Hotfix Available to Fix January's Surface Pro 3 Miracast Problems

If you applied the updates Intel video driver available for your Surface Pro 3 in January, you might have noticed that Miracast (screen casting) no longer works. There are a number of customers that have reported Miracast is broken and Microsoft has determined that the cause is from the updated driver.

There's a solution available now in the form of a hotfix. The KB article is available now HERE (KB3052469), and obtaining the actual hotfix involves contacting Microsoft to send you an email with a link to the download. And, the hotfix comes with the following caution:

WARNING   This hotfix has not undergone full testing. Therefore, it is intended only for systems or computers that are experiencing the exact problem that is described in the one or more Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that are listed in "KB Article Numbers" field in the table at the end of this e-mail message. If you are not sure whether any special compatibility or installation issues are associated with this hotfix, we encourage you to wait for the next service pack release.

P.S. This is also reported to affect the Surface Pro 2.

A couple caveats:

I applied the driver just to test, as I didn't have the Miracast issues reported by some customers. Yes, I decided to act contrary to Microsoft's warning. The things I do for you, sometimes. I use Miracast a lot to stream my Surface Pro 3 screen and audio to my TV. As a proud cable-cutter, sometimes using a web site's video streaming capabilities is the only way to catch sports programming.

After applying this updated driver and testing my Miracast functionality, I noticed that the video and audio were both choppy – and it wasn't before. Also, the first time I plopped my Surface Pro 3 into the docking station, the video froze. I was able to soft reboot by holding the power button down long enough and all is working now.

I used the new driver with the NETGEAR Push2TV Wireless Display HDMI Adapter, but haven't tested with the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter yet. It's possible that the Microsoft adapter has no issues with extra choppy video, as its newer and seems to work better. I have a comparison review on these two devices coming soon.

So, lesson learned, don't apply this hotfix unless you really need it.