Displaying to another monitor

**commanderky2** · May 31st, 2019

Hello all,

I have been struggling with Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS and this laptop I have displaying to a monitor. The reason this seems to be a special case is that the monitor on this laptop is broken and I am using an HDMI cable to go to my monitor (note I have tried this in clam shell/open mode). My BIOS screen appears to pop up and even a selection for "try ubuntu" or "install ubuntu" after. If I select install or try, I get the loading Ubuntu dots and it appears to boot successfully, but then there it appears as if the monitor becomes the second monitor and all I can see is the badger screensaver. I have even gone to the extent of unplugging the monitor of the laptop from its MOBO. I have tried keyboard shortcuts and click dragging the mouse to see if I could pull over the window. I am unsure what to do because I don't want to be SOL on this hardware. (Had an older version of Ubuntu currently on it that I am trying to get a clean install over, hence the install, but same issue within that version.)
HP Envy DV6

Thanks,
-Tristin

**TheFu** · May 31st, 2019

New laptop screens are fairly cheap - probably $40 and not all that hard to replace.
Most laptops have a "Mirror screen" function. On my Asus it is the Fn+F6 key. That's a mirror, not an extended desktop key. Inside many BIOS, you can select the primary display connection, but I don't know if laptops have this or not. Definitely worth a look.