What Does a Laptop Docking Station Do?

Do you own a laptop and often struggle to connect multiple devices with it simultaneously? A docking station might come in handy to you in this case.

We have put together a detailed guide for you explaining what a laptop docking station does and how you can fix the issues with it with easy step-by-step instructions.

What Does a Laptop Docking Station Do?

A docking station, also known as a universal port replicator, is a hardware device that lets you connect your laptop with other devices simultaneously, such as a keyboard, printer, mouse, etc. This helps you convert your laptop into a desktop computer.

For instance, if you’ve created a document using your laptop, you can attach the PC to the docking station at your office and use the monitor and printer there. As a result, this saves you from using any additional wires and cables.

The docking station also allows you to connect with and use devices you cannot normally use with your laptop. A digital camera, for example, is not always compatible with your system. By plugging both your laptop and the camera into the docking station, you can use them together.

How To Fix an Unrecognizable Docking Station

If you’re wondering how to resolve the issue of your docking station not recognizing your laptop, our 3 step-by-step methods will help you accomplish this task without much hassle.

Method #1: Resetting the Laptop

Resetting your Windows laptop using these steps can help you make the docking station recognize it.

1. Open the Settings on your Windows laptop.
2. Navigate to “System” > “Recovery”.
3. Click the “Reset PC” option next to “Reset this PC”.
4. Connect your laptop to the docking station and check if it recognizes the device.

Method #2: Running the Hardware Troubleshooter

To fix the docking station issue not recognizing your laptop, run the troubleshooter with these steps.

1. Press the Win + R keys on your Windows laptop to open the Run box.
2. Enter the command msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic in the bar next to “Open” and press “OK”.
3. On the “Hardware and Devices” window, click “Next” at the bottom.
4. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the troubleshooting process and see if the issue is resolved.

Method #3: Updating the Graphics Card Drivers

It is possible to resolve the docking station not recognizing your laptop by updating the graphics card drivers with these steps.

1. Right-click the Start button.
2. Click “Device Manager”.
3. Find “Display adapters” and expand it.
4. Right-click the graphics card driver on your PC and choose “Update Driver”.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to upgrade the graphics card drivers on your laptop.

How To Fix Docking Station Audio Problems

When you connect your laptop to the docking station, you may face audio issues that you can resolve with our 3 step-by-step methods below.

Method #1: Resetting the Device

If the audio on your device connected to the docking station is not working fine, a device reset can fix the problem.

1. Open the Settings on your Windows laptop.
2. Navigate to “System” > “Recovery”.
3. Click the “Reset PC” option next to “Reset this PC”.
4. Connect your laptop to the docking station and check if the audio is working fine now.

Method #2: Updating the Audio Drivers

Updating the audio drivers on your Windows laptop can also fix the sound issues with the docking station.

1. Right-click the Start button.
2. Click “Device Manager” from the menu appearing before you.
3. Click “Sound, video and game controllers”.
4. Right-click your audio device from the available options.
5. Select “Update driver” from the pop-up menu and follow the prompts to complete the update.

Method #3: Switching the Audio Playback

Switching the audio between the docking station and your laptop can also help overcome sound problems. 

Here are the complete methods for this process to make things easy for you. 

1. On your Windows laptop, open Settings and click “Sound”.
2. Choose “Choose your output device”.
3. Select an alternate audio device you want to use and see if your docking station’s sound is working fine.

Summary

In this guide, we’ve discussed what a laptop docking station does and have looked into some fixes for when the docking station is not recognizing your device or facing audio issues.

We hope one of these methods has worked for you, and you can now easily use a docking station to convert your laptop into a desktop computer.