Playing a video fullscreen on a second monitor, on Windows

Stage3 Team · 9 March 2026

A TV in a store window or at reception looping a video, a projector showing a clip during a conference, a second monitor turned toward your visitors: the scenario is always the same. You want a video fullscreen on that external display, and you want to keep your main screen for control or for work. The catch is that the public screen must NEVER show the desktop, the cursor, the taskbar or a notification. With an ordinary player, this is surprisingly painful. Here is why, and how to show nothing but the video.

Why it is painful with VLC, Windows Media Player or PowerPoint

On paper, putting a video fullscreen on the second display should take ten seconds. In practice, an ordinary player was never designed to separate a control screen from a public screen, and everything works against you:

• Fullscreen opens on the wrong screen. You hit fullscreen and the video takes over your main screen, not the TV. So you drag the window over to the second display, then switch to fullscreen, and you redo it every time you open the player.
• The desktop leaks onto the public screen. The cursor comes to rest on the picture, the taskbar reappears the moment you move the mouse, and a Windows notification pops up in the middle of the video, in front of everyone.
• The slightest move breaks it. One alt-tab, one stray click, one window stealing focus, and fullscreen collapses: the audience is suddenly looking at your desktop, your icons, your open tabs.
• You cannot work on the side. Since playback lives on the public screen and a click anywhere else kills it, you sit there guarding the window instead of using your main screen freely.

What you actually need: a control screen that is yours, and a public screen that shows only the video, fullscreen, no matter what you do elsewhere.

Setting it up with Stage3

Stage3 is a Windows app built for live playback. It draws a hard line between your control desk and the public screen: video and audio go fullscreen to the second display, while your main screen stays yours. Here is the procedure.

• 1. Plug in the second display (TV, projector or monitor) and leave Windows in extended mode, its usual setting. No Duplicate mode: that is exactly what we are avoiding.
• 2. Add your video by dragging it into the window. If the file will not play as is, one click converts it, with nothing else to install.
• 3. Open the screen selector in the top bar. Every display is listed with its resolution: pick the second monitor as the output. Your main screen stays as the control desk, marked "(app)".
• 4. Press F5 (or OUTPUT) to switch the second display to fullscreen. The video fills the whole screen and nothing from the desktop shows: no cursor, no taskbar, no notification. The button reads ON AIR while the output is live.
• 5. Start playback from your control screen with Space or Enter. The public screen shows only the video, start to finish.

The sound follows the output window: it travels with the picture, over the HDMI cable if the display is a TV or a projector. A single audio source, so no echo. And to Windows, a TV or a projector is just another display: the procedure is exactly the same whatever the hardware. Everything plays from your own files; the only time Stage3 goes online is the first license activation.

Where it makes the difference

• Store window or reception TV. A product clip or a brand video looping on the screen that faces the street or your visitors, while you work normally on your main screen.
• Event projector. A video fullscreen in front of the room during a conference, without ever exposing the desktop or notifications, with the audio going out through the projector's HDMI.
• Waiting screen. A loop left running for hours on a second monitor, in a waiting room or at a front desk, unattended and with nothing sent to a server.
• Kiosk. A dedicated screen that shows one video and nothing else, set up in minutes on an ordinary laptop with no dedicated graphics card.

Common questions

Can I keep using my main screen while the video plays?

Yes, that is the whole point. The second monitor goes fullscreen and shows only the video, while your main screen stays free. It becomes your control desk: you keep the control window there, start or pause playback, and you can even work on the side. Nothing you do on the main screen appears on the public one.

Do the cursor, taskbar or notifications show up on the second monitor?

No. The Stage3 output covers the whole second monitor and shows only the video. No desktop, no taskbar, no stray cursor, no notification popping up at the worst moment. The audience sees nothing but the picture, start to finish.

Does it work with a TV or a projector?

Yes. To Windows, a TV or a projector plugged in over HDMI is just another display. As soon as it shows up in the screen selector, you pick it as an output, exactly like a monitor. The TV brand or projector model makes no difference.

Can I loop the video?

Yes. Turn on media loop and the clip restarts on its own when it ends, with no break and no black screen. It is the right setting for a signage video in a store window or at reception, left running all day with nobody around to restart it.

Which screen does the sound come out of?

The sound follows the output window, meaning the second monitor. If you are playing to a TV or a projector, the audio travels with the picture over the HDMI cable. There is a single audio source, so no echo, and if the output window closes, another one takes over.

Read next

• Loop a video 24/7 on Windows: the signage loop that runs all day on your public screen.
• Fade to black and clean live transitions: bring the picture down on cue instead of cutting hard.