Surface Dock 2 not displaying external monitors anymore after reinstalling windows

Question

Hi,

I had a dock station 2 for 1 year, which was working well with my Surface laptop 7th edition to display on 2 external monitors. I bringed my laptop to someone to fix it when I encountered an (unrelated) issue. He decided to reinstall completely windows (thus windows 11, ARM edition).

Everything works well except the connection with the other monitors, which I've not been able to solve.

I've already tried all the simple methods, such as Surface Diagnostic Toolkit, checking for Windows Update or the dock 2 firmware directly. I even went beyond that (installing displaylinks etc..) but nothing ever worked...

Thank you for your time,

Julien

Answer 1

Hey Julien,

It sounds like you're facing an annoying issue with the Surface Dock 2 after the Windows reinstall. When you reinstall Windows, it can sometimes reset or misconfigure drivers or settings that affect peripheral devices like external monitors.

Given that you've already tried some of the basic troubleshooting steps, here are a few more things you could check:

Check Display Settings

• Right-click on your desktop, and go to Display Settings.

Make sure that the monitors are detected under Multiple displays. If they’re not showing up, try clicking Detect.

Check if the resolution or refresh rate for the external monitors are set properly. Sometimes, monitors won’t display anything if these settings are mismatched.

Device Manager

Open Device Manager (type "Device Manager" in the Start Menu search).

Expand the Display adapters section and make sure there are no exclamation marks indicating a problem.

Also, expand Universal Serial Bus controllers and make sure that the Surface Dock 2 is listed without any issues.

Right-click the Surface Dock device and try Update Driver.

Surface Dock Firmware Update

Even though you mentioned you’ve tried updating the firmware, it's worth checking again through the official Surface Dock firmware tool:

Go to Surface Dock 2 firmware download page and make sure you have the latest firmware version.

Sometimes, a reinstallation of the firmware after a fresh Windows install helps reset any underlying conflicts.

Check the Cable and Ports

It's easy to overlook the physical connection. Double-check that the cable to your Surface Dock is properly connected to both the Surface and the dock itself.

Try using different USB-C ports on your laptop if available.

DisplayLink Drivers

Since you mentioned installing DisplayLink, make sure you have the latest version of their drivers. DisplayLink can sometimes be required for docking stations to work properly, especially on Surface devices.

Uninstall the current DisplayLink version, and reinstall the latest version from the official DisplayLink website.

Windows Graphics Settings

Go to Settings > System > Display > Graphics Settings.

Check if there’s any specific app or setting that might be limiting the external monitors.

Ensure that "hardware acceleration" is enabled, especially if you're using apps that require it for dual displays.

Try a Clean Boot

This will help eliminate any software conflicts that could be affecting the dock.

Open msconfig (type it in the search bar).

Under the Services tab, select Hide all Microsoft services, and then click Disable all.

Under the Startup tab, click Open Task Manager, and disable all startup items.

Restart your laptop and see if that resolves the issue.

Test with a Different Surface Device

If you can, test the Surface Dock 2 with a different laptop or Surface device. This can help determine if the issue is with the laptop or the dock itself.

Let me know if any of these suggestions help.