Can’t Cast to TV from Laptop: 3 Intriguing Causes and Fixes

Casting your laptop display to your TV allows you to enjoy multimedia content from your laptop on your TV’s larger screen.

This is excellent for streaming movies, playing video games, etc.

However, certain technical issues or hardware limitations can prevent you from casting your laptop screen.

You can’t cast to a TV from a laptop if both devices don’t support casting, they aren’t on the same Wi-Fi, or from outdated network drivers and misconfigured settings. Solutions include using a streaming dongle for casting, getting both devices on the same Wi-Fi, and updating the network drivers.

In this article, I’ll share 3 common reasons why you can’t cast your laptop screen to your TV.

I’ll also discuss a potential solution for each problem.

This should help you find out what’s causing the problem and quickly fix it so you can cast your laptop screen to your TV.

1. The Laptop and TV Don’t Support Screen Casting

To cast your laptop screen to your TV, both devices need to have casting support. 

With that said, most modern laptops come with screencasting enabled.

All latest Windows 10 laptops have Miracast support, Chromebooks come with Chromecast built-in, and MacBooks offer AirPlay.

To check whether or not your particular laptop has any form of built-in casting technology, you can see its retail box for specifications or do a quick Google search.

The same applies to modern TVs.

If you own a smart TV powered by Android, then it already has Chromecast built-in.

Most manufacturers include support for Miracast and AirPlay as well.

That said, older “non-smart” TVs (post-2016) lack built-in casting technology.

How To Fix

So let’s say either your Laptop or TV (or both) doesn’t have any built-in casting technology. 

Does that mean you need to buy a new TV or laptop?

Not necessarily!

First off, if you have an old “not-smart,” “non-Android” TV, then you can make it “smart” by using a streaming device like Chromecast, Roku, or Amazon Fire Stick.

Also, on older laptops without casting technology, all you need to do is download the Google Chrome browser.

It allows you to cast your Chrome tabs and your computer screen to any Chromecast-connected display.

Here’s a quick 5-min YouTube video by Tech With Brett that shows how you can mirror your computer to your TV with Chromecast:

2. TV and Laptop Not Connected to Same Wi-Fi

Both your TV and laptop need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network for screencasting to work. 

This is something that gets frequently overlooked.

As such, if both your TV and Laptop offer built-in casting support but you can’t cast the screen, the first thing you should check is which Wi-Fi network it’s connected to.

How To Fix

To fix the issue, all you need to do is get your Laptop and TV connected to the same Wi-Fi network. That’s it!

But what if your TV doesn’t support Wi-Fi?

Well, in that case, you’ll need to purchase a streaming device like Chromecast.

Not only will it help you connect your TV to a Wi-Fi network, but it also turns your normal TV into a smart TV.

And, what if your laptop doesn’t support Wi-Fi?

Well, if you own an old laptop model, then there may be no Wi-Fi support. Using a Wi-Fi antenna, like this Nineplus Wireless USB Wi-Fi Adapter on Amazon.com, will solve this problem.

3. Network Connectivity Problems

Casting your laptop screen to your TV takes place wirelessly over your Wi-Fi network.

As such, potential network issues can disturb your ability to cast your screen.

Some of the most likely causes include outdated network drivers and misconfigured firewall settings.

It can also happen if the “network discovery” option is disabled.

How To Fix

Here are detailed guides on how to enable “network discovery” and update network drivers.

Update Network Adapter Drivers

1. Right-click on the Windows Start button to open the Windows Quick Access menu.
2. Click on Device Manager to open the app.
3. Inside you’ll find a list of different devices connected to your Windows computer. Find the option – Network adapters.
4. Expand the Network adapters option to reveal all network adapter drivers.
5. Choose your Wi-Fi adapter from the list and right-click on it. 
6. From the pop-up menu, click on the option – Update Driver Software.
7. This will open a new window asking whether you want to install driver software manually or automatically. Pick the option – Search automatically for updated driver software.
8. Now follow the on-screen instructions till your Wi-Fi adapter gets updated.
9. Once done, restart your system.

Tweak the Firewall Settings

1. Press the Win + r key together. This will open the Run window.
2. In the Open field, type this – “control firewall.cpl” and click OK. This will open the Windows Defender Firewall app.
3. On the left side menu, you’ll find the option – Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall. Select it.
4. From the list of “Allowed apps and features,” locate – Cast to Device functionality.
5. Click the check box to enable it for both Private and Public.
6. Click OK and exit.

Enable Network Sharing Option

1. On the Windows search bar, type in – Control Panel. Now open the app.
2. Change the “View by” option to Category.
3. Select Network and Internet.
4. Here you’ll find the option – Network and Sharing Center. Select it.
5. On the left side menu, you’ll find the option Change advanced sharing settings. Select it.
6. Select the option – Turn on network discovery.
7. Click the Save Changes button and exit the Settings app.

After performing these network tweaks on your Windows laptop, you should be able to cast its screen to a compatible TV.

Key Takeaways

If you can’t cast your laptop screen to a TV, ensure that both devices support the same casting technology — Chromecast, Miracast, or AirPlay. 

Also, double-check that both devices are on the same network. 

Other issues that can cause problems involve outdated network adapter drivers and misconfigured network and firewall settings.

You can quickly fix this by updating the network adapters and tweaking the network and firewall settings.