A broken laptop screen can be a nightmare unless you’ve got an external monitor that you can connect to keep going on with your work and entertainment. Now, while most of the newer laptop models detect an external display automatically when you connect it via the HDMI or VGA cable, if you’re running an older machine, chances are that the external monitor wasn’t detected.

While it’s pretty easy to detect an external monitor manually via Windows settings, you’ll need your laptop’s screen to work for that; which isn’t in this case. Don’t you worry, as we’ve got an easy and quick fix to your issue here.

Now, this might be stating the obvious for most of you, but for the uninitiated, this method will only work if everything else (mostly) on your laptop is working fine, sans the screen.

Also read: How to unlock your Android smartphone with a broken screen?

Attaching faulty screen laptop to an external monitor

Firstly, go ahead and connect the external monitor to your laptop using either a VGA, HDMI or DVI cable — whichever port is supported by your laptop and monitor.

As mentioned above, generally newer models running Windows 10 detect the external monitor as soon as your plug it in, but if that’s not happening, you’ll need to make use of your keyboard to get things going for you.

Depending on the make and model of your laptop, you’ll need to press the FN (Function) key alongwith one of these: F2, F3, F4, F5, F7, F8, F9 or F10.

To give you an example, you can press FN+F4 on HP laptops to detect and switch to an external monitor even when your laptop’s screen is broken. In the same manner, you can use FN+F2 on MSI, FN+F8 on Asus and Dell, and FN+F5 on Acer machines.

In most of the cases, you’ll find a screen or a laptop icon on the function key from F2 through F10, which is dedicated to toggling external display on your laptop.

You can choose to extend the display, duplicate them or simply make the external monitor your primary display until you get your laptop’s screen fixed.

While one of the function keys mentioned above should work in most of the cases, if it doesn’t, you should consider checking the laptop manufacturer’s website for a user manual or support related to the keyboard layout of your laptop.

Also read: How to fix the HDMI port on PS4?

What if the external monitor is still not detected?

If you’ve followed the guide mentioned above correctly but still aren’t able to project your laptop’s broken screen to an external monitor, chances are that either your HDMI/VGA cable is faulty or the HDMI/VGA port on your laptop has malfunctioned.

You can try reseating the cable in the port until it’s flush in the port’s case; sometimes a loose connection makes all the fuss.

You can also check for damage to the connector pins on your VGA or HDMI cable because if they’re bent, you might want to get a replacement.

If your laptop’s HDMI or VGA port have malfunctioned too, then your last resort to get your laptop repaired immediately just became your go-to plan.

Also read: How much data do you need to stream movies and TV shows?