Back to my Mac wont work...?

I've just bought a MBP with 10.6.
I also have a iMac with 10.5.8.
I've been trying all night to get 'Back to my Mac' and nothing I try can get me past 'Authentication Failed'
On the iMac:
Back my mac enabled
File sharing enabled for Administrators and 'my name'
Screen sharing enabled Administrators and 'my name'
On the MBP:
Back my mac enabled
File sharing enabled for Administrators and 'my name'
Screen sharing enabled Administrators and 'my name'
Please can someone talk me through this step by step. For some reason this hasn't been intuitive at all.
Thanks
Dan.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1109
Using Back to My Mac
Try the MobileMe forum area - http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=116

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Back to My Mac not working-a diagnosis and a solution

Hello all,
I own a small business and relied on Back to My Mac while traveling. I have had connection issues with BTMM since MobileMe was discontinued. I have found a solution but it is not an Apple solution. Skip to the end if you'd like the straight dope.
FYI: I have exhausted all possible Apple-centric solutions, to the best of my knowledge. This was verified over the phone during an extensive troubleshooting session with a senior Apple specialist. All Macs and OS involved are optimized (in theory) to work with Back to My Mac. The appropriate file sharing options were checked. Users had appropriate access privileges. I have a valid MobileMe ID that has transferred over smoothly to iCloud. Firewall settings were not the issue.
But before we go further, if you are having BTMM connectivity issues, you might want to examine this thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4071540
And see if it does the trick for you. It seems to have worked for a lot of people. But if it doesn't, please read on.
I have an iMac at my office that I connect to. I have a MacBook that I use to make the remote connections. Before MobileMe was discontinued, I read all support docs on how to make the transition to iCloud. Nevertheless, once MobileMe was discontinued, I began to have BTMM connection issues. My Macbook could "see" my iMac, and vice versa, but once connection was attempted, either through "Share Screen" or "Connect As…", the status bar would run indefinitely and no connection would complete.
First, I tried the Keychain solution indicated above. No dice.
Then I saw the System Preferences>iCloud message that Back to My Mac required NAT Port Mapping and/or Universal Plug and Play settings on my router. I have an old Linksys router, and I was able to upgrade its settings to UP&P, but not to NAT Port Mapping. The situation did not improve.
I went to an Apple Store, spoke with a pair of salespeople who informed me that the problem would most likely be solved by replacing my old router with Airport Extreme, which would automatically upgrade my network to the necessary UP&P and NAT-PM protocols, and if any issues existed after that, they would probably be firewall-related, which I could either fix on my own or talk to an Apple person about.
After installing Airport Extreme, the situation did not improve, and I called Apple Support. I entered the serial number into the web page, and was informed that I was not qualified for tech support because my warranty had expired, even though I had made the purchase the previous evening. I checked the option that indicated that I thought this was in error and that I was in fact qualified, and ten minutes later, I received a phone call from Apple.
At first, I was on the line with a Airport Extreme specialist, who ran down the Airport Utility checklist. With my wife at the Macbook at home, and myself in my office at the iMac and on the phone with the Apple specialist, the troubleshooting began. Once it was apparent that nothing was working, I was transferred to a "senior" specialist who indeed knew everything under the sun about networking and Back to My Mac, at least as far as I could tell. We checked various settings on all devices, Airport configurations, iCloud account validity, my network's firewall settings, etc.
Finally, the specialist suggested we check the settings on my home router, which was supplied by my ISP and not an Apple device. I asked him why. He said that if we enabled UP&P and NAT-PM on my home router, that would probably help make the connection. I informed him that while that might be a short-term fix, I travel as part of my job and need to make remote connections to my office, often from places where I have no control over the router settings. He informed me that because of those "variables" I might very well continue to experience connection issues, and that in some locations I would be able to connect, and some, not.
On the heels of all the time and money spent thus far, I was in disbelief. We spent some more time affirming beyond question that he was actually telling me what I thought he was telling me, and I cordially thanked him for his time and we ended the phone support session.
THE STRAIGHT DOPE: I learned from a senior Apple specialist that network and router settings not only have to be just right at the server location but *also* the remote location in order for Back to My Mac to work. Simply having an iCloud ID is not always enough. If you travel, you most likely have no control over router settings at your hotel, coffee shop, etc., and if you rely on remote connections as part of your job, you can't afford to take the chance that wherever you reside might not be BTMM compatible. I signed up for LogMeIn Pro, at a cost of $59.95 a year. It has screen sharing, file sharing *and* iPhone access, which BTMM does not offer. My remote connections are now almost instantaneous and without issue. Problem solved.
Please note, I have no ax to grind with Apple, I enjoy using their products and believe they are superior to Windows machines. I am also more than happy with the level of expertise, courtesy and efficiency of their support people. The Airport Extreme that I purchased is pretty cool, has kickass wireless signal, and has reduced the amount of wiring on my desk thanks to its wireless printing and hard drive capabilities. I feel a little burned that I bought it for no reason, but I have 14 days to return it, no questions asked. We'll see.
In conclusion, Back to My Mac does not seem to work as advertised. I am curious if anyone has had a similar experience. Hope this helps someone or at least, saves you some time.

Thanks for your thorough post. I too need to use BTMM on almost a daily basis for my job, and it has fallen short countlness times. I too have taken great pains to check all of the typical trouble shooting steps within iCloud and in the Apple keychain on each Mac etc, but after the latest rounds of system updates from Apple a few weeks ago to Mountain Lion, BTMM on one of my Macs is completely broken and unusable. I would concur that if you need remote access for "real" mission critical use, just bite the bullet and pay for a service like LogMeIn. You won't regret it and you will get real software support.

Back to my Mac not working between Snow Leopard work iMac and Lion home iMac

I have a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac at work running OS X 10.6.8.
I have a 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 iMac at home running OS X 10.7.2.
At present, I am unable to upgrade the work iMac to Lion because I need to run Intel's FORTRAN compiler, which does not yet work under Lion.
I have upgraded my MobileMe account to use iCloud on my home machine. Because my work machine is still using Snow Leopard, I can't use iCloud on that machine just yet.
Initially, even after upgrading to iCloud on my home machine, I was able to use Screen Sharing from either computer to use the other computer. I accidentally clicked "Turn Off Back to My Mac" in the MobileMe settings of my work machine. When I click "Turn on Back to My Mac" to try and turn it back on, I consistently get the dialog box "Unable to start Back to My Mac Back to My Mac could not start because of a MobileMe server error. Try again later. If this problem persists, contact MobileMe Support." And hitting OK brings it back to the off state. So I can not turn on Back to My Mac at work, therefore I can not connect to my work machine from home to use Screen Sharing like I want to.
Has anyone else encountered this problem? Has anyone found out how to turn Back to My Mac back on in such a case?
Thanks for any help you can give,
Adam

Hi,
the current version I had was 3.2(5612) but having just checked no a newer 3.2.1 has just been released. Let me do the upgrade and see how I get on.
Message was edited by: Pheobian

Why can't I get Back To My Mac to work in both directions between my 2011 Mac Book Air and my 2012 Mac Mini?

Why can't I get Back To My Mac to work in both directions between my 2011 Mac Book Air and my 2012 Mac Mini? The network uses a Time Capsule. Everything works when connecting from the Mini to the Air, but the reverse is not the case, none of the Mini's drives are visible, and the screen sharing option is not available. I've tried the measures already suggested in online articles, everything seems to be configured correctly using my iCloud account. I'm at a loss, any suggestions would be appreciated.

I've now managed to get the service running in both directions, but not in the way I had anticipated. I had to create a second account on the Mac Book Air, this also has administrator privilages, everything works fine when connecting from this acccount. However, this is not the way I would expect to work, none of my documents, applications and settings would be available, unless I laboriously duplicated them to the new account.
Also, I've yet to get the service running from outside my home network.

Back to my mac random work

Hi,
Anyone got luck with back to my mac? Well, I had. Twice.
I got it to work on saturday, then again on monday, and in between it just wont show my home machine in finder! So, this is not a problem neither of my computers or my networks, because it worked fine, two times.
I bought the new OS so quickly, mainly because of this feature, and now it's not working as it should be. I have looked all around Apple's website and I didn't find any word on this...
Anyone has any idea about what the problem could be?
Thanks.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1209
Apple Support Extract:
Back to My Mac may not work as expected with AirPort Extreme Gigabit Ethernet
Last Modified: March 26, 2008
Article: TS1209
Symptoms
If the computer you are attempting to connect to via Back to My Mac is connected to the Internet >through an AirPort Extreme Gigabit Ethernet base station, the connection may not be successful.
This can occur even if you have enabled NAT-PMP.
Products Affected
AirPort Extreme Base Station, Back to My Mac
Resolution
Install the Time Machine and AirPort Update (via Software Update), and also update the firmware on >your base station to 7.3.1 (by opening AirPort Utility).
This hasn't filled me with confidence even though I'm on 7.4.1 so shouldn't be the problem..?

Can't get back to my mac to work

I am guessing that this problem belongs somewhere in the server section.
I am very crossed about this, as I have been calling apple support twice, they told me to chip on all the remote functions in sharing, and since remote management chips off screen sharing, I wondered but did what they told me to do. I am now working on my laptop on an open network, but don't see my home computer that has been set ready for back to my mac.
I am crossed as support did not even know what back to my mac is or was, and if they then after some holding on tell me to do the remote stuff, it still does not work. My router and computer have firewall off, nothing is really blocking incoming traffic to my home computer.
Steve jobs and the apple home page make it look like kids play, why is it so hard for me then?
The only real manual for this is the silly kiddly like movie on the back to mac feature, nowhere but nowhere do I find an actual guide to find settings, net werk settings, what to chip on or off...
I have played with the UPnP of my router, the only thing I have not done so far is the port mapping thing.
I was able to screen share with my son in Belgium from England, that part works, so I think that I am not so stupid as I do feel now....
Why is taking me so much trouble and aggrevation to get it to work. Both laptop and home computer have leopard, have sharing on, have firewall off, I am so annoyed right now....

Hi, Catherine,
This forum is for Apple Remote Desktop, Apple's utility for managing networked Macs, so it really wouldn't seem to be the most appropriate place for your question.
I'm a bit puzzled, though, as to what it is you're trying to do. What "back to my Mac" are you referring to? If you're referring to the "Back to My Mac" that's a feature of Apple's .Mac service, that's a function only available if you're running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but your profile says that you're running Mac OS X 10.4. If you are indeed running 10.5 and that is the function you're talking about, the best place to ask for help will be the Back to My Mac forum.
If that's not what you're referring to, please explain further what it is you're trying to do and perhaps we can direct you to the forum where you'll be most likely to get help.
Regards.

Back to My Mac - Not working on a remote network

I have back to my mac file and screen sharing working perfect on local network, but once i get on another network it does not work at all and I am up to date and have a new airport extreme with back to my mac set up on that as well

Hi Dan97103!
I have an article here for you that can help you troubleshoot this issue with your Back to My Mac functionality:
OS X: Using and troubleshooting Back to My Mac with your iCloud account
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4907
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Have a good one!
-Braden

How do I get Back to my Mac to work in icloud??

Ok so I have iCloud... I have a Mac at work and a mac at home - How do I get to use Back to my Mac - I use dto use it in MobileMe, which now doesn't work but I can't seem to get it to work in iCloud... Help????

This may help:
http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/back-to-my-mac/

Time Capsule Back to my Mac not working

Hello,
For the last two weeks I am not able to connect to my Time Capsule at work, before I saw it automatically on my iMac/MacBook Pro at home.
I already removed and rentered my credentails on the time machine for Back to My mac, unfortonatelly this didn't fix it.
What can I do?
Thanks in advance.
Greetings,
Robin Riegman

I have a similar problem. I had a new hard disk installed and upgraded to Lion at the same time. The IT person who did the job set up iCloud as a backup. Now when I connect my external drive, Finder doesn't see/recognize it, so I can't continue to do (or use) Time Machine backups. I do not want to back up my data to iCloud, but Apple's main object with Lion and Mountain Lion seems to be to force users to use iCloud. It doesn't give you a choice; you can't go back. When I try to sync my iPad to my Mac or take my data off iCloud and back up my Mac with Time Machine (external drive), the program menacingly threatens to remove all the data that I want to back up from my computer, leaving me with no data in iCloud or my Mac.
@r.riegman: sorry I can't help you. I'm going to try the Genius Bar, although Apple warns that backup issues are not supported.
In essence my question is: how can I go back to external drive backups with time machine without losing all my data after an initial designation of iCloud as the backup?
Will someone please r.riegman and me? The more time goes by, the more unbacked-up data we accumulate.
Thank you!
Artemide
Macbook Pro, iPad 2, OS X Lion (10.7.4)

Back to my Mac stops working for no reason

I've been fighting with BTTM for a while now trying to get it to just work normally. I have a computer at my office which I'm attempting to have consistent screen-sharing and ssh access to while I'm in remote locations. It keeps becoming totally unresponsive at random times (I'll see it as Idle for however long it's been, but it's totally unresponsive. The IPv6 hasn't changed, it just refuses to connect). The only workaround I have discovered is disabling BTTM under iCloud preferences on my MB Air that I'm using to access that machine remotely and then re-enabling it. However, this is a pain and I worry about the random dropping of connection breaking things that I'm trying to accomplish. I'd like it to just work without having to mess around with anything else.
Currently I have it configured such that:
Both my MB Air and the computer at the office are running Mavericks 10.9.2.
Both are logged in with the same iCloud account.
The iCloud account has been added to the list of BTTM users on my Airport Extreme (6th gen.) with firmware vers. 7.7.2 with NAT-PMP enabled.
I forwarded ports TCP 5900, 3283 & UDP 3283 to the office machine just for shiggles. That machine has a static IP as well. This didn't change anything, it still breaks.
So what gives? This is frustrating because I'd rather not have to deal with a 3rd party solution, and given that the workaround is on the remote side indicates to me that this isn't a networking issue, but rather a flaw in the BTTM software itself.

What happens when you uncheck and then re-check the BTMM box in the iCloud preference pane?
Resolve Back to My Mac status messages in iCloud preferences

Since last update (today) I get invalid password when trying to use back to my MAC, password works everywhere else

since last update (today) I get invalid Apple ID password when trying to use back to my MAC in Icloud app on my MAC, password works on all my other devices. GLITCH ?

Try going to the Apple ID page on your web browser
http://www.apple.com/support/appleid/
and try to either retrieve or reset your password
(obviously you had to be able to successfully log in to be able to post here)
I was finally able to log in through my system preferences after about three or four hours. I ran a disk utility to repair permissions and restarted and it seemed to work ok.

Can't get back to my mac to work when on the road. Have you?

Read all the Back to my mac and how easy it is to set up and use. NOT!
It only works when you have the laptop and the G5 right next to each other. Which is of no use!
It does NOT share at all and the apple supt and store were no help. I' m able to print just fine anywhere in the house or even outside on my network. It will not share when I connect my laptop to another network. The G5 is on. I only have NAT enable on the 2wire.
I have the 2Wire with the wireless enable and disabled it doesn't work either way. The only reason I got the airport and assoc card was to be able to use back to my mac when I am only the road.
ANYONE ELSE ABLE TO GET IT O WORK.
That problem one two is about networking with a windows computer that my brother has doesn't work either!

Get help with multiple-NAT configurations for Back to My Mac
If you have issues using Back to My Mac
Set up and use Back to My Mac
Set up security options for Back to My Mac
Setting up and using Back to My Mac with AirPort Express, Extreme or Time Capsule

Trouble getting "back to my mac" to work on new Air - and really need this functionality

This is sort of one of those "asked and answered" threads, but I wanted to share my solution. I love being able to see my other computers remotely. I don't think Apple sells the functionality of remote desktop enough. I have a laptop and I also run to mini servers, one at work, and one at home. When I first got "back to my mac" working with my Apple ID on all three computers I thought I had died and went to heaven. With fast internet access this is really incredible - able to move files back and forth and see different things - even run things like media encoding on another computer so my laptop is not slowed down.
But when I bought a new Air a couple of weeks ago I ran into a problem. I had done everything right. Each computer allows login with my Apple ID and all the sharing was turned on properly - remember, I was doing this with my previous Macbook Pro just fine.
But everytime I would click on the remote computer in finder, finder would just quit and restart. Weird. Crash and then restart of finder.
So I've been fighting with it.
Then I discovered I could click on "All" in the sidebar (to see all networked computers and servers). Then if I right-clicked on the server that showed up in the list in the main window of "All" I could choose a "connect as" and get it to work. Now it works regardless even if I double-click right on the icon of the remote server in the sidebar.
If you followed all of that, it could help you. If you're not using this "remote desktop feature, you should.

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the action that you're having trouble with again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
☞ The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Back to my mac doesnt work

hi,
i got this problem since i upgraded a few weeks ago...
i have an airport extreme
i have an usb drive connected to it
i have a macbook pro
i have mobileme account
i moved to icloud
i'm on lion 10.7.2
all my stuff is fully updated.
well when i'm in the mobileme panel in system pref, it's says sometimes that my account is updated to icloud, sometimes, it depends, it's really shuffle, it's says that "back to my mac" is ok and i got the same old panel that i got with mobileme. when i go to the icloud panel, sometimes the back to my mac is apply sometimes other times is not... well it's very strange and i didnt do any change by myself. i finally logg off my mobileme account to keep only the icloud one to try to avoid doubles... well since i always got the same error with back to my mac that tells me that my router need to have the NAT-PMP enable... and guess what ! it's always have been enable since one year, no setting on my airport was change ever, i just upgrade from mobileme to icloud, before everything worked great, now nothing work at all...
someone knows aboiut this issue ?!
thanks
Jo

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the action that you're having trouble with again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
☞ The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Can't get Back to my Mac to work on MBA

I am trying to transfer files selectively from my MBP to my MBA. I tried to use migration assistant but it doesn't let you pick and choose the files only the broad categories. I thought I would try to use Back to my Mac and just access my MBP from my MBA.
I have BTMM turned on and all of the file sharing set. On each Mac I see the other in the "sharing" menu on the left side of finder. However, I cannot seem to log into my MBP from the MBA. I have no problem at all logging into my MBA from my MBP. Any suggestions for what I might be doing wrong?

<edited by host>
Folders You Can Move to Your new Mac
From the Home folder copy the contents of Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites.
In your /Home/Library/ folder:
/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)
/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/ (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Calendars (copy the whole folder)
If you want cookies:
/Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
For Entourage users:
Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
For FireFox:
/Home/Library/Applications Support/FireFox
/Home/Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist
Credit goes Macjack for this information.
<edited by host>

Back to my Mac wont work...?

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