How to Mirror Your Android Screen to a Windows PC

You want your phone on your computer screen. Maybe to show something during a call, follow a recipe with a bigger view, or tap through an app without picking the phone up every minute. There are two honest paths to get there. Microsoft Phone Link is built into Windows and pairs over Wi-Fi, but full screen mirroring only works on a short list of phones. scrcpy is free, works on almost any Android, and gives you real control, but you set it up yourself. This guide walks both, tells you which one fits your phone, and is clear about where each one falls short.

Before you touch any settings, figure out which tool matches your phone. It saves a lot of wasted clicks.

Microsoft Phone Link is the one Microsoft ships with Windows. The catch most guides skip: the part that puts your whole phone screen on the PC only runs on phones that come with the Link to Windows software built in. That is mainly Samsung Galaxy, plus a handful of models from HONOR, OPPO, ASUS, vivo, Xiaomi and a few others. If you have a Samsung Galaxy, Phone Link is the easy answer.

If you have a Pixel, a Motorola, a Nothing phone, or most plain Android handsets, Phone Link will still connect. You get your texts, calls, notifications and recent photos on the PC. You do not get live screen mirroring or app streaming. That is a hardware-partner limit, not something you can switch on.

For everyone the partner list leaves out, scrcpy is the answer. It runs on basically any Android from version 5.0 up, costs nothing, and mirrors the screen with full mouse and keyboard control. It asks for a one-time setup with a developer setting and a small download. Once that is done it is quick to launch.

A short checklist for either method.

• A Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC. Phone Link wants Windows 10 from around the May 2019 update onward, and a graphics card that supports DirectX 11 for the screen feature.
• An Android phone. Phone Link mirroring needs Android 10 or newer on a supported model. scrcpy works from Android 5.0.
• For Phone Link: both devices on the same Wi-Fi network, signed in to the same Microsoft account.
• For scrcpy: a USB cable for first setup, plus a few minutes to turn on USB debugging.

One thing worth checking now. On Windows, open the Phone Link app once and make sure it updates. The screen and app features have changed a lot, so an old version behaves differently from what you read online.

This is the route for Samsung and other supported phones. The pairing itself is the same on any Android, even if mirroring later is not available to you.

• On your PC, open Phone Link. It is preinstalled on Windows 11 and on current Windows 10. Pick Android as your phone type.
• The PC shows a QR code. Leave that screen open.
• On your phone, open the Link to Windows app. On Samsung it is built in, often under Settings then Connected devices then Link to Windows. On other supported phones, install Link to Windows from Google Play if it is not already there.
• Choose the option to pair using a QR code, then point the phone camera at the code on your PC.
• Follow the prompts and grant the permissions Android asks for. These cover contacts, messages, call logs, and notifications. On Android 13 and newer you will also approve a notification permission so alerts can pass to the PC.

When pairing finishes, your phone shows up in the Phone Link sidebar. If you only see texts, calls, photos and notifications, that is the normal experience for a non-supported phone. Nothing is broken.

On a Galaxy or another supported model, look in the Phone Link sidebar for your phone image or a Phone screen option. Click it, then click Start now on the prompt. Your phone display appears in a window on the PC, and you can click around with the mouse.

A few honest limits to know:

• Your phone screen has to be unlocked and awake for mirroring to start. Some phones blank their own display while mirroring to save battery and keep things private, which is fine, but the phone cannot be fully asleep when you begin.
• Both devices stay on the same Wi-Fi. Drop off the network and the mirror drops with it.
• It is sensitive to Wi-Fi quality. On a weak or busy network the image lags or gets blocky.
• Some apps that block screen capture, like certain banking apps, show a black box instead of their content. That is the app protecting itself, not a fault on your side.

There is a step beyond full-screen mirroring. On supported phones, mostly Samsung and a few HONOR, OPPO and ASUS models, Phone Link can stream individual phone apps into their own resizable windows on the desktop, separate from the phone screen view. As of early 2026 this expanded view can use up to about 90 percent of your desktop, so an app feels close to a real PC window.

The trade-offs are real. You can run up to five phone apps at once through Link to Windows, not unlimited. The apps still run on the phone, so the phone has to stay connected and awake, and Wi-Fi quality still decides how smooth it feels. And like full mirroring, this only works on the partner phones. A Pixel will not do it.

If app streaming matters to you and you are shopping for a phone, this is one of the few genuine reasons to lean Samsung Galaxy for a Windows household.

scrcpy (say it "screen copy") is an open-source tool from Genymobile. It mirrors your Android to the PC and lets you control it with mouse and keyboard. It does not need root, and it does not install anything permanent on the phone. The current release is version 4.0, out in May 2026.

Why people pick it over Phone Link:

• It runs on nearly any Android, version 5.0 and up. No partner list.
• Full control, not just viewing. Type with your PC keyboard, click, scroll, drag.
• It can forward phone audio to the PC on Android 11 and newer.
• You can drag a file onto the window to copy it across, or drag an APK on to install it.
• No account, no sign-in, no ads.

The cost is setup effort, and the fact that it is a command-line tool by default. If a terminal makes you nervous, there are friendlier front-ends people build on top of it, but the core tool is what is described below.

Here is the USB path, which is the simplest first time.

• On your PC, download scrcpy from its official GitHub releases page. Get the Windows build. It comes as a zip with adb included, so unzip it to a folder you can find.
• On your phone, turn on Developer options. Go to Settings, About phone, and tap Build number seven times until it says you are now a developer.
• Back in Settings, open Developer options and switch on USB debugging.
• Plug the phone into the PC with a cable. The phone pops up a box asking to allow USB debugging from this computer. Tap Allow, and tick the box to remember it.
• In the scrcpy folder, run scrcpy. On Windows you can double-click scrcpy.exe. A window opens with your phone screen in it, ready to control.

To go wireless after that first wired setup: with the phone still plugged in, open a terminal in the scrcpy folder and run adb tcpip 5555. Find your phone IP under Settings, Wi-Fi, then your network details. Unplug the cable and run adb connect followed by your phone IP and :5555. Then launch scrcpy again and it connects over Wi-Fi. Both devices need to be on the same network for this.

A safety note. USB debugging is a powerful door into your phone. Only ever tap Allow for computers you own and trust, and turn the setting back off when you are done if you share the PC.

Short version. If you have a Samsung Galaxy or another phone with Link to Windows built in, and you mostly want to glance at the screen, reply to messages, or run a couple of phone apps on the desktop, use Phone Link. It is already there and the pairing takes two minutes.

If you have any other Android, or you want real control with keyboard and mouse, file transfer, low lag over USB, and no dependence on a partner list, use scrcpy. It asks for a bit of patience the first time and rewards you with something that just works afterward.

There is no shame in keeping both. Phone Link for quick notifications and texts, scrcpy for the moment you actually need to drive the phone from your desk.