Running Sunshine on your gaming PC and streaming to Moonlight on a tablet used to have one weird failure mode: the host’s real monitor rendered whatever the client was doing. Move the mouse on the couch and the desktop cursor darted across the office. The best apps for a Sunshine virtual display setup on desktop kill that headless-mode problem without paying for a hardware dummy plug.
We tested seven tools that combine into a working setup. Every pick is free, most are open source, and they cover the two things you need: a virtual display that Windows treats as real, and the streaming host that renders to it.
What to look for in a virtual display setup
A functional headless streaming setup needs four pieces:
- A virtual display driver the OS treats as a real monitor at your target resolution and refresh rate.
- A streaming host (Sunshine) that can pick that display as its capture source at session start.
- Automation to swap displays when a stream begins and restore them when it ends.
- A client (Moonlight) that negotiates resolution with the host cleanly.
Skip the driver and Sunshine falls back to your real monitor. Skip the automation and every stream requires manual display switching in Windows.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Open source | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunshine | Self-hosted game stream host | Yes, fully | Yes (GPL-3.0) | Host |
| Virtual Display Driver | Headless virtual monitor on Windows | Yes, fully | Yes (MIT) | Driver |
| Parsec Virtual Display Driver | Signed IddSampleDriver for Windows | Yes, fully | Yes (community) | Driver |
| IDD Sample Driver | Microsoft’s reference driver | Yes, fully | Yes (MIT) | Driver |
| Playnite | Launcher that Sunshine can front | Yes, fully | Yes (MIT) | Launcher |
| Moonlight | Client for Sunshine on every platform | Yes, fully | Yes (GPL-3.0) | Client |
| Apollo | Sunshine fork with virtual display built in | Yes, fully | Yes (GPL-3.0) | Host |
The apps
1. Sunshine — Best for a self-hosted stream host
Sunshine is LizardByte’s open-source Nvidia GameStream replacement, and the default choice since Nvidia retired the original. It runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS, exposes a web UI on port 47990, and pairs with Moonlight clients on almost every platform. The whole guide below assumes you’re running it.
Where it falls short: the initial setup asks for firewall rules, driver installs, and admin permissions. First-run failure modes are cryptic — the LizardByte Discord is where you’ll end up if something breaks.
Pricing:
- Free: full-featured
Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS
Download: app.lizardbyte.dev/Sunshine
Bottom line: the host. Configure it once and mostly forget it.
2. Virtual Display Driver — Best for a proper headless monitor
Virtual Display Driver (VDD, itsmikethetech’s build) is the community driver most Sunshine users install. It creates one or more virtual monitors at custom resolutions and refresh rates up to 240Hz. Sunshine treats them like physical displays, and Windows applications render to them cleanly.
Where it falls short: installation is manual, driver signature enforcement can bite on some Windows builds, and adding new resolutions means editing an XML config file. Not friction-free.
Pricing:
- Free: full-featured
Platforms: Windows
Download: github.com/itsmikethetech/Virtual-Display-Driver
Bottom line: the community’s default virtual display for Sunshine. Set target resolution before your first stream.
3. Parsec Virtual Display Driver — Best for a signed alternative
Parsec Virtual Display Driver predates VDD and is a signed IddSampleDriver build Parsec distributes for its own streaming product. It also works fine as Sunshine’s headless display. The advantage over VDD is Microsoft’s signature: no driver-signing workarounds.
Where it falls short: fewer resolution options than VDD’s XML config, and installation piggybacks on the Parsec installer (you can uninstall Parsec after and keep the driver).
Pricing:
- Free: full-featured
Platforms: Windows
Download: parsec.app/vdisplay
Bottom line: pick this over VDD if driver signing is a blocker on your Windows install.
4. IDD Sample Driver — Best for a reference build
IDD Sample Driver is Microsoft’s reference implementation of the Indirect Display Driver model. VDD and Parsec’s driver are both forks of it. Running the reference is worth it only if you plan to modify the driver yourself; for daily streaming, use VDD or Parsec’s build.
Where it falls short: requires building from source and signing the driver yourself with a test cert. Not a plug-and-play install.
Pricing:
- Free: source code
Platforms: Windows
Download: github.com/microsoft/Windows-driver-samples
Bottom line: skip unless you’re a driver developer. The two above already fork it for consumers.
5. Playnite — Best for a launcher Sunshine can front
Playnite is the game launcher most people use as a Sunshine target. Sunshine calls Playnite’s --startgame argument, Playnite launches the actual game, and the whole tenth-foot experience runs off a controller-friendly UI. Playnite handles Steam, GOG, Epic, and Xbox libraries in one place.
Where it falls short: first import can pull thousands of games with mismatched metadata; the built-in metadata provider needs an afternoon of cleanup.
Pricing:
- Free: full-featured
Platforms: Windows
Download: playnite.link
Bottom line: the friendliest way to make a Sunshine host feel like a console. Configure the Fullscreen mode and point Sunshine at it.
6. Moonlight — Best for a cross-platform client
Moonlight is Sunshine’s other half. It runs on Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, Chromecast, Apple TV, Steam Deck (native), and even Roku. Pair it once with your host and it discovers the display list automatically.
Where it falls short: iOS clients still lag Android on codec support; Apple’s App Store approval slows Moonlight releases relative to open-source builds.
Pricing:
- Free: full-featured
Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, tvOS, Steam Deck, Chromecast
Download: moonlight-stream.org
Bottom line: the required companion for Sunshine. Install on every device you might stream to.
7. Apollo — Best for a Sunshine fork with virtual display built in
Apollo is a Sunshine fork by ClassicOldSong that ships virtual-display handling out of the box. Instead of installing a separate driver and scripting the display swap, Apollo handles the whole cycle: create the virtual display at stream start, restore the real one at stream end, no manual swap needed.
Where it falls short: as a fork, Apollo lags upstream Sunshine releases by weeks. Bug fixes land in Sunshine first.
Pricing:
- Free: full-featured
Platforms: Windows
Download: github.com/ClassicOldSong/Apollo
Bottom line: the least fiddly setup by a wide margin. Use Apollo if you don’t want to script driver swaps yourself.
How to pick the right one
- If you want the simplest setup: Apollo + Moonlight. Skip installing VDD or Parsec separately.
- If you want to stay on upstream Sunshine: Sunshine + Virtual Display Driver + Moonlight, and add a
do_cmd/undo_cmdscript in Sunshine to swap displays. - If driver signing on Windows blocks VDD: Parsec Virtual Display Driver instead.
- If you want a controller-friendly launcher: Playnite Fullscreen mode as your Sunshine target.
- If you’re on Linux (Sunshine host): the KMS capture path is native, and you don’t need a virtual display driver at all.
The do_cmd / undo_cmd pattern is what separates a good setup from a hack: Sunshine runs commands before and after each session, so you can toggle the virtual display, mute the host speakers, and pause any background workloads without touching the host physically.
FAQ
Why do I need a virtual display for Sunshine? Without one, Sunshine captures your real monitor. Anything the streaming client does appears on the host too, which defeats headless streaming.
Is a hardware dummy HDMI plug just as good? Functionally, yes. But a dummy plug locks the host at one fixed resolution, while a virtual display driver lets Sunshine and Moonlight negotiate per-session.
Does the Virtual Display Driver work with Nvidia and AMD GPUs? Yes. It doesn’t touch GPU-vendor code; it’s an OS-level indirect display.
Will this break my normal desktop use of the host PC? No, as long as the virtual display isn’t set as the primary display. Playnite Fullscreen mode targets the virtual display, everything else stays on your real monitor.
Is Apollo safe to use in place of Sunshine? Yes for most users. It’s a maintained fork with a real community, but it lags upstream fixes — check the changelog before updating.
