Connecting MacBook to external monitor questions.

Make sure you don't have Mirroring on (see Display Preferences). With it switched off you can choose a different resolution for each screen in Display Preferences.

xwingsct said:

OK. I unchecked mirroring display and all I got on my screen is the wall paper. No icons.

This is how I did it.
I boot the system up.
I press F7 once.
I get everything on my screen (But not filling up the whole screen)
I went into display and change the resolution to 1080X1050 to fit my monitor and uncheck mirroring display. After I did that I only get the wallpaper on my screen with no icons only mouse cursor and when I close the laptop I lost signal.

Did I do it right ?

Click to expand...

When you are not on mirroring mode the screens are independent. In the Display Preferences Window on the main screen (the one with the menu bar) you can set how the screens relate to each other. You should be able to move your mouse off the main screen via whichever side you set to the other screen. You can drag windows etc with it.

If you want the external screen to be the main screen then drag the little menu bar on the Display Preferences monitor setup to the other screen

Thanks ...

A big thanks to robbieduncan for the tip on how to switch the main focus to the external monitor!

Similar issue external monitor only shows wallpaper

I had a similar issue but could not get the F7 key to do anything (on my macbook it is a "rewind" symbol so maybe this works on a different kind of mac)

The screen of my macbook simply doesn't work because it had a coke spilled on it so I couldn't go directly to sys prefs and make changes. I connected an external monitor and just got the wallpaper as described above. I finally was able to get it to work by hitting fn-option-F2 to get the system preferences for "syncmaster" and display to show up on the external monitor. I then chose the "arrangement" button and at the bottom of the window there is a check box that said "mirror displays". It was un-checked and I checked it and voila, all fixed.

So if you try all of the other advise in other posts and it doesn't work for you, you may want to give this method a shot. Good luck!

If you want to use the external screen with the MacBook shut, then you must use a wired mouse and keyboard. Close the MacBook and wait for it to go to sleep, then wake it with the mouse or the keyboard.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131

I use my MBP closed with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and it works fine. The mouse wakes the computer up and the external display comes on. Just an FYI.

Dave Braine said:

If you want to use the external screen with the MacBook shut, then you must use a wired mouse and keyboard. Close the MacBook and wait for it to go to sleep, then wake it with the mouse or the keyboard.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131

Click to expand...

I use the wireless keyboard and magic mouse and it wakes up my MBP by just hitting space.

ellenm said:

I use my MBP closed with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and it works fine. The mouse wakes the computer up and the external display comes on. Just an FYI.

Click to expand...

My Magic mouse doesnt wake up my MBP but my old mighty mouse did. Weird

I use my MBP closed with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and it works fine.

Click to expand...

Yeah. It says that in the article, doesn't it.

I sometimes get the external monitor starting and not the MacBook screen. This works:

System Preferences > Displays. There's a check box for 'Show Displays in Menu Bar'. Check it.

Anytime only one screen comes on, click the display icon in the menu bar and click Detect Displays.

Bingo! They both work as normal.