# Connect a screen


> Pair a device with your workspace using the code it shows on the display, and what to do when the code will not work.
Every device shows a pairing code on the display when it starts and has no workspace yet. Entering that code in the dashboard is what makes it a screen.

Get the device to that point first: [Screenly players](/docs/screenly-players/) arrive ready, [ScreenlyOS](/docs/screenlyos/) needs writing to a card or a stick, and [Screenly Anywhere](/docs/anywhere/) needs its app or its URL.

## Pairing

1. Open **Screens** and choose **Connect screen**.
2. Enter the code from the display.
3. Give the screen a name and a location, and confirm.

The screen appears in the list within a minute or two and starts downloading whatever is assigned to it.

## About the code

A pairing code is eight lowercase characters, and it deliberately leaves out the ones people misread across a room.

| Never in a code | Because it is mistaken for |
| --- | --- |
| `0` | the letter `o` |
| `1` | the letters `l` and `i` |
| `i` `l` | each other, and the digit `1` |
| `m` `n` | each other |
| `o` | the digit `0` |
| `v` `w` | each other |

So if a character looks like one of those, it is something else. Read it again rather than guessing.

A code is good for **30 days**. After that the device needs a fresh one, which it gets by being connected to the internet and left to pick one up. There is nothing to reset on the device.

## What pairing does

It takes one [license](/docs/billing/licenses/) from your pool. If you have none free, the connection fails and the dashboard tells you so rather than partially working.

It also creates a label matching the screen's name, which is how a playlist can be assigned to this one screen rather than to a group. See [Labels](/docs/labels/).

## When it will not pair

**The code is rejected.** Either it has expired, or a character has been misread. Reboot the device to see a current code.

**No code appears on the display.** The device is not online, or it has not finished its first round of updates. Give a new device fifteen minutes before deciding something is wrong.

**Nothing appears on the display at all.** That is a display or a cable problem before it is a Screenly problem. [Setup issues](/docs/get-started/troubleshooting/setup-issues/) covers the usual causes, including captive portals and a device clock wrong enough to break the connection.