Some more info would be helpful here. What app are you using on your iOS devices and Mac to connect to your Mini? What happens when you try to connect—do any errors appear, or does nothing appear to happen?
First off, make sure Screen Sharing is enabled in Sharing Preferences (Remote Management is only for using Apple Remote Desktop, so don't bother with that unless you're actually using that program). Double-check that Allow access is set to either "All Users", or "Only these users" with your user name included in the box.
Now try connecting from another Mac, using the Finder's Connect to Server dialog (under the Go menu, or ⌘K). Under Server Address, type in vnc://IP_OF_YOUR_MINI
then hit connect. If you can connect that way, but not using the Finder's Shared panel, then the problem is likely in the Bonjour service that advertises the screen sharing option.
Another thing to check is what version of Apple Remote Desktop Client you have installed. If you have 3.6, there's a bug that can cause timeouts for Screen Sharing/VNC clients. The temporary fix is removing /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement
and re-installing 3.5.3. This worked for me on Lion, I don't know if it will work on Mountain Lion. Make sure to keep a backup copy of the files you delete, in case the install doesn't work.
I found the following code in a file I didn't open for a long time. It enables Remote Login on a remote device. Save the script somewhere (from now on referred to as /path/to/script/
). Copy the script to the other device.
tell application "System Preferences" to set current pane to pane "com.apple.preferences.sharing"
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
click checkbox 1 of row 6 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Sharing"
end tell
This enables remote login. Now, to disable remote management and enable screen sharing, use the same script, but remove the 3rd line and add these 2 lines:
tell application "System Preferences" to set current pane to pane "com.apple.preferences.sharing"
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
click checkbox 1 of row 7 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Sharing"
click checkbox 1 of row 2 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Sharing"
end tell
To copy this script on the remote device, use scp
(secure copy). To use scp
type
scp /path/to/script username@IP.of.other.device:/some/path
OR
scp username@hostnameOfDevice:/some/path/
The second option (using the device hostname) requires that the devices are on a computer-to-computer network, so it will not work on a normal wifi network. You will see a prompt requesting the password of username
. When you type the password, you will not see any text appear (obviously to prevent people from seeing the password).
Once it is copied, remotely log into the device:
ssh username@IP.of.other.device
OR
ssh username@hostnameOfDevice
Again, the use of the hostname requires computer-to-computer network. Once logged in, run the script using osascript /some/path/theScript.scpt
(remember that using scp
we copied the script to /some/path
, this will be different on your device). This will disable remote management and enable screen sharing.
Good luck!
Best Answer
With Lion this is possible, but I think there is a limit of 2 sessions, and you don't need to be running the server tools. When you screen share a Mac that has it enabled, you can choose to either just take over the screen as per the scenario you are used to, or move to the "virtual display", where you can log in as a 2nd user.
Many (particularly PC/Windows) VNC clients are getting tripped up by this new behaviour and do not connect at at all at present, so you might need to careful with your choice of client.
Edit: I think the 2 session limit is to provide the ability to allow an administrator to login on the 2nd session to work without interupting the normal user, I would test whether more than 2 sessions are available, but I can only get it to work from a Mac client using screen share via the finder rather than a specific VNC client app, and I only have 2 Macs...