Last updated on July 29th, 2022 at 08:44 am
Do you have multiple computers? Are they all attached to one KVM? Do most of your PCs only have one monitor connection? Do you wish that they could handle multiple monitors? I did! This post tells you how I added a second monitor to my KVM.
Recently I was reading the myITforum off-topic list and there was a discussion about USB monitors that were on sale for a great price. Well, I purchased one of them (the 23” version) and I attached it to my laptop. This additional monitor allowed me to have just about everything that I wanted and needed on one of three screens.
However, anytime I had to move over to my Windows 8 or Vista PCs, I needed to go back to using only one monitor. What a pain!
Add a Second Monitor
Then it hit me, my KVM has a USB port. I wondered what would happen if I attached my USB monitor to my KVM. So, I tried it, but it didn’t work. The monitor would not turn on. My guess was that the USB monitor was not getting enough power.
A few days later I needed to go to the local computer store. While I was there I saw a powered USB hub for about $20 dollars. I bought it, brought it home and attached it to my KVM. Then I attached my USB monitor to the USB hub. My Win 7 PC saw it right away. Nice! I then switched to my Vista PC and it automatically installed the drivers and it was great to finally have two monitors! Finally, I tried my Win 8 PC. Win 8 saw the USB devices, but didn’t install the drivers. After I manually installed the drivers, everything worked great!
For the price of a USB monitor (and powered USB hub) I was able to turn all of my PCs into multi-monitor setups.
What does my setup look like?
The USB monitor is the one on the right.
After all you, can see the KVM in between the two piles of text books and one of my speakers is sitting on it.
The powered USB hub is hard to see, but it is sitting on top of the KVM with a blue light.
Brushy and his cousins are in the house too!
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