I recently bought a triple monitor docking station (UD-6950PDZ) and am using it with a windows 11 desktop and an M1 14 inch Macbook pro. When plugging the dock into the Macbook pro it works completely fine, however when plugging it in to the windows 11 PC one of the monitors does not work.
The source of the issue appears to be the monitor port titled ‘Display 1’. While the dock is plugged into the windows PC, None of the monitors plugged into ‘Display 1’ work. Even if I only plug one monitor into the dock in the ‘Display 1’ port, it still refuses to turn on.
To specify, whichever monitor is plugged into display 1 is not detected at all by the computer. When I open DisplayLink Manager, the third monitor is not there.
I don’t think it’s a broken hardware problem, as the port works totally fine on my Macbook. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you for contacting us, I am sorry this is not working as expected and I am happy to help!
This docking station relies on two graphics technologies to support up to three external displays.
The “Display 2” and “Display 3” outputs are controlled by DisplayLink USB Graphics Technology, this is a combination of software on the computer and hardware on the docking station which extends the capability of the computer to support more displays than the computer was designed to support. This requires installing the DisplayLink drivers for Windows ( https://plugable.com/drivers/displaylink ) or the DisplayLink Manager App for macOS and configuring macOS to support the external displays ( for macOS 13 and 14: https://kb.plugable.com/1595423, for macOS 11, and 12: https://kb.plugable.com/1185378 ).
The “Display 1” output relies on the computer’s internal graphics controller, it utilizes USB Type-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode (“Alt-Mode” for short). This is an optional USB Type-C port feature which is not enabled on all computers. This relies on the computer’s built-in graphics drivers and requires the docking station to be connected directly to a USB Type-C port with Alt-Mode capability using the original USB Type-C data cable provided with the docking station. USB Type-C cables from other products, or purchased separately online may be charging cables that do not support Alt-Mode video data.
Desktop computers generally do not support USB Type-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode, even if they include a USB Type-C Port ( excepting some very small form factor desktop computers like the Intel NUC ).
When sharing the docking station and external displays between a fully compatible computer like the MacBook and a partially compatible computer like a Desktop tower I recommend the following:
Connect all three displays to the docking station for use with the MacBook computer - Most computer monitors and televisions have two or more input ports, if you are unsure how to make these connections please feel free to take and attach a photo of the ports on the back of the computer and let me know the manufacturer name and model of the computer monitor ( or include a second photo of the monitor’s inputs ) and I can provide additional details.
Connect directly from the desktop computer to a secondary input on the monitor connected to the “Display 1” port on the docking station.
When using the Desktop computer, use the shared monitor’s input selection menu ( part of the on screen menu ) to select the input connected directly to the Desktop computer.
When switching the cable end back from the Desktop computer to the MacBook, use the monitor’s on screen menu to select the input port connected to the docking station’s “Display 1” output.
This will allow both computers to use all three external displays, and connected devices.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions, or if there is anything else I can do to help.
We’re closing this thread due to inactivity, but if you have any further questions please feel free to contact support@plugable.com and we’ll be happy to help.