screen only".

⚠️ Do that even if the screen is cracked rather than dead. A picture on good glass beats squinting past a crack.

⛔ If nothing appears, Microsoft says to use Detect: "select Start > Settings > System > Display > Multiple displays, then select Detect".

Which display is the broken one?

The thing I expected to be guesswork and is not.

⭐ Windows records how each display is connected, and the built-in laptop panel identifies itself differently from everything plugged in.

⚡ Read it in Terminal:

Get-CimInstance -Namespace root\wmi -ClassName WmiMonitorConnectionParams | Select-Object InstanceName, VideoOutputTechnology

⚠️ Your internal panel reports a value of its own, a very large one, while external connections report small numbers instead.

⛔ On this machine three displays report and only one carries the internal value. So the numbering in Display settings stops being a guessing game.

What the different failures actually look like

Three shapes, and each one points at a different repair.

⚡ A cracked panel with a picture around the crack. The glass and the display layer are damaged. The rest of your laptop is untouched.

⭐ A black screen with a faint image in bright light. That is usually the backlight, not the panel. A different part entirely.

⚠️ Nothing at all on the laptop screen but a perfect picture on an external one. The panel or its cable, not the graphics.

⛔ A bad picture on the external screen too points somewhere else entirely. That is a different fault with different causes.

Get your files off before anything else

People leave this until after the repair quote, and saying so is ours.

⭐ Copy what matters onto an external drive today. A working laptop with a broken screen can still be handed to a repairer, and repairs go wrong.

⚡ Or sign in to your cloud storage and let it upload. Check what is actually syncing rather than assuming.

⚠️ Do this while the machine still starts. A cracked panel sometimes gets worse, and a cable that is failing does not get better.

⛔ And if the laptop is going anywhere else to be fixed, think about what is on it. A reset is not enough on its own.

Repair, replace, or just live with it

The decision. It turns on two numbers.

⚡ A panel is one of the cheaper laptop repairs. It is also one of the fiddliest. The whole lid usually comes apart.

⭐ Compare the quote against the battery report. A machine with a worn battery and a broken screen is two repairs, not one.

⚠️ Plenty of people simply run it as a desktop. Lid shut, external screen, keyboard and mouse, and it works perfectly.

⛔ If you go that way, set the lid action first. Closing the lid is not the same as switching off.

Working blind, when you cannot see anything

Last resort, and it is more possible than it sounds.

⭐ Windows key and P, then arrow down and press Enter. The four options are in a fixed order and Second screen only is the last of them.

⚡ Give the machine a full minute to finish starting before you try. Pressing the sequence at the sign-in screen does nothing.

⚠️ If the machine needs a password first, type it blind and press Enter. The keyboard works whatever the screen is doing.

⛔ And plug the external screen in before you power the laptop on, so Windows finds it during startup rather than afterwards.

Status: display connection types read on this machine on 28 August 2026, Windows 11 Home, alongside Microsoft's own multiple monitors page. ⛔ No laptop here has a broken screen, so no failure was reproduced or tested, nothing was changed, and no monitor make, model or hardware identifier is published.

Can I still use a laptop with a broken screen?

Yes. The screen is a component, not the computer. Plug in an external monitor or a television, press Windows key and P, and choose Second screen only. Everything else about the machine, including your files and your programs, carries on as normal.

How do I switch a laptop to an external monitor?

Windows key and P brings up the four projection options. Microsoft describes Second screen only as showing everything on the second display alone, which is the one you want when the built-in screen is unusable. If nothing appears, use Detect in Settings, System, Display, Multiple displays.

How do I know which display Windows thinks is the broken one?

Windows records the connection type for each display, and the built-in laptop panel reports a distinct internal value while external screens report small numbers. One line in Terminal shows all of them, which turns the numbering in Display settings from a guess into a reading.

Is a cracked laptop screen worth repairing?

It depends on the rest of the machine. A panel is one of the cheaper repairs, but it is fiddly. Run the battery report before deciding, because a worn battery plus a broken screen is two repairs. Many people keep the laptop as a desktop with an external screen instead.

The Short Version

• A broken screen is a broken monitor, not a broken computer.
• Plug in an external screen, then press Windows key and P.
• Second screen only shows everything on the external display.
• If nothing appears, use Detect in Display settings.
• Windows records which display is the internal panel. One line reads it.
• A faint image in bright light usually means the backlight, not the panel.
• Copy your files off before the machine goes anywhere to be repaired.
• Running it lid shut as a desktop is a real option, not a compromise.

Where to Next

Plug in any screen you can borrow and press Windows key and P. That one step turns a dead laptop back into a computer.

Once you can see, copy your files somewhere else before you do anything about the repair.

Read the connection types if you want to know which display number is the broken one. It removes the guesswork.

Get a quote, then compare it against the battery report before deciding to repair rather than replace.

And if you have kept a laptop with a dead screen running as a desktop, say how long it has lasted in the comments. That answer is worth more than any repair quote.