Frequently Asked Questions
Air Display(1)

You do not need to purchase Air Display 2, in order to use Air Display. They are separate products, and although the original Air Display is no longer available for purchase, your purchased apps are available for download and we will continue to support it.

Air Display(1) should be in the ‘purchases’ section of the App Store. Please make sure that you are logged into the App Store under the same Apple ID used to make the purchase. Sometimes it can also be helpful to log out of the App Store and log back in again.

Please also keep in mind that ‘searching’ for Air Display will only find Air Display 2 and you must browse through your purchases.

Air Display is no longer available for purchase.

Air Display is an app that lets you connect an iPad, Android tablet, or Mac or Windows computer as a secondary display to a primary Mac or PC desktop using your wireless network.

By default Air Display is set to function in Extended Desktop mode, which will have the display device behave just like an additional screen once connected over Wi-Fi.

There is also the option to enable Mirror Mode, which will have the display device show the same content that is on the primary display.

Air Display works by using two different pieces of software, a Host and a Client, which allow your computer to communicate with your chosen display device.

The Host software runs in the background on your main computer, and the Client software runs on the device you wish to use as an extra screen.

The Host listens for Client connections over Wi-Fi, and when you launch the Client app and tell the Host to make a connection, your computer treats that new screen the same as if you’d plugged in an extra monitor!

Multiple Display Support
Air Display now supports connecting more than one display device to your computer at a time. Connect your iPad and your old Macbook Pro at the same time!

Improved App Backgrounding
Air Display now works better with multi-tasking! When the Client app is backgrounded on iOS devices Air Display can now save your desktop status by transferring it to your primary computer temporarily. When you re-open the Client app the desktop window will automatically move back to your iOS device.

Presentation Mode
Use Air Display when presenting to clients or students? Air Display now has Presentation Mode, which disables all mouse and keyboard input from touchscreen tablets.

Improved UI
With Air Display 2 we’ve completely revamped the UI of the software to make it easier to configure and easier to use. Instructions in the Client app explain clearly the steps needed to install and connect.

Interface Help
We’ve also added a new help button for the desktop view which shows exactly how to use the different multi-touch gestures on iPad or Android tablet to control your computer’s mouse.

No longer in System Preferences (Mac)
For Mac users, we’ve relocated our Host software from being in the System Preferences to now being accessed through the Applications folder like your other favorite Mac apps.

Improved Speed
Up to 50% faster!

Air Display(1) uses an older set of drivers and is compatible with Mac (OS X 10.6 or later) or Windows (7 Home premium through Windows 8.1).

These drivers are not compatible with other Air Display products (e.g. Air Display 2, Air Display for Android, etc.) which have different system requirements

Air Display does not natively support connections with Apple TV.

You can, however, use Apple’s AirPlay to transmit the screen of an iOS device that is connected with Air Display to an AppleTV.

For more information about using AppleTV and AirPlay click here.

No. Air Display can not broadcast an iOS screen to a computer display.

Yes. Air Display can work as long as your computer and the display device are on the same network. It does not matter if the computer is using a wired connection versus a wireless connection.

Note: If this causes the devices to be on different local IP subnets you will need to use the ‘Connect to Other’ option to connect using the IP address of the display device.

We have no plans at this time to develop a Linux version of the Host software.

Photoshop CS4 and higher uses hardware acceleration.

Air Display can not use GPU/OpenGL hardware accelerated rendering. Air Display is a virtualized display adapter which prevents it from interacting with any hardware at all.

You can fix this by turning Open GL support off in your settings.

Please see this Adobe support page for information regarding the procedure for doing this:

http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/gpu-opengl-features-preferences-photoshop.html

Air Display can have trouble using some internet browsers if the browser has hardware acceleration enabled. IE9 and FireFox 4 both have this enabled by default. This issue is easily fixed by disabling hardware acceleration in the browser’s settings. After doing this Air Display should be able to render the browser’s content properly.

Instructions for IE9: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2528233
Instructions for FireFox: http://www.trishtech.com/internet/disable_hardware_acceleration_in_firefox_4.php

On Windows:

Open Control Panel, select Display, and click on the Adjust Resolution.

You’ll see your displays represented by blue boxes in this menu.

Click and drag on the blue box representing the Air Display device to change the positioning.

On Mac:

When Air Display is connected, go to System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement.

Click on your Air Display screen (usually the smaller one) and drag it to the position you would like it to be.

Air Display 3 now supports USB communication, allowing you to connect your iOS and Mac through Air Display over the USB cable!

Find out more about Air Display 3 here:

If touch input isn’t working you may have Presentation Mode enabled. Click the Air Display icon on your computer and then click the gear icon to bring up Preferences. Make sure Presentation Mode is disabled. If it is already, try toggling it on and back off.

Air Display can still be used in environments without a network established as long as both devices are Wi-Fi capable.

To do this, you’ll need to set up an ad-hoc network connection. An ad-hoc network is a direct peer-to-peer connection between your computer and the display device. This can be set up without any existing network or when network settings prevent you from connecting normally.

Mac

1. Click the WiFi icon in your menubar
2. Choose Create Network…
3. Name the network and click Create
4. Now on your iOS device, go to the main settings, and connect to the network you just set up as your Wi-Fi connection.

If you can’t get connected to your iOS device, try disabling the ethernet port on your computer, so only your Wi-Fi connection is active.

Windows 7

1. Go to the Start Menu and type wireless in the search field
2. Click Manage Wireless Network
3. Click Add
4. Click Create an ad hoc network
5. Click Next
6. Give your network a name (this is what you will connect to later on your iPhone). Set up a password for your network if you wish.
7. Click Next
8. Now on your iOS device, go to the main settings, and connect to the network you just set up as your Wi-Fi connection.

If you can’t get connected to your iOS device, try disabling the ethernet port on your computer, so only your Wi-Fi connection is active.

Windows Vista

1. Open the Start menu, then click Control Panel.
2. Click Network and Internet.
3. Click Network and Sharing Center.
4. Click “Set up a connection or network” from the Tasks toolbar on the left.
5. Choose “Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network.”
6. Click Next.
7. Click Next.
8. Give your network a name (this is what you will connect to later on your iPhone).
9. Set up a password for your network if you wish.
10. Click Next.
11. Click Close.
12. Now on your iOS device, go to the main settings, and connect to the network you just set up as your Wi-Fi connection.

If you can’t get connected to your iOS device, try disabling the ethernet port on your computer, so only your Wi-Fi connection is active.

Windows XP

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Under Pick a category, click Network and Internet Connections.
4. Under Pick a Control Panel icon, click Network Connections.
5. Right-click your wireless network connection, and then click Properties.
6. In the Wireless Network Connection Properties dialog box, click the Wireless Networks tab.
7. On the Wireless Networks tab, under Preferred networks, click Add.
8. In the Wireless network properties dialog box, on the Association tab, type the name of your ad hoc wireless network in Network name (SSID) box. For example, you could name your wireless network “Air Display”.
9. Clear the The key is provided for me automatically check box.
10. Select the This is a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network check box.
11. Create a password and type it in both the Network key and Confirm network key boxes. For the best security, include letters, numbers, and punctuation.
12. Click OK.
13. Click OK again to save your changes.
14. Now on your iOS device, go to the main settings, and connect to the network you just set up as your Wi-Fi connection.

If you can’t get connected to your iOS device, try disabling the ethernet port on your computer, so only your Wi-Fi connection is active.

With the release of Air Display 2 we have added in support for connecting multiple devices.

To do this you’ll need to install the Client app on to each device you wish to use as a display.

To connect additional displays you’ll just click on the ‘Connect’ button to add up to four devices shown in the Host software’s device list. It’s that simple!

Currently Mac only, Windows support coming soon.

No. You will need to rely on the primary computer for sound.

On Windows:

Click on the Air Display icon in the System Tray and click Preferences icon (the gear at the bottom right).

Check the Mirror Mode box.

On Mac:

When Air Display is connected, go to System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement.

Check the Mirror Displays box.

If you are having difficulties downloading or installing the client app on to your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, or Android device, try doing a hard restart on the device and trying again.

If you still have issues with this you may need to contact the support team for the App Store you are purchasing from and verify your App Store settings are correct.

Your Mac isn’t associating install packages with the correct app and instead is just sending them to the Terminal.

If you go to /System/Library/CoreServices/ and run the ‘Installer.app’ you should get the option to open a file. Navigate to the Air Display installer file in the compressed zip folder and click Open. This will force the installer package to be run in the correct application.

Create a new admin account on your Mac. Log into that account and then try reinstalling Air Display again. After installing it on the test account you should be able to install it on your normal account as well.

If you do not see the new icon in the menubar try opening up your Applications folder and running the Air Display Host.app located there.

Installing a license file is only needed when you are upgrading the Mac trial version from our website to a full version.

Download the Mac Trial Client here, under ‘Installation.’

Unzip the AirDisplay.app and place this in your Applications folder. Take the license file that is emailed to you after your purchase and drag and drop it on to the blue Air Display.app icon in the Applications directory.

Note: You will not apply the license file on the primary computer to the free Host software. The license must be added to the Client software on the display machine.

If you need a new copy of the license file emailed to you please contact us at support@34.221.205.203 with your request.

You can uninstall Air Display by running the UninstallAirDisplay script in your Applications>Utilities directory.

If you are seeing the Galaxy graphic on your secondary device you have successfully connected. This is a default OS X background that is shown because Air Display is running in extended desktop mode. Air Display’s ultimate function is to give you a second monitor that also can be utilized as a touch interface.

When Air Display is connected you can open up System Preferences>Displays>Arrangement in order to position where you’d like the secondary screen in relation to your primary screen.

Once you have your device connected to your computer and properly positioned, you can drag windows over to your extended monitor and interact with the the contents of those windows either with the keyboard and mouse of your computer, or with the touch interface and keyboard (iOS and Mac Client only) incorporated into Air Display.

When Air Display is connected go to System Preferences>Displays>Arrangement in order to position where you’d like the secondary screen in relation to your primary screen.

You can do this by enabling display mirroring in System Preferences. Open up System Preferences>Displays>Arrangement and there will be a checkbox at the bottom that says ‘Mirror Displays’ which will enable you to activate OS X’s mirror mode.

This is because the Retina resolution for your device is enabled. Because this is such a high resolution on such a small screen it will make your windows and text appear small.

To disable the Retina resolution, open the Air Display menu, click the gear to open the settings and then uncheck the option to ‘Use Retina resolutions when available.’

Keynote uses hardware rendering when it is in presentation mode. Air Display is a completely virtualized display adapter so it cannot access any of the hardware features in the computer.

Whenever a program tries to use the graphics card to render something this causes problems on the Air Display screen. Keynote does this and there isn’t any way to disable it and activate software rendering.

As an alternative solution, the latest version of PowerPoint does not have this problem.

This is likely because the video player uses OpenGL hardware acceleration for rendering or encoding. Air Display is a completely virtualized display adapter, meaning it cannot access any of the computer’s hardware. When a video player uses the graphics card to render video Air Display can not process it. There are several free video players available that are capable of using software rendering.

This can be fixed using the System Preferences>Displays>Arrangement menu. Open this menu and you’ll see the two blue screens representing the placement of your displays. In that diagram you can click on the white bar that represents the menubar and drag it to the desired desktop. To adjust the dock you can use the System Preferences>Dock menu.

Please Note: Due to the way that OS X handles positioning the dock with multiple displays, if you have the dock set to the left and the iPad screen to the left of the primary screen it will automatically position the dock on the iPad screen. This is a limitation of OS X and not something we can adjust with our software.

This is a bug caused by Apple’s display drivers on certain models and not something we were able to fix on our end. Thankfully, Apple addressed this issue in 10.9 and made OS X free. So, you just need to upgrade to 10.9 to get this issue resolved.

This is a bug caused by Apple’s display drivers affecting certain models and not something we are able to permanently fix. We have found if you open up System Preferences>Displays menu and press the ‘Detect Displays’ button that the other displays will be detected.

If you installed the server software from 34.220.123.79/d and it completed successfully and rebooted your machine Air Display is already running.

The Air Display server software runs in the background and can be accessed through the new icon it has placed in your system tray, by the date/time. The icon is blue and looks like two small monitors. You may need to press a triangular button in order to show your hidden system tray icons.

If you have trouble with the installer not finishing check to see if your Windows Firewall is disabled.

If the Firewall is disabled during the installation process the Air Display installer sometimes will not think it has sufficient permissions in order to install all of the software.

Turning the Windows Firewall back on and running the installer again will fix this.

If you receive this error message check in your C:/Program Files/Avatron/Air Display directory and run the installation file there.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the Task Manager. Find the AirDisplay.exe process and terminate it. Use the Start Menu to start Air Display back up and the system tray icon should be present. Win7 Users be sure to right click and choose ‘Run as administrator.’

Installing a license file is only needed when you are upgrading the Mac trial version from our website to a full version.

Download the one hour trial of the PC Client here.

Extract the downloaded compressed zip folder and run the AirDisplayClient_Setup.exe within. Once the Air Display Client program is running, select Help > License > Open License File

You will not be able to add the license file on the primary computer using the server software which runs in the system tray. The license must be added to the client software on the display machine.

If you need a new copy of the license file emailed to you please contact us at support@34.221.205.203 with your request.

You can uninstall Air Display by going to Start>Programs>Air Display> and selecting ‘Uninstall Air Display Support.’

If the display device’s screen switches to a blank desktop everything is connected properly. Air Display is running in extended desktop mode by default. Air Display’s ultimate function is to give you a second monitor that also can be utilized as a touch interface.

You can adjust the positioning of this screen by opening up the Windows resolution control menu where you will see your connected displays shown.

Once you have your secondary device connected to your computer and properly positioned, you can drag windows over to your extended monitor and interact with the the contents of those windows either with the keyboard and mouse of your computer, or with the touch interface and iOS keyboard incorporated into Air Display.

You can duplicate what’s on the primary screen by opening the Air Display Host software’s Preferences and then selecting ‘Enable Mirror Mode.’

Air Display’s screen position can be adjusted just like a normal display.

Open Control Panel,select Display, and click on the Adjust Resolution. You’ll see your displays represented by blue boxes in this menu. Click and drag on the blue box representing the Air Display device to change the positioning.

Air Display needs to be used with an Aero theme on Windows 7 in order for extended mode to work. To get things working, try the following: