# Using a laptop to display a desktop pc?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 25, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930 "2009-06-25T13:58:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/1 "2009-06-25T13:58:42Z")
I have a pc box that is about 4 years old, quite usable, that I’d like to set up at home. I don’t have a monitor or keyboard for it, but I do have an old laptop. How simple is it to attach the laptop and use it’s screen and keyboard to control the PC? Or will it be better just to buy a cheap display?
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### Author:  [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/2 "2009-06-25T14:10:32Z")
If you have a network and both computers are on the network…
You can use Microsoft Remote Desktop to remote control the pc.
However there’s a catch: the pc has to be set up to accept Remote Desktop clients (a client such as your laptop) and that set up is almost impossible if you don’t attach a monitor temporarily to the pc so you can see the configuration screens.
Not everything works through Remote Desktop … many video games don’t work.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/3 "2009-06-25T14:26:29Z")
Concur, with the caveat that you are almost certainly going to need a keyboard and monitor to get the desktop booted up and configured to the point of being able to run it “headless” and then control it via remote desktop.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/4 "2009-06-25T15:01:48Z")
You’re going to need a screen and keyboard to install Windows anyway.
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### Author:  [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/5 "2009-06-25T15:17:40Z")
If you have any friends who have desktops, I bet you could borrow a keyboard and monitor for the afternoon while you get it set up. But then again, it might be more work than it’s worth to have to jump through all those hoops. You have to figure out, am I willing to spend the money and not have to deal with that, or should I go through the work and save the money?
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/6 "2009-06-25T16:18:44Z")
There are many options, depending on the operating systems running on the machines in question. RDP has already been mentioned; other options include VNC, SSH, and NX. In any case, the desktop machine will probably need to have the relevant software installed on it in the first place, so if it isn’t, you’ll need to attach a keyboard and monitor to it to install them.
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/7 "2009-06-25T16:21:47Z")
> [@Quartz](#):
>
> You’re going to need a screen and keyboard to install Windows anyway.
Yes, but he won’t need a screen and keyboard to install some other operating systems, such as GNU/Linux. Many distributions allow you to burn installation CDs which are non-interactive. This facilitates installing a pre-configured OS on large numbers of machines.
Come to think of it, I bet it’s possible to do this with Microsoft Windows as well, though you probably need some extremely expensive specialized licence.
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### Author:  [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/8 "2009-06-25T18:17:43Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#):
>
> I have a pc box that is about 4 years old, quite usable, that I’d like to set up at home. I don’t have a monitor or keyboard for it, but I do have an old laptop. How simple is it to attach the laptop and use it’s screen and keyboard to control the PC? Or will it be better just to buy a cheap display?
As you can see from the posts above, it can be done, but not easily.
New keyboards can be obtained for a few dollars, and if you look in the newspaper classified ads, and on craigslist and/or eBay, you can get an old monitor for very little money.
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### Author:  [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/9 "2009-06-25T18:27:13Z")
THks for the replies. The machine has xp installed and is good to go from that pov. I was wondering if it might be just a case of a lead out the back into the laptop. Seen as it isn’t, I guess I’ll pick up a cheap monitor.
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### Author:  [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/10 "2009-06-25T18:29:03Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#):
>
> New keyboards can be obtained for a few dollars, and if you look in the newspaper classified ads, and on craigslist and/or eBay, you can get an old monitor for very little money.
Plus none of the software remote control software will work when you need to see or adjust something on the desktop pc’s BIOS screen. If a harddrive fails during bootup, it will be the BIOS startup screen that shows any error messages of that nature.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-laptop-to-display-a-desktop-pc/500930/11 "2009-06-26T00:14:56Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#):
>
> New keyboards can be obtained for a few dollars, and if you look in the newspaper classified ads, and on craigslist and/or eBay, you can get an old monitor for very little money.
A CRT monitor can be had for close to nothing or even for nothing if you are lucky and it beats the remote desktop thing hands down.