How to Use a Docking Station With a Dell Laptop
Before you begin, make sure to have your laptop, its power cable, your docking station, its power cable, your monitors, and their power cables and connectors at the ready.
Once you have all your hardware ready, and you confirm your laptop and docking station are compatible and will support the monitors you want to connect, as well as the resolution/refresh rate you want to output, connecting your monitors to your Dell laptop is easy.
Connect your laptop to a power outlet, and turn it on. If using a keyboard and mouse with your docking station, connect them to the docking station now. If using a laptop with a multi-monitor setup, a mouse is strongly recommended. With this much real estate to navigate, we find a mouse is far superior to a touchpad. Connect your monitors to your docking station. Power on your monitors, and verify they are in good working condition. Connect any ethernet cables or external USB devices to your docking station, if using them. Connect the power cable to the docking station, and power on your docking station. Connect your docking station to your laptop. What type of connection you use, like with each individual monitor, will depend on your specific model of laptop and docking station. Download and install docking station drivers. Depending on your setup, Windows might simply automatically detect your docking station or begin downloading and installing its drivers. Sometimes, you may have to do this yourself. Consult your docking station’s manual, to be sure. If using a Dell docking station with your Dell laptop, which is not required, acquiring the necessary drivers is easy. For Dell Universal USB docking stations, simply download and install the latest DisplayLink drivers. For Dell USB-C or Thunderbolt docking stations, find the drivers for your specific device on Dell’s Drivers and Downloads website. Once everything is connected and any necessary drivers are installed, your connected monitors should work. If they aren’t working, you may have to configure Windows’ display settings.
