You're sitting there, headset on, ready to show your friends that absolute disaster of a base you built in Palworld or maybe a clutch play in Warzone. You've got the Xbox App open on your Windows 10 or 11 rig. You're in the party. You see their icons lighting up as they talk. But where on earth is the "Go Live" button?
Honestly, it’s frustrating.
If you come from Discord, you expect a screen share button to just... exist. It’s the standard. But Microsoft has always been a bit weird about how the Xbox ecosystem interacts between the console and the PC. Here is the cold, hard truth: the native Xbox Game Bar and the Xbox App do not have a built-in "Stream to Party" button like Discord does.
That doesn't mean you can't do it. It just means you have to be a little bit smarter than the software.
The Reality of How to Screen Share to Xbox Party on PC
Most people go looking for a button that isn't there because they've seen their friends on Discord do it for years. Microsoft’s architecture for the Xbox Party Chat is built primarily for voice and metadata synchronization. It’s about who is playing what and who is talking. Video streaming? That’s usually reserved for Twitch integration or the now-defunct Mixer.
But wait.
If you are on a PC, you have a massive advantage over console players. You aren't locked into one app. To screen share to an Xbox party on PC, you basically have to bridge the gap between the Xbox social circle and a streaming platform that your friends can actually see.
The Discord Bridge Method
This is the most common workaround. Since Microsoft integrated Discord into the Xbox dashboard, most of your friends on Xbox can actually see Discord streams now.
It's pretty simple. You stay in the Xbox Party for audio if you really want to—though it’s better to just move the whole party to Discord—and you start a stream there. If your friends are on Series X|S or even the older One, they can jump into the Discord voice channel directly from their console.
They can't always see the "Stream" directly on the Xbox dashboard in a little window yet—that’s a feature Microsoft and Discord are still fiddling with in various Insider builds—but they can watch it on their phones or tablets while still chatting through their headsets. It’s a messy "two-device" solution, but it’s what the pros do when the software acts up.
Why the Xbox App Doesn't Just Do It
You'd think a trillion-dollar company would have a "Share Screen" button.
Bandwidth is the culprit. Xbox Party Chat uses a peer-to-peer (P2P) or relay structure designed to keep latency low for voice. Adding a 1080p 60fps video feed into that specific pipeline would probably make everyone’s ping spike to 500ms.
Also, Microsoft wants you to use Twitch. They’ve baked Twitch integration into the Xbox experience for a reason. If you want to share your screen from your PC to your friends on Xbox, you might actually find it easier to just fire up a "Private" or unlisted-style Twitch stream.
- Open OBS (Open Broadcaster Software).
- Set your category to "Just Chatting" or whatever game you're playing.
- Tell your friends to pull up the Twitch app on their Xbox.
It's a bit of a workaround. I know. But it works perfectly without crashing your party chat.
The "Remote Play" Confusion
I see a lot of people getting confused between screen sharing and Remote Play. Remote Play is when you stream your Xbox console to your PC. That’s easy. That works great. But doing the reverse—streaming your PC screen to an Xbox party so they can watch your gameplay—is where the wall is built.
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Using the "Wireless Display" App Hack
If you are trying to share your PC screen to a friend who is sitting in the same house, or you're trying to get your PC screen onto an Xbox console (which is effectively what happens in a party scenario), you can use the Wireless Display app.
Microsoft published this app specifically to turn an Xbox into a Miracast receiver.
- Download "Wireless Display" on the Xbox.
- On your PC, hit Windows + K.
- Select the Xbox.
Boom. Your PC screen is now on the Xbox. If you’re in a party with someone and you’re at their house, this is the way. If they are miles away? Not so much. For long-distance sharing, you are back to the Twitch or Discord workarounds.
Setting Up the Twitch "Private" Stream
If you really want that "screen share" feel where only your friends are watching, Twitch is the most stable way to get PC footage onto an Xbox screen.
First, get your Stream Key from the Twitch dashboard. Plug that into OBS. Now, here is the trick: don't tell anyone your Twitch URL except your party members. If you aren't a big streamer, nobody is going to find you anyway. Your friends can open the Twitch app on their Xbox, search your name, and watch your PC gameplay in full screen while they stay in the Xbox Party chat with you.
The delay is usually only about 1-3 seconds if you enable "Low Latency" mode in your Twitch settings. It’s almost as good as a native share.
What about the Xbox Game Bar?
The Game Bar (Windows + G) is great for recording. It’s great for checking your CPU usage. It’s even decent for joining parties.
But it’s not a broadcasting tool.
Microsoft has been moving away from built-in broadcasting ever since they killed Mixer. They realized that people who want to stream use specialized tools. They didn't want to maintain a mediocre streaming service when Twitch and YouTube already won the war. So, if you're looking through the Game Bar settings for a broadcast button, stop. It’s gone. It's not coming back.
Actionable Steps to Get It Done Right Now
Stop looking for the ghost button in the Xbox App. It isn't there. Instead, choose your path based on what your friends are willing to do.
- The "I want it easy" way: Move your Xbox Party to Discord. Use the "Go Live" feature on your PC. Your Xbox friends can join the Discord call on their consoles and watch your stream on their phones or a secondary monitor.
- The "Professional" way: Use OBS to stream to Twitch. Have your friends open the Twitch app on their Xbox consoles. This gives them the best picture quality and doesn't require them to look at a tiny phone screen.
- The "Local" way: If you just want to see your PC on your own Xbox, use the Wireless Display app and the Windows + K shortcut.
The tech isn't perfect. We are basically duct-taping three different apps together to do something that should be a single click. But until Microsoft decides to bake a real video encoder into the Xbox social API, these workarounds are the only way to effectively screen share to an Xbox party from a PC.
Check your upload speed before you start. You need at least 6-10 Mbps upload to stream 1080p smoothly. If your party audio starts cutting out, your bitrate is too high. Drop it down to 4000kbps in OBS and try again.