MacOS – I Can SSH host computer but computer does not appear in Finder’s Shared Computers List

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I want to connect via Apple's ScreenSharing.app , to my home mac from a separate network.

I verified that my host computer is listening on port 5900

I can SSH via unix command ssh user@router.ip

but I don't see the computer under the Shared computers list in Finder

  • I can screen share when host and remote computer are on the same network

  • Ive tried using Go > Connect to Server , using different input for the server address , but i'm not sure what I would type for a computer on a different network.

Best Answer

Bonjour is the protocol that is used to "discover" other computers and will list them in Finder. Bonjour only works on the local network.

I want to connect via Apple's ScreenSharing.app , to my home mac from a separate network.

If it's on a separate network, you won't see them in Finder even though you can still reach them (ssh, scp, ftp, http, etc.).