

Apple's Remote Desktop client is bundled for free with every Mac - tommyd
http://benguild.com/2011/02/14/apples-remote-desktop-software-is-secretly-bundled-for/

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bradleyland
A couple of things:

1) This isn't the same as Apple's Remote Desktop product, which can be used
for a host of other things related to remote system management like installing
software and automation. See the product page for details:

[http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/](http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/)

2) You don't need to dig around in Library/CoreServices to use this, which is
why Apple didn't put it in utilities. Vis a vis iOS, you start from the
opposite end that you normally would on a desktop OS. Just like in iOS how you
navigate to your photos in order to send a photo, you navigate to the computer
you want to control in order to initiate a remote session.

HOW TO: Remote control a Mac on your network without digging around in
CoreServices

First - Make sure "Remote Management" is enabled on the _target_ machine.

1\. Launch 'System Preferences'.

2\. Click 'Sharing'.

3\. In the service list on the left, check the box next to 'Remote
Management'.

Second - Initiate remote control from your computer.

Note: You must have "Show Toolbar" enabled to follow these steps.

1\. Launch a new finder window.

2\. In the left pane of the Finder window, scroll down to 'SHARED'.

3\. Click the name of the computer you wish to control.

4\. A gray bar should appear at the top; click 'Share Screen...'.

Viola! Screen Sharing should launch automatically and connect.

If you're an old school Mac user, you might have disabled 'Show Toolbar' in
the finder. You can get it back in one of two ways. With a Finder window
active:

1\. Press Cmd+Opt+t.

2\. In the menu bar, click 'View', 'Show Toolbar'.

There are, of course, other ways of getting to the 'Network' portion of the
Finder browser, but the 'SHARED' bar on the left is pretty easy and always
accessible.

~~~
cstross
_Viola! Screen Sharing should launch automatically and connect._

Syntax nit: A viola is a stringed instrument. "voilà" is French for "see" or
"there!"

~~~
collyw
Not everyone can type accents on their default keyboard. I don't think anyone
was really confused between that and teh stringed instument given the context.

~~~
bmm6o
Accents aside, the 'i' and 'o' come in different orders.

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super_mario
How does junk like this get posted on a tech web site. This is the built in
VNC client and is very publicly shipped with OS X, and it has nothing to do
with Apple's remote desktop.

You could always do CMD+k to bring up the "Connect to server dialog" and type

    
    
        vnc://ComputerName.local
    

to VNC into it (if screen sharing is configured in the system prefs on the
target machine).

~~~
benguild
Ironically, I wrote this back in 2011 and someone else submitted it earlier
today. :D

The thing is... Apple doesn't make this feature prominent. The only real
consumer-friendly way to access Screen Sharing was through iChat back in the
day. The Application is buried within the System folder and most people think
you have to pay $50 USD for Apple's commercial Remote Desktop solution.

Most people don't need all of the features of the full client, such as
remotely installing packages or managing machines. They _just_ want to access
their machines through the LAN or through Back to My Mac.
[https://www.apple.com/support/icloud/back-to-my-
mac/](https://www.apple.com/support/icloud/back-to-my-mac/)

It's not the same software, but it's basically a scaled down version to get
the job done.

------
yardie
Mac power users have known about this feature for over a decade. Theres also a
pretty powerful wifi diagnostic tool in the coreservices folder, if you're
going to be digging around in there anyway.

~~~
Luyt
Do you mean the "Network Diagnostic" application?

~~~
yardie
Yes, that is it. I walk around my flat with it open to find low SNR spots. It
also helped me diagnose a failing wifi radio chip.

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TomSawyer
You can access Screen Sharing from the Finder with the same ol' cmd+k (Connect
to Server...) and enter a url (e.g. vnc://my_remote_mac).

~~~
rainforest
Works with the open command from a shell too: open vnc://my_remote_mac

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thread_pool
This is not a secret. And it's the Remote Desktop (VNC) client, not the
management application sold by Apple

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matt-attack
$ open vnc://myhost.example.org/

~~~
pat2man
Or Finder > Connect to Server -> vnc://myhost.example.org

~~~
unvs
Or Finder > Cmd+K -> vnc://myhost.example.org

------
uptown
ScreenSharing used to work perfectly for me. I could see my second Mac listed
as a "Shared" device in the left-panel of my Finder which would keep in-touch
over iCloud. Even if the home machine was asleep, connecting with
ScreenSharing would wake up the remote machine and allow me to connect. Since
updating to Mavericks I'd say I'm about 20% for this method working. For
whatever reason, I can no longer wake-up my remote machine using this method.
Wish it was as reliable as it used to be - but I haven't found a fix.

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CptCodeMonkey
I used VNC a few times to connect to a Mac build box ( I only used Linux
professionally ) and ran into a lot of problems with artifacting ( even on a
dedicated Gigabit LAN ) or more annoying the remote service would crash and
the only way back in was to SSH into the Mac box, kill the remote service,
kill all user sessions, and restart.

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ehutch79
This is NOT remote desktop. remote desktop does so much more than screen
sharing. This is just a vnc client.

~~~
Luyt
Microsoft publishes a free 'Remote Desktop Client for Mac', which can be found
at [http://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/download/details.aspx?id=1814...](http://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/download/details.aspx?id=18140)

~~~
runjake
And despite the similar naming, this is a completely different application.
The Microsoft application is an RDP client.

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fantunes
That's a post from 2011. Screen Sharing is available to any mac under System
Preferences>Sharing

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freshyill
This is more of a useful tip than a secret. If you've got Back to my Mac set
up, your other Macs will appear in the Finder sidebar. Just select one and
then click "Share Screen…" Other Macs on the local network may show up with
the option too.

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kylesethgray
This is Screen Sharing. Not Remote Desktop. And it isn't hidden: if there's a
Mac on your local network, and you navigate to it in finder, there's a "Share
Screen" button right there.

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uloweb
Blog post from "14 FEB 2011"

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ommunist
Note that excellent Microsoft Remote Desktop app is free and available from
AppStore.

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HowardJ
Who the fuck is up voting articles from 2011? Where is the moderation around
here. Make sure the date is in the title.

~~~
nicholassmith
Because something that people might not know that's from 2011 is less relevant
in 2014?

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jezfromfuture
Dipshit article from someone who clearly has just installed osx.

