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Here's my set up: I have my work laptop connected to a docking station. The docking station is connected to 2 monitors so while I'm working I've got the extra screen space(extended desktop). My wireless keyboard/mouse USB dongle is also plugged into the docking station.

Here's what I'd like to do: I have a personal desktop computer but not enough physical desk space to get another monitor on there. Is there a way to use one of the existing monitors and my current keyboard/mouse with my desktop without constantly switching cables and swapping the keyboard/mouse dongle? Will a KVM switch do it?

I've seen the Input Director and Synergy programs mentioned in previous threads but I'm not sure those will work with what I'm trying to do. Thanks in advance for any help/advice, I appreciate it.

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A KVM switch will work for your immediate question.

Synergy (and I'm not sure about Input Director) bridges multiple monitors connected to different physical machines, so you would lose the extra screen space for the laptop, but you would keep it when hooked up to the desktop. The downside of this is that you wouldn't be able to drag programs across to the other screen, but it would have a similar end result.

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  • Thanks Kruug, I should have been more clear. When I use my work computer the desktop will be off. When I turn off/remove my laptop from the docking station I'd like to be able to use the desktop. Will a KVM switch still allow that and because of the docking station where will the KVM switch go? The laptop connects by just sitting on the dock, on the back of the dock there are two monitor out ports which is how my monitors are connected...this is the docking station I have: accessories.us.dell.com/sna/…
    – msu50000
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 16:12
  • Yes, a KVM switch will work in this situation. The KVM will notice that there is not active device on the laptop side and should (depending on the model) auto-switch to the desktop. When you then re-dock the laptop, if the desktop is on, you will have to press the button to switch, but if the desktop is off, the KVM should switch to the laptop automatically (again, depending on the model).
    – Kruug
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 17:01
  • Ok, so I went out and bought a KVM switch. It's the Iogear 2-port USB. My docking station has a DVI out and a VGA out and I was using both to have dual monitors (ext desktop) with my work laptop in the docking station. With the iogear in the mix, my main monitor no longer displays all of the various resolutions and the screen looks terrible. They are 22" displays so they look really bad with lower resolutions.
    – msu50000
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 20:59

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