Google’s Chromecast is a really cheap and simple way to turn your normal old TV into an internet-connected smart TV. This guide will show you how to stream any media from your Windows PC to your Chromecast with ease!
With a Chromecast, it’s easy to stream media from your Windows PC to your TV. However, this is often referred to as “casting” rather than streaming – so for the majority of this article, we’ll be using that term.
Stream from Windows 10 to Chromecast
If you want to stream content from your Windows 10 PC to your Chromecast, we've put together a dedicated article here, explaining this very cool feature in detail!
This guide has all you need to know to get media from your Windows 10 PC to your Chromecast – but if you're using an older version of Windows, read on to find out how it works for you.
Stream from Windows 7, 8 or 8.1
Users of older version of Windows can very easily cast to Chromecast too.
If you're one of them, you have two options: you can either cast directly fromthe web with Google's Chrome web browser, or you can stream your own locally-stored media files using a piece of software called Plex Media Server.
We've included instructions for both methods below – so have a read through the two options and see what works best for you:
Cast from Google Chrome
In order to enable casting from Chrome, you first need the Google Chrome browser installed. Then, you'll need to install the Chromecast add-on from the Chrome Webstore – download it by clicking here. Once it's installed, click back here and we’ll continue with the next steps.
Once the Chromecast add-on is installed, you will have a Chromecast icon in the top-right corner of Chrome. To cast from Chrome, simply open up the content you want to stream 6 a website, YouTube video or anything else – then press the 'Cast' button in the top-right corner.
Next, you'll be asked what device you want to cast to, so simply select your Chromecast and start streaming. Depending on what exactly you're casting, your Chromecast and PC may behave in some different ways:
If you're just mirroring your current webpage, then your actions within Chrome will simply show up on the TV.
Services which have a dedicated Chromecast app behave a little differently. If you cast a YouTube video, Netflix stream or similar supported service, then your Chromecast will start playing the video directly through its own apps – meaning you can get on with other things on your PC while your Chromecast continues playing the video stream.
So, that has you covered for streaming from the internet, but what about streaming media files from your PC? For that, you'll need a piece of software called Plex Media Server– read on to find out how it works!
Cast from Plex Media Server
If you have Plex Media Server set up on your PC, you can cast any video from your media library to your Chromecast.
The process is very similar to the steps outlined above: you still need to have the Chrome browser installed along with the Chromecast extension. You'll also need the Plex Media Server software installed: if you don't already have it, you can follow our setup guide here.
Once you've met these requirements, simply open the Plex Web Player and find a video, movie, TV show or anything you’ve added to your library and start playing it.
Once it's playing, look for the Cast icon in the top-right corner of the video. Press this, then simply choose your Chromecast to begin.
As with streaming directly from Chrome, your Chromecast is intelligent enough to know what’s going on here – and will automatically switch to streaming straight from the Plex Media Server software, than sending everything through Chrome itself. This leaves you free to enjoy your media and do anything else you want on your PC!
These instructions should have you casting away like it was going out of fashion – but if you're still having trouble streaming to your Chromecast from Windows, drop us a line in the comments below and we'll do our best to help!