Three Ways to Put Your Android Screen on Your Windows PC
Mirroring your Android screen on Windows means showing your phone’s display live in a window on your computer, so you can click through it and type into it with a proper keyboard. It is useful for meetings, messaging, and watching video on a bigger screen.
There are three practical ways to do it. The first is Microsoft’s Phone Link, already built into Windows, but it only mirrors the live screen on select Samsung Galaxy and Honor phones. The second is scrcpy, a free and open-source tool that mirrors almost any Android phone over a USB cable or Wi-Fi. The third is a wireless casting app such as AirDroid Cast or LetsView, which works on nearly any phone and pairs by scanning a QR code.
Your phone keeps doing the work; the PC just shows its screen. If the phone locks or loses its connection, the mirror goes with it.
Before You Start
Step 1: Put the phone and the PC on the same Wi-Fi network. Phone Link and the casting apps need both devices on the same network to find each other. A guest network that keeps devices apart will not work.
Step 2: Charge the phone, or keep a charger nearby. Mirroring keeps the screen on, so the battery drains faster than usual.
Step 3: Have a USB cable handy, even if you plan to go wireless. Use a cable that carries data, not just power. The cable that came with the phone is a safe bet.
Step 4: Know where Developer options lives, but do not turn anything on yet. Developer options is a hidden settings menu, opened by tapping the build number seven times in Settings, under About phone. You only need it for scrcpy, which asks you to switch on USB debugging inside that menu.
Step 5: Understand what mirroring is, and what it is not. Mirroring shows your phone’s screen on the PC. It does not copy your files to the PC, and it does not install your phone’s apps on Windows. Anyone who can see your PC can see your screen, so stop the mirror before you walk away.
Method 1: Mirror With Microsoft Phone Link
Phone Link is the app built into Windows 10 and Windows 11 that connects your PC to your Android phone. It is the easiest method here, because there is nothing to install on the computer, but its live screen mirroring, called Phone screen, only works on select Samsung Galaxy and Honor phones with Link to Windows built in.
That needs stating plainly. If you own a Pixel, a Xiaomi, a OnePlus, an Oppo, a Vivo, a Motorola, or a Realme phone, you can still link it to Phone Link for notifications, recent photos, and text messages, but you will not get the live screen. The Phone screen button simply will not appear, and that is a limit of the phone itself, not a setting you have missed. If that is your phone, skip to Method 2 or Method 3. If you do own a supported Samsung Galaxy or Honor phone running Android 10 or later, Phone Link is the method to try first.
Step 1: Open Phone Link on your Windows PC. Press the Windows key, type Phone Link, and open the app, or install it from the Microsoft Store. Your PC needs Windows 10 with the October 2022 update or later, or Windows 11.
Step 2: Sign in with your Microsoft account. You will use that same account when you link the phone. Use a personal Microsoft account; a work or school account can cause problems.
Step 3: Open Link to Windows on your phone. Swipe down to open Quick Settings and look for the Link to Windows tile; you may need to swipe to a second page of tiles.
Step 4: Link the phone by scanning the QR code on your PC. In Phone Link on the PC, choose Android and a QR code will appear. On the phone, tap the Link to Windows tile, then tap Link your phone and PC, and point the camera at the QR code.
Step 5: Grant the permissions the phone asks for. The phone will ask for access to notifications, contacts, messages, and photos, and for permission to run in the background. Grant them all, or the connection will drop every time you switch apps.
Step 6: Open the Phone screen view and start using it. Once the phone is linked, click Phone screen in the left-hand menu, and a new window opens showing your phone’s live screen. Tap Allow if the phone asks to share its screen. Clicking taps the phone, dragging scrolls, typing on the PC keyboard types into the active field, and right-clicking usually acts as Back.
Method 2: Mirror With scrcpy
scrcpy, pronounced screen copy, is a free and open-source program from Genymobile that mirrors an Android phone on a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer and lets you control it with the mouse and keyboard. It needs no app on the phone, no account, and no root, and it works on almost any phone running Android 5.0 or later. It has the lowest delay and the most control of the three methods, but the first setup takes about ten minutes.
Step 1: Download scrcpy from its official releases page. On your PC, go to the Genymobile scrcpy project on GitHub and download the Windows 64-bit archive, named something like scrcpy-win64-v4.1.zip. GitHub is the only official source. Extract the zip to a folder you can find easily, such as a folder called scrcpy on your Desktop. The archive already includes adb, the tool scrcpy uses to talk to the phone, so there is nothing else to install.
Step 2: Open Developer options on your phone. Open Settings, then About phone. On a Samsung phone the build number sits under About phone, then Software information. Tap Build number seven times, until the phone says you are now a developer. Go back to the main Settings screen and you will find Developer options near the bottom, usually under System.
Step 3: Switch on USB debugging. Open Developer options and turn on USB debugging. The warning says USB debugging lets a computer access your phone, which is why you should only approve it on a computer you trust. On some Xiaomi phones a second setting, USB debugging (Security settings), also needs to be on before the mouse and keyboard will work.
Step 4: Connect the phone with a USB data cable and approve the prompt. Plug the phone into the PC and unlock it. A prompt will appear asking Allow USB debugging. Check that the computer named in the prompt is yours, tick Always allow from this computer, and tap Allow. If the prompt does not appear, the cable may be charge-only, the phone may be locked, or the USB mode may be wrong; the troubleshooting section below covers each of these.
Step 5: Run scrcpy and learn the controls. Open the folder where you extracted scrcpy and double-click scrcpy.exe. A window should open within a second or two, showing your phone’s screen live. Clicking acts as a tap, dragging scrolls, and the keyboard types into the focused field. Right-click sends Back, middle-click sends Home, and Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V copy and paste between the PC and the phone. Press Alt+F for full screen.
Step 6: Try the wireless mode once the cable works. With the phone plugged in, open a terminal in the scrcpy folder and run scrcpy –tcpip, which switches the connection to Wi-Fi. You can then unplug the cable. Wireless mirroring has a little more delay than USB. When you have finished, switch USB debugging off in Developer options.
On phones running Android 11 or later, scrcpy can also forward the phone’s audio to the PC. On older phones you get video only.
Method 3: Mirror With a Wireless Casting App
If Phone Link does not support your phone and scrcpy feels like more setup than you want, a wireless casting app is the simplest route. AirDroid Cast and LetsView both work the same way: install the app on the phone and on the PC, put both devices on the same Wi-Fi network, and pair them by scanning a QR code. No cable, no Developer options, and no account is needed. Both apps are free for local mirroring, with extras such as remote mirroring or control of the phone from the PC behind a paid upgrade.
Step 1: Install AirDroid Cast on both devices. Install AirDroid Cast from the Play Store on the phone, and download it for Windows from the AirDroid website on the PC.
Step 2: Connect both devices to the same Wi-Fi network. The phone and the PC must be on the same network name, and ideally on the same band, both on 5 GHz or both on 2.4 GHz. A work or hotel network that keeps devices apart can block casting entirely; in that case use the cable method in Method 2.
Step 3: Open AirDroid Cast on the PC and scan the QR code from the phone. The PC app opens to a screen showing a large QR code and a nine-digit Cast Code. On the phone, open AirDroid Cast, tap the scan button, and point the camera at the QR code, or type the Cast Code instead. The code changes each time you open the app.
Step 4: Accept the casting request on both devices. Click Allow on the PC request window. The phone will then show the standard Android screen-recording warning; tap Start now, and the mirrored screen should appear within a few seconds.
Step 5: Watch, and control the phone only if your version supports it. In the free version of most casting apps you can watch the screen but not control it; clicking and typing from the PC is often a paid feature, and it may also need USB debugging switched on. If you need control, check the pricing page before you pay: scrcpy gives you full control for free if you are willing to use a cable. When you are done, tap Stop in the phone app or close the PC app.
Using the Mirrored Screen
Clicking and typing work in Phone Link and scrcpy, where a click is a tap, a drag is a swipe, and the PC keyboard types into the phone. In the free version of a casting app, you usually watch only, and you still tap and type on the phone itself.
To rotate the screen, turn the phone sideways; the mirror should follow, as long as auto-rotate is switched on. Some apps, such as most banking apps, stay portrait whatever you do.
For full screen, click the expand button in Phone Link, press Alt+F in scrcpy, or use the full screen button in the casting app. Learn the way back before you go full screen in front of people.
Recording the PC screen is the easiest way to record what is on the phone. On Windows 11, press the Windows key plus Alt plus R to start recording with the Xbox Game Bar, and press the same keys again to stop. The recording saves in your Videos folder, under Captures.
A word about sound: most mirroring carries video only, and the audio stays on the phone. A video on the mirrored screen will be silent on the PC, and the sound will come out of the phone’s speaker instead. scrcpy is the exception, forwarding audio to the PC on phones running Android 11 or later. With the other methods, turn the phone’s volume up, or plug earphones into the phone.
Choosing the Right Method
Phone Link is the easiest to live with if you have a supported Samsung Galaxy or Honor phone. There is nothing to install on the PC, the connection is wireless, and notifications and messages sit beside the mirror. It costs nothing, and its delay is low enough for everyday use, though not for fast games. Its weakness is the device limit: on any other phone it simply does not mirror.
scrcpy is the best choice when delay and control matter. Over USB it has the lowest delay of the three, because the picture travels over a cable rather than the air. It costs nothing, it is open source, and it works on almost any Android phone. The price is setup effort: downloading a zip, switching on Developer options, and running a program from a folder. It is also the best choice for recording.
A wireless casting app is the best choice when you want the simplest possible setup on any phone. Installing two apps and scanning a QR code takes five minutes, and there is no Developer options menu to touch. The delay is higher than the other two, so it suits showing photos, giving a demo, or watching a video far better than a fast game. Basic same-network mirroring is free, with control features and remote mirroring usually behind a paid upgrade.
Troubleshooting
The phone is not found. This almost always comes down to the network. Check that both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network name. Restart the Wi-Fi on the phone, then restart the app on the PC. If the PC is connected to a VPN, disconnect it. On a work or hotel network, device-to-device connections are often blocked on purpose, and the USB method in Method 2 is the way around it.
The USB debugging prompt does not appear. First, unlock the phone; the prompt will not show on a locked screen. Then check the cable: a charge-only cable will power the phone but never trigger the prompt, so try the cable that came with the phone. Check the USB mode by swiping down the notification shade and tapping the USB notification; it should be set to File transfer, not Charging only. If it still does not appear, switch USB debugging off and back on in Developer options, then plug the cable in again.
The mirror shows a black screen. A black screen usually means the phone is locked, or the app you are looking at refuses to be mirrored. Unlock the phone first. If the screen stays black only in one app, usually a banking, video streaming, or payment app, that app is blocking screen capture on purpose, and no mirroring method can get around it. If the whole mirror is black, restart the phone and start again.
The mirror lags or stutters. Lag is almost always the Wi-Fi. Move the phone closer to the router, or switch both devices to the 5 GHz band if your router offers it. Close other apps on the phone that use the network, and pause any large download on the PC. If the lag does not improve, switch to a USB connection with scrcpy.
The audio does not come through on the PC. In most cases this is expected, not a fault. Phone Link and most casting apps carry video only, and the sound stays on the phone. Check the phone’s volume, and check that the phone is not connected to a Bluetooth earphone. If you need sound on the PC, scrcpy on a phone running Android 11 or later forwards audio to the computer.
The connection keeps dropping. Short drops usually mean the phone is going to sleep, or the app is being closed in the background to save battery. Keep the phone’s screen on while you mirror, and set the app to Unrestricted battery use in its battery settings, so Android stops killing the connection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I mirror any Android phone to Windows? Yes, with the right method. Phone Link only mirrors the live screen on select Samsung Galaxy and Honor phones, but scrcpy and the wireless casting apps work on almost any Android phone running Android 5.0 or later.
Do I need to install anything on my phone? It depends on the method. Phone Link needs Link to Windows, which is built into supported Samsung and Honor phones. scrcpy needs nothing installed on the phone, just USB debugging switched on. A casting app needs its app on the phone and its program on the PC. None of them needs root access.
Is mirroring free? Phone Link is free, and scrcpy is free and open source. AirDroid Cast and LetsView are free for basic mirroring on the same Wi-Fi network, but they charge for extras such as remote control.
Can I control my phone from the PC, or just watch it? Phone Link and scrcpy both give full control, with the mouse acting as a finger and the keyboard typing into the phone. Most casting apps let you watch for free and keep control behind a paid upgrade.
Does mirroring send my phone’s audio to the PC? Usually not. Most mirroring carries video only, and the sound stays on the phone. scrcpy forwards audio to the PC on phones running Android 11 or later.
Final Thoughts
Mirroring an Android screen on Windows is not one feature but three, and the mistake most people make is assuming the first one they try is the only one. Phone Link is the natural starting point if you own a supported Samsung Galaxy or Honor phone. For everyone else, it is a dead end.
scrcpy is the method this guide would pick if only one could be kept. It is free, it works on nearly every Android phone, it has the least delay, and it forwards audio to the PC on newer phones. The setup takes ten minutes once, and then it just works.
Whichever method you choose, remember the two things that cause nearly every failure: both devices need to be on the same network, or connected by a proper data cable, and the phone needs to stay unlocked and awake while you mirror.
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