iMac as secondary monitor for my windows Laptop

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iMac as secondary monitor for my windows Laptop

I have iMac 27 inch screen ( Late 2012) which has two thunderbolt ports (mini display?). The operating system on this is macOS Sierra version 10.12.6

I also have a Windows (Lenovo) Laptop that has HDMI port and USB-C port which is using Windows 10 (Enterprise).

I want to be able to use my iMac as a secondary monitor for this windows laptop. I have purchased a thunderbolt to HDMI cable but this does not work.

Can someone please help me set this up so I can use my iMac as a secondary monitor. Web searches reveal that this possible but I cannot get it to work. I know that this is not a new question but maybe someone out there might have a solution even though Apple don't support such a mode of connection.

Thanks in advance.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.12

Posted on Nov 5, 2021 7:16 AM

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Answer 1

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rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,624 points

Nov 5, 2021 7:47 AM in response to Pervez5

Your question is a very common question and years of experience and knowledge supplied by Apple ( Target Display Mode (Target Display Mode) ) have showed us it simply does not work. If your laptop needs an external display, please buy one. It is far less expensive (no need for expensive cabling), it is dead reliable and dead simple to set up. Please note, your 2012 iMac is a computer it is NOT a display for other devices.

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Answer 2

MrHoffman

Level 10

149,525 points

Nov 5, 2021 8:27 AM in response to Pervez5

Pervez5 wrote:

Thanks for your rapid response. As my laptop does not have a thunderbolt port, can I use a HDMI to thunderbolt converter (though this is not easy to get hold of)? or may USB-C to thunderbolt adaptor then use a thunderbolt to thunderbolt cable to connect the two computers.

The iMac “monitor” you want to use supports ONLY Thunderbolt.

You cannot use HDMI.

There are no adapters that go from HDMI to Thunderbolt. (There are adapters which go from Thunderbolt to HDMI.)

Thunderbolt is a PCIe I/O bus, extended outside of the computer. A Thunderbolt connection cannot be retrofit.

Some Lenovo laptops do have a USB-C Thunderbolt port, though reportedly with issues on older firmware and drivers:

…https://www.techradar.com/news/lenovo-thinkpads-are-suffering-from-usb-c-problems-heres-how-to-fix-them

If your Lenovo does not have Thunderbolt, you will want to use an external monitor with display connections compatible with the particular laptop. That can be HDMI, and whatever other graphics output that unspecified Lenovo laptop supports via that USB-C connection. But it’s not this old iMac.

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Answer 3

Jack-19

Level 8

46,272 points

Nov 5, 2021 7:43 AM in response to Pervez5

Unfortunately, you cannot use your 2012 iMac as a display for your Windows PC laptop.

Jack

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Answer 4

BobHarris

Level 9

57,071 points

Nov 5, 2021 10:23 AM in response to Pervez5

The protocol involved is DisplayPort. That should be your focus on cable selection.

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Answer 5

Pervez5 Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 5, 2021 7:36 AM in response to MrHoffman

Thanks for your rapid response. As my laptop does not have a thunderbolt port, can I use a HDMI to thunderbolt converter (though this is not easy to get hold of)? or may USB-C to thunderbolt adaptor then use a thunderbolt to thunderbolt cable to connect the two computers.

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Answer 6

MrHoffman

Level 10

149,525 points

Nov 5, 2021 7:24 AM in response to Pervez5

Use your iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support

Both ends of the connection will need to use Thunderbolt.

That might be a Thunderbolt connection, or Thunderbolt via USB-C if the laptop supports that.

You’ll need to check the specs on your laptop.

Nothing in this path involves HDMI.

An HDMI-capable monitor is an alternative approach.

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iMac as secondary monitor for my windows Laptop

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