How to Mirror Android to PC with USB Cable

In this post, I document how I mirror my Samsung Galaxy S10 Android phone screen to a Windows laptop using a USB cable… no lag… no Wifi!

Watch the recorded live stream… https://youtu.be/6BkM-REjj1k

Overview

1. Mirroring Android Screen
2. What You Need
3. About Screen Copy
4. Installing Screen Copy
5. How to Enable USB Debugging

1. Mirroring Android Screen

• • Why mirror an Android phone screen?
    • For teaching phone applications
      • Check out my Smartphone Video Class – https://gumroad.com/adrianlee
    • To use the phone as a webcam
  • 2 ways to display Android screen on a PC
    • Wirelessly
      • Watch “How to Cast Android Screen to the Mac Wirelessly for Free” – https://youtu.be/DmRP6YuSpsI
      • Watch “How to Mirror Android Screen to MacBook Pro Wirelessly using Zoom” – https://youtu.be/EWHiJco–4Q
    • USB cable
  • The problem with wireless casting
    • lag
    • reliance on wifi
  • The next best solution
    • wired – using a USB Cable
  • What can it do
    • Minimum Lag
    • Horizontal Landscape Orientation
    • Vertical Portrait Orientation
    • Mouse / Trackpad / Touch-screen Control
    • Keyboard Typing

2. What You Need

• • An Android Phone (not for iPhone)
  • A Windows PC (or a Mac)
  • An Android USB charging cable 
  • Screen Copy – the software that makes it work
  • An initial set up procedure

3. About Screen Copy

• • Go to Github Genymobile – https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy 
  • What is Screen Copy? 
    • This application provides display and control of Android devices connected on USB (or over TCP/IP). 
    • It does not require any root access. 
    • It works on GNU/Linux, Windows, and macOS. 
  • What are the main features?
    • lightness (native, displays only the device screen)
    • performance (30~60fps)
    • quality (1920×1080 or above)
    • low latency (35~70ms)
    • low startup time (~1 second to display the first image)
    • non-intrusiveness (nothing is left installed on the device)
  •  Requirements before you install
    • The Android device requires at least API 21 (Android 5.0).
    • Make sure you enabled debugging on your device(s).
    • On some devices, you also need to enable an additional option to control it using a keyboard and mouse. 
  • Audio forwarding – Audio is not forwarded by SCRCPY. Use SNDCPY.

4. Installing Screen Copy 

• • Download and extract zip file for Windows.  
  • Run SCRCPY from the extracted folder.  
  • If the Android screen does not show, then enable USB debugging. 

5. How to Enable USB Debugging  

• • The following steps may vary among different Android phones. 
    • Go to Settings 
    • Select About Phone – Sofware Information
    • Tap on Build Number a few times 
    • Go back to Settings
    • Select Developer Options
    • Activate USB Debugging
    • Activate Always Prompt…
    • Activate Allow ADB…
  • Go back to the computer and run SCRCPY again.

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Adrian Lee – VIDEOLANE.COM

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