Can I connect my surface pro 5 ( mini display port) to a dell docking station ( USB C) so that it can display on my two screens. Is there an adaptor I can get. If yes, please tell me which one.

Question

Trying to connect my surface pro 5 ( with celular) to my dell docking station. ( USBC). The adaptors I have found do not seem to support this connection. Has anyone had this problem and how did they resolve it. My ultimate aim is to connect the surface pro to two display monitors.

Answer 1

Hello, Toks Joseph.

Welcome to Microsoft Community!

To use a Surface device with a docking station, we typically recommend that users use the Surface Dock family of devices, such as the Surface Dock 2 and Surface Thunderbolt 4.

For Dell docking stations, we have limited knowledge. If you want the best compatibility to support Surface Pro 5 and monitor connections, the Surface Pro 5 cables connected to the Dell Docking Station would be a worthwhile improvement.

I am here to share with you Microsoft's accessories designed for Surface devices:

Accessories Designed for Surface

Here you can select the cable that meets your usage specifications to connect and observe the results.

In addition, you can also try to manually get the driver and firmware installation package for Surface Pro 5 to troubleshoot potential driver issues and maintain device performance:

Download Surface Pro 5 [Wi-Fi] Drivers and Firmware from Official Microsoft Download Center

Please reboot your device after the download is complete to apply the driver update.

I wish you all the best.

Best Regards.

Leo.L - Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hi Toks,

No, you can't do that. mDP video out and USB-C data in are completely different formats and are not interoperable in that way.

But, you may be able to daisy chain one monitor to the other...

For external displays compatible with daisy chain, please contact display manufacturer for configuration details and specifications.

As an example, here is how to set up daisy chain with DisplayPort:

Using a Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable, connect the Mini DisplayPort on your Surface to the DisplayPort input on the first external display. If only one of your external displays has an output port, connect your Surface to that external display first.

Connect the output port of the first external display to the DisplayPort input port of the other external display.

Follow the monitor manufacturer’s instructions to set both external displays to use DisplayPort 1.2 as an input source. For example, this might be called Multi-Stream Transport (MST), which allows the first display to pass the signal along to the second external display.

Hope this helps,

Greg