Microsoft recently rolled out an official app to stream games and content from your PC to your Xbox One console. This app actually has a number of different uses, but the ability to stream games for couch action on PC is of course the one that excites us the most.
Here’s a quick guide to get you ready and ready to take advantage of this feature.
Step 1: Download the app to your Xbox One
Your first reaction might be to download the app from the Microsoft Store to your PC. You can do this, but it’s much easier to do it on your Xbox first. A simple search for the term “display” in the Microsoft Store on Xbox Live will bring up the Wireless Display app as the first choice.
Step 2: Launch the Wireless Display app on your Xbox One
After you’ve downloaded the app, you’ll want to launch it on Xbox One. This will ask for a display, ready to connect your Xbox One as an additional display for your gaming PC. This also leaves your console ready to be found as a connected device. It works much better than first downloading the app to your PC and starting to scan for supported devices on your network. The app size on Xbox One is 2.32MB which is tiny compared to games that take up your console’s disk space.
Step 3: Download the Display app from the Windows Store on your PC
Once your Xbox is set up on your TV and you see the blue screen, head over to your PC. You will need to open the Microsoft Store and search for the Wireless Display app. You will need approximately 5 MB free space on your PC to install it. You can do the same search by typing “display” in the search bar to display the official app.
Step 4: Open the action center
You might not pay much attention to the action center at the lower right of your screen. Most of the time, you will only see desktop notifications showing up and getting on with your day. Depending on what type of personality you have, you can ignore anything and everything about this tab. However, this is an easy and accessible way to complete your wireless setup. Once you have launched the Wireless Display application, a screen will appear asking you to open the Action Center tab.
Opening the tab will reveal a few panels on your PC. One of them is the “Connect” tile. This allows your computer to connect to devices that are on your network. For example, while searching here, my computer located both my Smart TV (with Roku built-in) and the Xbox One console. With the prompt on my Xbox ready to connect, it was quite easy to link the two. Click on your Xbox One console listed here and watch the magic happen!
Once connected, your desktop will expand to your new wireless display. You can see in the image above that I now have three monitors available, rather than just the two displays physically connected to my PC. Connecting your gaming PC and Xbox One shouldn’t take a long time. You can also allow mouse, touch, and keyboard support on the newly connected device. I should also mention that once that was done my default sound settings were automatically replaced with my new display. I was using a wireless gaming headset at the time and noticed that my sound had moved to my newly connected wireless display.
Step 5: Login and verify
Also make sure you can see your desktop on the new device. Since my Xbox One X is connected to a 4K TV, some of the display settings have changed because both of my monitors are at 1080P. My television is also in another room, with my device in my office and the television in the living room. So, it can be a bit tricky to make sure that the game you’re running fully fills your extended display.
And that’s it, guys! You have now completed the steps on your PC and Xbox One to use the Wireless Display app to stream to your Xbox from your PC.
