Does "Project My Phone Screen" on a PC display using an USB connection really work?

[simplex1]

Does "Project My Phone Screen" on a PC Display using an USB connection really work?

I have a laptop running Windows 7 and a Nokia Lumia 520 phone updated to WP8.1.
I installed the "Project My Screen" application on my laptop, connected the computer to my phone with an USB cable (see (1)-(3)) but the phone displays no window asking me to allow screen projection. I have tried various advises I found on the net, like uninstalling the phone in "Device Manager" and connecting it again to the computer, but nothing seems to work (see: How to use Project my screen in Windows Phone 8.1? - Windows Phone Stack Exchange).

Projecting your phone screen to an external display:
"If you want to project your phone screen to an external display but are unable to connect to a wireless device, you can use a USB cable to connect to a Windows device. Note: To project your phone screen with a USB connection, you?ll need to install the Project My Screen app on your Windows device (a Windows PC, laptop, or select tablet). Once you?ve installed the Project My Screen app, do the following:
1. Use a USB cable to connect your phone to your Windows device.
2. Start the Project My Screen app on your Windows device.
3. On your phone, tap Yes when prompted to allow screen projection."
Source: Download Project My Screen App for Windows Phone from Official Microsoft Download Center

 

[Scott Leonard]

re: Does "Project My Phone Screen" on a PC display using an USB connection really work?

I just installed it and it works fine for me. I will note that the first time I installed it nothing showed up in my PC's start menu so I reran the installer. Once the program showed up I connected my phone via USB, started the program and ... voila.

 

[simplex1]

I just installed it and it works fine for me.

What OS do you have installed on your computer, Windows 7, 8, etc. and also what smart phone model do you have?

 

[simplex1]

Definitely "Project My Screen" has serious bugs, at least for the combination WP8.1 Nokia Lumia 520 - Windows 7 laptop.

After not having the phone connected to the computer for a few hours I tried again to project its screen on the display of my laptop.
I started "Project My Screen" that runs on my laptop and I connected my phone to the computer using an USB cable. The phone was detected, the installation of a driver started and suddenly what the phone screen showed was displayed on my laptop. It worked. However, my joy was short because as soon as I closed "Project My Screen" there was no way to make it display again my phone screen. I tried again to disconnect and connect the USB cable, I uninstalled the phone, I reset the computer, I started "Project My Screen" and connected the phone, nothing worked.

 

[Scott Leonard]

PC is Win7 x64, phone is HTC M8, WP 8.1
Tried it again this morning and it worked fine again. It starts in Full Screen with no taskbar and no X in the corner to exit so I started pressing keys randomly. I quickly found how to put in in window mode and got the list of controls from the help menu.

F1 - Help
Esc - Quit to windowed mode
B - Toggles background image (P also does this)
E - Toggles expanded screen mode (did nothing for me)
F or Alt-Enter - Toggles Full screen mode
R - Displays current frame rate (actually toggles between expanded mode and bottom status bar with framerate)
Left Arrow - Forces orientation to landscape left
Right Arrow - Forces orientation to landscape right
Up/Down arrow - Forces orientation to portrait up
Spacebar - Resets orientation (Automatically follows phone)

 

[simplex1]

PC is Win7 x64, phone is HTC M8, WP 8.1
Tried it again this morning and it worked fine again.

Two more questions for you:
1) If you close "Project My Screen", that runs on your computer, and without touching the USB cable (you do not disconnect and reconnect it on either sides) you start "Project my Screen" again 1-2 minutes later, are you able to see the phone screen again on your PC?
2) If "Project My Screen" is opened and you disconnect the USB cable and reconnect it again, does the phone screen reappear on your PC?

As a remark, excepting WP 8.1 we have different phones and OS:
You - PC is Win7 x64, phone is HTC M8, WP 8.1 ("Project My Screen" appears to work reliably)
Me - PC is Win7 x32, phone is Nokia Lumia 520, WP 8.1 ("Project My Screen" worked only one time (immediately after a re-installation of the phone) and has refused to display any image after closing and reopening it on my PC.

 

[Scott Leonard]

1) Yes, I can exit "Project my Screen" and start it again a few minutes later without issue.
2) Yes, I can disconnect the USB cable and when I reconnect it the phone screen reappears without issue. (I do have to tap Yes to the pop up question on the phone asking if it is OK to project the screen)

 

[simplex1]

Finally, I made "Project My Screen" to work by following the instructions titled "…if your screen won’t project…" that can be found here: Projecting your Windows Phone screen to a PC | Monkey Slaps

The trick was to also uninstall, in Device Manager on my PC, the three drivers called "WinUSB Device" (in my case) not just the phone itself. Because the names "WinUSB Device" contained nothing suggesting they are related to my phone I have not removed them in my previous attempts to make "Project My Screen" work.

There is still a problem, the projected screen is unresponsive to mouse clicks.

 

[Scott Leonard]

I'm pretty sure you cannot navigate the phone using the PC mouse. All navigation is from the phone. At least that's the way mine is working also.