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Before you can use Screen Sharing or VNC client to access a Mac, you must allow incoming connections on the targeted Mac. To do so, on the targeted Mac go to “System Preferences > Sharing”, here click the “Screen Sharing” check box.
- If there is someone logged in on a remote Mac, Screens can ask to share their screen or it can start a new session -- your choice. Mobile Trackpad. 'Screens is now the best VNC client for iOS.
- Screen sharing is one of the most important features of the Mac desktops. It is an essential business tool that helps you share remote screen of the Mac to colleagues, clients remotely.
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- 4 Turn Off Sharing in Excel 2007
Through the Access Code provided by Chrome. Simply, share this code, to anybody whom you want to have access to your computer. My Computers. Download VNC Connect to the computer you want to control and choose an Enterprise subscription. Use VNC Server to look up the private (internal) IP address of the computer. 10 Best Screen. VNC Viewer for Android users. Some users may be experiencing problems logging in when connecting from VNC Viewer for Android to Apple Screen Sharing in OS X Lion. We are currently working on a solution for VNC Viewer for Android which will be available via the Android Market. If you’re unsure how to access your Mac, go back to your Sharing preferences and double-check the information on the Screen Sharing settings. We enter “192.168.0.118” in our VNC client and leave the encryption as it is.
The “screen sharing” feature built into Mac OS X uses the virtual network computing protocol. You can use TightVNC or any other VNC client application to log into a Mac remotely and control its desktop. Before you can log in with VNC, both screen sharing and a VNC password must be enabled on the Mac. If the Mac and the computer running TightVNC aren’t on the same local network, you’ll also have to configure port forwarding.
Enable VNC Access
1.Click the Apple logo at the top left corner of the Mac’s screen and select System Preferences.
2.Click the Sharing icon in the Internet section to open the Sharing pane.
3.Click the checkbox to the left of Screen Sharing to enable screen sharing.
4.Click the “Computer Settings” button on the right side of the window.
5.Enable the VNC Viewers May Control Screen with a Password option, type a password into the box and click “OK.”
6.Note the IP address displayed in the sharing window. You can use this IP address to access your Mac with TightVNC.
Log in with TightVNC
1.Launch the TightVNC Viewer application on the computer from which you want to log into the Mac.
2.Type the Mac’s IP address, displayed in its sharing window, into the TightVNC Server box and click “Connect.”
3.Provide the Mac’s VNC password and press “Enter” when prompted.
Tip
- If the Mac is behind a router and the computer running TightVNC is on a different network, you’ll need to set up port forwarding on the Mac’s router. Forward port 5900 from the router to the Mac’s local IP address. Consult your router’s manual for information on accessing the Web interface and forwarding ports. After forwarding the port, use the router’s external IP address to connect, instead of the IP address displayed in the screen sharing window.
References (4)
About the Author
Chris Hoffman is a technology writer and all-around tech geek who writes for PC World, MakeUseOf, and How-To Geek. He's been using Windows since Windows 3.1 was released in 1992.
Photo Credits
- Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News/Getty Images
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Hoffman, Chris. 'How to Log into a Mac via TightVNC.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/log-mac-via-tightvnc-38618.html. Accessed 05 September 2019.
Hoffman, Chris. (n.d.). How to Log into a Mac via TightVNC. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/log-mac-via-tightvnc-38618.html
Hoffman, Chris. 'How to Log into a Mac via TightVNC' accessed September 05, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/log-mac-via-tightvnc-38618.html
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Active2 months ago
I have a number of FreeBSD servers, and I'd like to put VNC server software on them, then access them from a Mac running OS X 10.9.5.
I really don't want to have to access them from a virtual windows machine running on the MAC :-(
A web search for 'mac vnc client' produces zero useful hits. (I don't want remote access to the mac.)
My memory is that Apple had a built in client with a non-obvious name, perhaps 'screen', which they 'fixed' a few releases ago to only work if the VNC server was itself from Apple, running on a Mac. Perhaps they have since unfixed it.
I once used 'chicken of the vnc', which was flaky on whatever OS X release I had 2 years ago. I also used another non-apple client from that Mac, which was flaky in different ways. (The built in app was unusable.)
IIRC, I was using 'Tightvnc' or 'Realvnc' on my servers at that time, which had worked fine with the first random windows-based VNC client I tried.
All I've heard about so far are
- 'screen sharing app' from apple, possibly pre-installed on the mac,name and location unknown
- a client from realvnc that runs in the chrome browser (ugh!)
When referring to OS X releases, please use release numbers in your answers, not just names of cats - or else link to a page that translates the cat names to release numbers. I don't have Apple's release code names memorized.
[Update, after first answer received: alternativeto.net is a great source for finding software of this type. I now have tigervnc running on one server and on the Mac client. No flakiness so far, but the Mac client for tigervnc seems unwilling to let me connect to multiple servers at the same time, and Mac's GUI interface seems unwilling to let me launch multiple copies of the client program. So still looking for alternatives, but making progress.
Still trying to figure out how to invoke the client built into OSX - it's not at the path I found on the net, /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications Looks like I need to know the right invocation to feed to Finder, which doesn't have anything like a button labelled 'screen sharing'. I did find a menu item labelled 'connect to server', but that just gives me connection failures, perhaps because it's defaulting a URI type of afp:// which probably has nothing to do with vnc - or perhaps because the tool is unrelated to vnc.]
Arlie Stephens
Arlie StephensArlie Stephens4101 gold badge5 silver badges14 bronze badges
7 Answers
The built-in VNC client with OS X works just great with most VNC servers I've tried on FreeBSD. I've mostly been using TigerVNC from ports (seems to be the fastest with OS X's VNC client), and the only issue I have is when I restart the VNC server while connected to it. The OS X VNC client will reconnect (great!) but it sizes the window oddly, and I can't resize it. Since scaling is turned on, this usually results in a small screen that cannot be read. Just restart the VNC client (or close the window and open a new connection, if you've got multiple connections open), and it's all OK again.
Since I have xterms open all the time on my mac, I generally do it like so:
where
<port>
is the TCP port on which the server is running.E.g. if it's :1, you'd use 5901 as
user3439894<port>
. You can even install the avahi port, and set up a service, so the VNC session shows up in Finder (although there's a Finder preference to change to make them show up since OS X 10.8, IIRC), just like a Mac that has 'screen sharing' enabled (i.e. it's running a VNC server).31.8k7 gold badges49 silver badges70 bronze badges
TOMTOM
You can connect to remote Linux machines with your Mac's built-in vnc client.
- Setup the vnc server on the remote Linux machine.
- On your Mac, go to Finder. Press
cmd+K
or Go > Connect to Server. - In the Server Address, enter
vnc://{HOST}:{PORT}
. For examplevnc://linux.myhost.com:5901
.
A VNC session will be connected to the remote Linux machine with the Screen Sharing application.
Free Vnc Client Download
wisbuckywisbucky
What you are looking for is the built in Screen Sharing app which resides in
System/Library/CoreServices
. It can connect to most VNC servers and is slightly faster than other options such as RealVNC.dalearndalearn
Real VNC or VNC Viewer are the same client (aside from platform) as used on Windows PCs for decades. OS X is designed to work with VNC protocol out of the box.
As an added bonus, Real VNC is available as a free iOS app.
The only real concerns you should have in using it are security hardening, ie restricting access to specific IP addresses or users.
RampantRampant
I don't have a lot of recent experience with VNC on the Mac but if you look at this (on stackexchange.com) it will explain how to connect to another client via the O/S X VNC server.
Apple's version is called Remote Desktop, the commercial version is just Apple Remote Desktop and really designed to manage Macs. I've used the latter but never tried to connect to a strictly VNC client. Not sure if it is possible.
Community♦
Steve ChambersSteve Chambers16.5k2 gold badges20 silver badges43 bronze badges
If you go to the RealVNC website and choose 'Download > Viewer' you get a native OSX app that works nicely for me. I'm not exactly sure about the licensing terms, but going through 'Products > Product Selector' on the homepage seems to indicate that the Viewer is free (while the Server is licensed).
The built-in Apple Screen Sharing works nicely too, although I experienced hangs with xterm on the remote (tracked as 'linux xterm problem' in Apple Support Communities). The built-in is accessible from Safari through vnc://hostname in the address bar. If launched once, you can right-click on the icon in the dock and choose Options > Keep in Dock for easy access.
The 'Chicken' VNC did not work for me at all.
Martin OMartin O
The best explanation I've seen for how to use apple's 'screen' as a vnc client is at http://www.davidtheexpert.com/post.php?id=5
He seems unaware of the period when apple had broken compatibility with non-apple VNC servers, but other than that his instructions seem great, and work beautifully on OS X El Capitan Version 10.11.6. (I'm no longer on 10.9.5)
Arlie StephensArlie Stephens4101 gold badge5 silver badges14 bronze badges