Q: Cannot disconnect from Apple TV

Thanks Vince associate.

I've done some more testing, and it has left me even more confused. I have tried this with my MB attached to a secondary display (through display port) and I have tried it with the MB alone. Same result for the most part, though a subtle difference: When I try alone, I find more choices in the Airplay menu (mirror, use as second monitor, etc). When I have my secondary display hooked up, I don't have those options. And yes the "show display options in the menu bar when available" is checked. I don't have the options you speak of: Match Desktop Size to.

And of course Display Preferences looks like this:

Airport display option is the same as from the menu bar. Off or ATV.

What is seen on the screens: Even when I don't have "mirror" checked, I get a mirror image on the TV (meaning it looks like my computer screen with all the open windows and menus), and both the internal and external screen (depending on which way I'm testing) show nothing but my background image. So in theory I should be able to operate everything on the TV at this point, but no. I cannot get a cursor to show on the TV consistently, and when I do, I still can't click anything. The one thing I can do is type characters if the cursor happens to be in a text field at the time Airplay was started. The enter button works as well.

It does seem like a display choice setting somewhere. The inconsistency of the cursor and menu choices is the frustrating part. If I get something to play on the TV it seems like dumb luck. And once I begin this process (choosing Airplay from the menu bar) I know I'm going to lose control of the computer. I've lost the Apple Magic! This used to work many OS revisions ago. Same MB, same TV, same ATV. I'm on the latest El Capitan today.

Maybe a clue: When using the MB alone (not wired to my external display) if I touch nothing after activating Airplay, eventually the TV goes blank and shows me the main ATV menu, and the display on my MB comes back to usable for me. This at least gives me a way to disconnect without rebooting.. though it sure doesn't help me in actually using the system. This never happens when my external monitor is plugged in.

From now on, I'll use the macbook alone so as not to confuse things.

Note that in my tests so far, I have the same basic problems either way. Mac goes blank, and I can't control anything on either the mac or the TV. Still... I'll study this more without the Dell hooked up. Thanks for sticking with me, and offering up the images. I've seen that same menu bar menu with the mirror and separate choices. But once I choose one, everything works the same way. No control. I'll go fool a bit more with it.

Well, here we are. Again.

I'm using the MBP by itself. Choosing Airplay from the top menu only gives me what I showed earlier. Airplay to: ATV, which is my one and only ATV. I don't have any of the other mirror choices even though I have that option checked to show them when available.

Result is the same I've been getting for months. MBP display is cleared of all but the background image, and the TV shows exactly what was on my screen. Sometimes I can control the mouse, sometimes I can't. I can click on some things when the mouse is available, but if I try to click the Airplay icon up in the menu bar again, the mouse freezes there without opening the menu, and I'm dead in the water. Eventually the TV will revert back to the man ATV menu, and I can click ESC on my mac, and get my screen to show properly again.

What crazy thing is going wrong, I wonder? It all starts with my menu not showing the proper choices. Though *sometimes* it does! Though it doesn't seem to matter what option I choose - the system reacts the same way no matter what.

Let's see if I can do this justice. On my mac, I pull down the menu, and my only option os Airplay to ATV. I choose that.

Suddenly, my mac screen shows nothing but El Capitan, with no bar across the top, nor the dock at the bottom. BUT... when I take a screen shot, this is what results: It looks like everything is there. Just that *I* can't see it. You'll notice that the Airplay icon in the menu bar is blue as it should be. I'm clearly connected.

Below is what my screen *really* looks like.

Below is a screen shot of the TV. The TV shows the blue Airplay icon, and the menu bar and dock. Much like my computer *thinks* it is showing me.

The system won't let me post any more pictures here, so continued next post...

And final shot below... I managed to move the cursor to the Airplay menu, and when I click... I'm frozen. Will not drop the menu down, and now I just sit back and wait for everything to time out. The ATV will show it's main menu, and if I click ESC on my mac, I can be back in control of my computer.

>> When you use your Dell, do you have it configured to act as the main screen under arrangement?  <<

And to answer this question... yes, I do have my Dell as the main screen, though I can't recall how I did it. The Display pane I have shown above, and there is no setting for arrangement.  I use my MPB as a desktop by manually docking it under my monitor. I use a big keyboard, a big mouse, a USB hub and a big monitor. MBP stays closed under my monitor. And this is probably the setting that is messing with me. But I'm still not sure how to solve it.

>>  Does the white bar appear over it in the settings? <<

I'm not sure what this is asking.

With my MBP closed, looking at my Dell, I don't have the option of "Arrangement" in the display window. So I opened the MBP, and suddenly there's the option. The white menu bar was over the small screen, meaning it was over the built-in screen. I'm not sure how I can tell which is set as the main display. I can click on either one and it flashes a red square around it... but nothing permanently changes in the menu that I can tell.

I've gotta say, this whole process is the antithesis of user-friendly. Or at least in my situation where I quite often wish to use a screen that's not built into the MBP, but would like to when convenient.

Before I try again with moving the menu bar in the arrange menu, I need to revisit the "working normally, just not how I want it."

It is normal to nave no control over anything that's being airplayed (On either the computer or the TV)? And it is normal to have the cursor work only some of the time? With the menus on the TV screen my cursor is all but useless. Here's hoping that moving the white bar over to the large screen fixes all these things that don't seem normal to me. I seem to recall waaaay back when I was first setting this up, that the only way my external monitor setup would work correctly is with that white bar in it's current location. We'll see!

Oh, and now that you mention using the ATV remote to exit... I seem to remember stumbling on that before and promptly forgetting it too? Getting OUT of this is of course the initial reason to start the thread. Now I'm just being greedy in wanting it to work... uh.. abnormally?  :-)

And thanks again for all your time and help here! Stand by for more data.

OK, my latest information is *no* different from before, unfortunately.

First, once I have the Dell disconnected, there is no way to switch the menu bar to the other screen. But I did it anyway before disconnecting.

So here I am with my MBP (built-in display only) and my TV in front of me. I click the Airplay icon on my menu bar and choose the only choice: Airplay to: ATV. My MBP monitor loses the menus and only shows the background, and the TV shows what used to be on my MBP monitor - all the windows and menus.  Good right? Now... how do I choose what to see on the TV? Right now it is just mirroring (though I didn't choose to have it mirror... not a menu option... and no more menu on my MBP). I can *sometimes* move the cursor on the TV with my touchpad. But other times it disappears. And when I try to click something, only a few things respond. And if I move the cursor up to the Airpaly icon in the menu bar (on my TV) and click, it then freezes. And now pressing menu on my ATV remote doesn't do anything. I sit there for a minute or so, and everything times out, and control is restored to my MPB, and the TV just shows the ATV menu.

1. How do I choose what to see on my TV? (If I start something playing on the computer, and THEN click the Airplay menu, that will then play on the TV. But then I have to go back to the beginning with the ATV remove and start the video from the beginning. This can't be right.)

2. Is this really how it is supposed to work, and I'm expecting too much?

3. this all worked correctly the last time I tried it many months ago, so I don't think #2 is accurate. What the heck may have changed?

The good news? As long as I don't try to click the Airplay menu on my TV, I DO have a clean way of getting out - by using the menu button on the ATV remote as you suggest. So that part is great! Now I just need to figure out how to make the Airplay work for me!

Have I mentioned that Airplay works just as I expect from my iPhone? I have completely control of it from my phone. I can choose (or not!) mirroring. If I don't mirror, any time I open a photo or video on my phone it pops up on the screen.

I can't do that from my Mac! Because I have no controls on my mac once I am connected to Airplay. Yes, I can even cancel the Airplay session from my phone... not so with the mac.