How to Connect Two Monitors to a Laptop with One HDMI Port in 2023?

Get it, “Having the utility to use two monitors with a laptop can improve your productivity.”

However, if your laptop only comes with a single HDMI port, then you might ask this question, “How to connect two monitors to a laptop with one HDMI port?”

Connecting two monitors to a single HDMI port is simply not possible if we keep the basics of connectivity in mind.

However, with some recent solutions, you might be able to connect two monitors simultaneously with a single HDMI port.

Have a look at how we solve this problem for users whose laptop only consists of a single HDMI port:

Connecting Two Monitors to a Laptop with Limited Port Options

Some of the things that you should check before connecting the monitors to laptop include:

Graphics Card Compatibility

The first and foremost thing to do is to check whether the graphics card of your laptop can support two monitors or not.

Usually, integrated GPUs on laptops are compatible with two displays at once.

However, we will recommend that you check the compatibility of your graphics card and make sure that it supports “Multi Monitor” option.

The best way to double-check compatibility is to go to your GPU’s manufacturer site for instance Nvidia & Msi and check all its features there.

Finding the Display Ports on Laptop:

Second and most important thing to do is to locate the display port.

Laptops have ports available either at their sides or at the back depending upon which model and brand you are using.

First things first, locate all display ports available on your laptop.

If you use an outdated laptop, you will most probably have only VGA or HDMI port available.

However, if you use latest gaming laptops, then you might have the option to connect monitors via Thunderbolt, USB Type-C, or DVI ports.

Anyways, we are talking about the matter at the hand only, i.e., “Laptop with only one HDMI port.”

Chances are that no matter how old a laptop you use, it must have at least one VGA display port as well.

If that’s the case, then you can easily connect two monitors to your laptop using a single HDMI port.

Cutting right to the chase:

How to Set Up Two Monitors on a Laptop Using VGA and HDMI Ports

First things first, make sure that the monitors you are about to connect are compatible with VGA and HDMI connectivity.

Secondly, you should follow all the steps while keeping your laptop on. It will help you adjust the settings later.

The steps to follow goes as under:

Step 1: Connecting First External Monitor through VGA Port

First of all, plug first external monitor into your laptop using VGA compatibility.

Simply use a VGA cable and connect its one side to your laptop’s port and another one to the monitor’s port.

Step 2: Connecting Second Monitor through HDMI Port

Take HDMI cable and connect its one end to the second external monitor.

Similarly, take its other end and connect it to the HDMI port of your laptop.

Both monitors are now connected to the laptop. Now, we will tweak the screen resolution settings for Windows 11, 10, 8.1, and 7 as follows:

Step 3: Tweaking Screen Resolution Settings

Right click anywhere on the empty screen and click “Display Settings” on Windows 10.

For Windows 8.1, and 7 users, find “Screen Resolution” and click on it accordingly.

In new tab, you will see three display icons labeled “Display 1” “Display 2” and “Display 3”.

Display 1 is actually the display of your laptop.

Display 2 represents the first external monitor that you connected.

Similarly, Display 3 shows the second external monitor that you connected.

Click Display 2, hover down, find Multi Displays and choose “Extend desktop to this display.”

Click on Apply after this step

In same fashion, click on Display 3, find Multi Displays option, and select Extend desktop to this display accordingly. Click on apply Settings after that.

Step 4: Save Settings

Click on “OK” and now you have got three displays connected to your laptop using a single HDMI port only.

Summary:

Mind you that this method is applicable only if you have got one VGA and one HDMI display port.

Enjoy an extensive display interface with two external monitors and increase your productivity accordingly.

What If There is No VGA Port Available?

In case you have a laptop with only one HDMI port and no other display port, you can still connect two monitors to a single laptop using that port.

How? You might ask!

The two options available in this aspect include:

USB to HDMI Adapter:

Get yourself a USB to HDMI adapter from a local computer store or an online retailer.

Insert the adapter into a USB port of your laptop and now you have to HDMI ports available.

Connect the first external laptop with first HDMI port using a high-speed HDMI cable.

Similarly, use the USB to HDMI adapter port for connecting second external monitor.

Go to Display Settings of your laptop and configure Display 2 and Display 3 with the steps that we have mentioned before.

Ta-da! You have now connected two monitors to a laptop using a single HDMI port easily.

Docking Station

For laptops with few ports, using a docking station is the best option.

It features multiple ports including VGA, Thunderbolt, Ethernet, HDMI, USB, and whatnot.

Get yourself a compatible docking station and use its HDMI or VGA ports to connect external monitors to your laptop easily.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Final Takeaways: How to Connect Two Monitors to Laptop with One HDMI Port?

Connecting two monitors to a laptop is not as difficult as you might think.

Just make sure that you have compatible display ports available and if not, simply get a good docking station to solve all these problems.

Enjoy a wide display interface and improve your productivity while working on two laptops at once.

Good Luck!!

Arthur Finch