Screen sharing without Port 5900?

I have a Mac Pro (desktop) on Lion connected to a router and internet via Cat 5 Ethernet. I have a Mac BOOK Pro on Snow Leopard which I often get online wireless, in our home, but in other rooms.
I would like to use Screen Sharing to control the Mac Pro from the Mac BOOK Pro while the MacBook Pro is on wireless.
My understanding is that Port 5900 is opened to facilitate this, but also have learned that having port 5900 is ill-advised due to hacker attacks.
Is there a way to do screen sharing across wireless, but with 5900 closed? Or..if 5900 must be opened, can I be secure somehow, or just take my chances?
thank you!
More details: The wireless router has its firewall enabled, and a decent password, and runs WPA2
Both macs have firewall enabled, robust passwords, PLUS, both computers operate with a Standard (not Admin) user.
Thanks for any help with this.
ray

most routers have a wired and wireless network. some times you have to configure the router to allow devices on the wireless network talk to devices on the ethernet network. some times this is reffered to as bridge mode.
for troubleshooting perpoes, you could turn off the wirewall on both computers. If you have remote management configured and enabled on the mac pro. the MacBook Pro should be able to see the mac pro on the network, and connect to it. (dock, click on finder, menu bar, go menu, connect to server, browse.
if you can't find or connect to the mac pro. check the router to look at your wired vs wirless network. what model is your wireless enabled router? is the mac pro plugged into the wireless enable router by ethernet ? or is it plugge dinto another device? if so what?
if you can connect, but only when the firewalls are off, then you would probable want to allow incomintraffic ARD on your mac pro. and allow out going traffic from ARD on your MacBook Pro.

Similar Messages

Screen Sharing - New Port

Hello all.
I live in a house with another Mac user, and we both want to use screen sharing. Unfortunately, our DSL modem is a piece of crap - it won't let me set up port translation. Does anyone know how to change the port that screen sharing listens on? If not, does anyone know a good, straight-forward way to translate a port, without the modem getting in the way?
I have no trouble forwarding ports on the modem (inbound 5900 can go to a specific computer on 5900), but I can't have it translate (inbound 5950 can't go to a computer on 5900).
Any suggestions?

Not quite. In your example, you established that port 7777 should be used on the local client. sshd opens a socket on the local client on that port, listening for a connection. You also told sshd that port 5900 is actually where you need the packets to go once something connects to port 7777. When you connect to 7777, sshd sends/forwards all those packets over its secure channel (a TCP connection on port 22) to the remote host, then makes the packets go to port 5900 on the remote.
So the actual transfer of packets is done over the tunnel. You can, as you say, change that port at will.
At least, that's how I understand it to work...

How do you end screen sharing without disconnecting

How do you go back to the regular video chat once you've started screen sharing. it seems that closing the window only disconnects me. I'd like to revert back to the regular video chat once I'm finished with screen sharing.

Text chats are on a completely different port and will not be effected by dropping an AV chat.
In fact doing things the other way you can Video to a Buddy then Log out of the Buddy List that the Buddy is in and go Offline.
The A/V chats are Peer to Peer once connected. (except for Video through AIM Servers in iChat 5)
In the two years we have had Leopard and iChat 4's Screen Sharing we have not discovered a way to get a Screen Share to go back to the A/V type chat it was having before.
iChat Help offers no info on it working this way.
7:36 PM Sunday; September 13, 2009

Screen sharing without permission under mavericks?

Googling didn't give me a decisive answer, and I expect the answer is "you can't", but thought I'd ask here to save others the trouble. The question: How can I set up screen sharing on my home network so that I don't have to go downstairs or upstairs an accept the screen sharing request every time I want to share a screen on another machine on my home network?

Found the solution. Go ahead and choose The Log In option. You will get a new session on the remote Mac. Now, choose Log Out from the Apple menu and then login with the user credentials on the Mac (the Remote Mac's user credentials). You will then get the session that exists for that logged in user.
I work in an active directory domain environment (my work iMac is on the domain and I log in with an AD account), this works for me (after establishing a VPN).
It is a little trouble to always have to choose Log Out, but a much cheaper solution than Apple's Remote Desktop software.

Screen sharing without a monitor?

I've tried breifly and it didn't work but essentially I'm wanting to share the screen of a mac mini that has no screen?
I'm planning on having the mac mini in a fairly inaccessible place but would like to use it by sharing the screen on a Macbook Air or Pro.
Any ideas?

I too do this all the time with my Mac mini. I can use both the built-in Mac OS X Leopard Screen Sharing (Finder -> Go -> Connect to Server -> vnc://mac.mini.addr, as well as Chicken of the VNC and JollysFastVNC.
I connected keyboard, monitor, mouse just long enough to enable System Preferences -> Sharing -> Remote Management, and the VNC password. After that I removed the keyboard, monitor, and mouse.
What are your System Preferences -> Security -> Firewall settings? Is it possible that the firewall is blocking your attempts to start a screen sharing session?
Another approach is using the iChat screen sharing in conjunction with the Chax add-on for iChat and enabling the Chax auto-accept requests for remote screen sharing from a specific buddy. AOL Instant messaging accounts are free.

What ports do I need to open in a home router to support Screen Sharing?

I'm trying to support my 88 year-old dad who has totally messed up his iMac. We're both running 10.6.8. I went ahead and bought the Easy Remote Desktop app from the app store, since I don't need a heavy-duty admin tool, just to see and to remotely manipulate his screen. I tested it on my home LAN with my wife's computer and it works great. I did have to find out her IP address, and she did have to turn on Screen Sharing services open to just me first. The downside for Screen Sharing vs. Remote Administration is that there is no announcement that you're there.
So I'm thinking that I can just type in my dad's IP address. Of course he has a DSL router and probably has a DHCP address, so I found out about Dynamic DNS, and located a free Dynamic DNS service. I've already established (the functional equivalent of) a static IP for myself with this service, and I'm thinking the next step is to talk my dad through doing the same for himself. Then the next hurdle I think would be to talk him through opening the Screen Sharing service on his Mac, and to add me as a user. But the final hurdle I think would be to open inbound ports for Screen Sharing from my IP address. Since Screen Sharing is a native Mac OS function, I figure this is the place to ask that question. And to ask if I'm on the right track here...

Screen Sharing uses port 5900.
However, I'm going to suggest that you use TeamViewer.com as it will deal with all the networking issues much more easily and without needing to worry about opening ports in your router.

Screen Sharing works for alien hosts but not for LAN hosts

Hello!
I am having a really strange problem in a customer network. The network is a local private network with one MacOS Server 10.6.8 and around 12 iMacs running MacOS 10.6.8. The server is running headless in cellar so the user maintain the backup via screen sharing from an iMac to the server.
Since a few weeks they can not login to the server via screen sharing from any local host BUT I can login from my MBP (alien) via ARD or Screen Sharing without any problem. Even hosts connected to the network via VPN can connect to the server via screen sharing.
In short:
Every local host gets a message that login is not possible and my MBP and VPN-hosts get connected without any problems with the same credentials.
At the local clients I get this message in system.log:
Oct 28 09:33:41 verwaltung1 LKDCHelper[228]: Starting (uid=501)
Oct 28 09:33:48 verwaltung1 com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[166] (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist): Throttling respawn: Will start in 530 seconds
Oct 28 09:34:17 verwaltung1 /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/AppleVNCServer.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/AppleVNCServer[195]: CGSKeyTranslateInitialize: KLGetCurrentKeyboardLayout or KLGetKeyboardLayoutProperty is not available, fall back to USA keymap
and at the server I get:
Oct 28 09:33:48 solserv AppleVNCServer[11503]: no such user: adminloc@LKDC:SHA1.DE03ABCC86F74D11AD139E44388D6B94155B4D9E: 2
When I connect from VPN or my MBP I get no messages in system.log.
I tried to kickstart ARD at the server but it does not change anything, I bound the clients to OpenDir of the server with no effect also.
I do not have any idea what is happening here. Every help is welcome,
Christop

Hello MrHoffmann!
changeip says "The names match. There is nothing to change."
To give more infos, the server and all the clients are connected to the same network switch, all belong to 192.168.183/24 and when I use my MBP, it is connected via WLAN and gets an IP-address from this server with an IP from this range. my MBP is in the same broadcast domain.
VPN clients connect via PPTP to the gateway (192.168.183.1) and get IP addresses assigned from 192.168.183.48-52.
There is no routing between the clients and the server.
There is no other problem - every client reaches the server for file serivces (AFP/SMB), smtp, imap, DHCP and DNS.
BTW. screen sharing from the clients worked without a problem when I first setup the network about 1 year ago, but since a few weeks no client that belongs to this network can use screen sharing except for my MBP when I am at customer site.
History:
The new SLS is a replacement for an old Windows 2000 Server. Both servers ran in parallel for some time but within different IP-networks (all Macs at 192.168.183/24 - all Windows at 192.168.2/24) the gateway routed between both networks. But now it is time to switch off every windows computer because every service now runs at the SLS. AFAIK the windows 2000 Server is the last Windows machine in the network. We switched off DHCP at the windows server and switched on DHCP at the SLS a few weeks ago. Hm .... maybe there is something wrong? But the clients have fixed ip-addresses.
Still wondering what is going on here, bye,
Christoph

Launchd cancels logout/restart and kills app when using screen sharing

I have an app I want to always run so I created a LaunchDaemon to keep it going:
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.sns.sentinel.air</string>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>sh</string>
<string>/Applications/oc4j/restartSentinel.sh</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>
And restartSentinel.sh is very simple:
echo Process Sentinel.app is being restarted...
open -W /Applications/oc4j/j2ee/home/applications/Sentinel/Sentinel.app;
Everything seems to be fine but I have to access this machine via screen sharing. Then when I log in, the app gets shut down and only restarted a few minutes later. Also, when another user logs in, they are not able to log off. Launchd seems to cancel the restart.
I do also have two other plist files running other things but they seem to work okay (they don't crash, but the one which needs to be kept alive (code is almost the same as above) also seems to be preventing log out for users other than me).
So how can I get launchd to let people use screen sharing without killing the app and how can I get it to stop canceling logot/restart?

Try the Unix forum (not thread) under OS X Technologies.

Screen Sharing with connected display switched off

I have a 2009 Mac Mini connected to my TV using a minidvi > hdmi adaptor.
If the TV is turned off and I try to access the computer using Screen Sharing, I only ever get a blank screen.
If the TV is actually turned on then screen sharing works fine.
If i disconnect the DVI adapter then screen sharing works fine.
I would like to use Screen Sharing without having to turn on the TV or disconnect the minidvi>hdmi adaptor.
Is this possible?
Cheers Russell

It's kind of complicated, but the explanation would be something like this: a Mac relies on something called a Plug and Display driver in order to properly configure its graphic's output and send it to an attached display. The P&D driver is also referred to as EDID and you can read more about it on Wikipedia if you care to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDID
The VESA organization that controls the standard for EDID and DDC specifies that a host system, meaning the Mac in this case, be able to power the DDC channel and the display's EDID function even when power is turned off on the display. But not all manufacturers adhere to that part of the standard, especially true for some TVs. So when your TV is turned off, the DDC channel ceases to function and the Mac looses track of the TV and unfortunately sends no output in that case.
The little box I referenced in my earlier post will keep the DDC channel alive at all times so the Mac will always send video out regardless of the power state of the TV.

File sharing and screen sharing stop working suddenly

I have been using file sharing and screen sharing without any issues between my mac mini (10.7 Lion) and MBA (10.8 ML). However, both suddenly stopped working the other day - that is, I saw the mac mini on my MBA's list of Devices, but when I clicked on a drive or on screen sharing, it just said could not connect. I rebooted the computer and they started working again...but a few hours later suddenly stopped. I toggled those options on/off in the Sharing section of Sys Prefs, and they started working fine again...but then stopped again. It seems no matter what I do, file and screen sharing just stop working after a short period of time after being enabled.
Ideas?

Turns out the problem was that I had a daisey-chained ethernet switch. My mac mini was on an ethernet switch that was not visible to my wireless network. Make sure that your ethernet switch is somehow directly connected to whatever is serving as your DHCP server, then your wireless devices should see it.

Screen Sharing using Back to my Mac

I'm trying to use screen sharing for the first time between my 27" mid 2010 iMac and 15" MacBook Pro Retina late 2013 using both OSX 10.9.4 on a local network using Back to my Mac feature. I enabled screen sharing and made sure Remote Management is disabled and also on firewall the screen sharing has allow incoming connections enabled. I also have my Back to my Mac checked on my iCloud settings.
And so I opened Finder window on both computers and on the sidebars from each of the computers it showed the shared devices. So from my Macbook or iMac, I click on the device and then click on the share screen button and a menu popup asking me how i want to connect either as a registered user or using an Apple ID. I selected using and apple ID and it automatically provide a drop down showing my apple id and I click connect but all I get is an error message saying "Authentication failed to iMac" or vice versa.
What am I doing wrong? Is there any other option for me to do screen sharing without using a third party app? Please advise. Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Thanks for your input. At home, I use a Time Capsule, with the absolute latest firmware, so it should be suitable.
However, I might have problems with the setup? If I turn off and on Back to my Mac under iCloud settings, sometimes I get a message that I should enable NAT/UnPP. Checking the setup of the Time Capsule, the router is in Bridge mode (NAT off). If I try turning on NAT, I get an error in Airport Utility about double NAT.
Any advice on this?

Screen Sharing with Back to my Mac

This little detail is different under 10.7 than 10.6, it has taken me some hours of frustration to sort out by trial and error. I haven't seen it documented anywhere.
When a Back to my Mac user connects to another Mac to share the screen, if the userid used for the sharing connection is the same as the active user on the shared system, then sharing starts immediately upon successful authentication. If the userid used for the sharing connection is different than the active user, then the active user must give permission for screen sharing to start.
One of the consequences is that a sharing only user ID can only be used to start unattended access if the unattended machine is at the login screen.
This is in contrast to 10.6, where any userid can start screen sharing without permission of the active user.

Editing original post:
I'm trying to access my home Mac Mini from outside the home using a Macbook. I'm trying to use Leopard's screen sharing using .Mac and no luck, I can't see my Mac Mini outside my network.
At home, I've got the Mac Mini:
(1) running the latest Leopard
(2) connected to .Mac with Back to My Mac running
(3) File Sharing, Web Sharing, Remote Login, and Remote Management all on
(4) Time Capsule with the latest f/w updates running PPPoE to a DSL modem
At work, I've got the Macbook running:
(1) running the latest Leopard
(2) connected to .Mac with Back to My Mac running
(3) File Sharing, Web Sharing, Remote Login, and Remote Management all on
When I'm at home, I can screen share between Macs no problem. However, at work, I can't see my home Mac Mini. I know that it is possible to get through my company firewall because I can get my Slingbox to work at the office.
Suggestions where to start? I'm kinda stuck.

Lion Screen Sharing Asks?

I'm trying to share the screen of my Lion MacMini located in the other room. Both machines are Lion 10.7.1.
Regardless of which account I use to connect to the macMini, I'm presented with a dialog that says "Ask to share the display. 'mini User' is using the display". This is a hassle, because no one is sitting at that machine.
When I attempt to share the screen with other machines, I can start screen sharing without intervention on the far end.
What determines whether someone needs to be sitting at the machine to initiate Screen Sharing on it?

Scratch that: there is still something wrong. Now, when "Connected as" mini User, I still must obtain permission from someone sitting there to start screen sharing, even though now, no windows are open.
So, as an alternative, I click "Virtual Display" and... and I get logged into _another_ user's account, the one which the machine defaults to because that password is saved in the keychain.
Furthermore, when I click "Ask" and walk over to the remote machine, it says the _other_ user is requesting access, even though I am "Connected As" the correct user.
So to summarize: I cannot start screen sharing in the account that I need to share without intervention -- even with no applications open, and virtual sharing automatically logs into some _other_ user's account.
Next, I opened Keychain Access and removed all entries for the server I'm trying to contact. Then, I "Connect As" and enter the appropriate user name "mini user" and _no_ password, since that account does not have a password. The file sharing connection proceeds. I click "Share Screen" and attempt to use the same user name and _no_password, and the system refuses to accept it.
So, perhaps for Lion Screen Sharing to work without intervention, accounts _must_ have passwords?
No, that's not it either. I went and set a password for mini User, and can log out and log in successfully there. I can "Connect As" with the new password, successfully. But when I try Screen Sharing, even with the correct user name and password, I get an authorization failure. I simply cannot start Screen Sharing without intervention, regardless of what I try.
But wait: maybe the problem was that I was not _authorized_ to screen share? So I started up the "Sharing" control panel and sure enough, only "administrators" are allowed to share the screen, and mini User is a Standard User. I unlock the settings using an admin log-in and click the "+" button... and nothing happens. Darn. So I switch _to_ that Admin account and in Sharing, click "+", and I'm able to add mini User. OK. Now, when I try to screen share, my credentials are _still_ rejected
Finally, I started Screen Sharing by logging in as a "Sharing Only" user, to the Virtual Display. I'm presented with a User selection screen. I click mini User, no password, and I can see the screen.
Gee, this all used to work flawlessly in Snow Leopard.

Screen sharing problems

Hi,
I have a strange problem when I try to connect to another Mac in my home network via screen sharing. Here's what happens in case somebody can help me.
I'm trying to do this via Finder. I go to 'Shared' on the left column of finder and place my cursor on the name of the other computer in the network and I click on the 'Share Screen' button. When I do that, a little screen pops up saying "contacting 'other computer'"
And after a while, the following error message appears:
"Connection failed to 'other computer'"
Please make sure that Screen Sharing (in the Sharing section of System Preferences) is enabled on the computer to which you are attempting to connect. Also make sure your network connection is working properly."
However, Screen Sharing IS enabled in System Preferences (on both computers). I disabled the firewalls on both computers as well in case that was the cause of the problem.
I have been wracking my brain trying to troubleshoot this and I've found some strange things that might be connected to the problem.
I think I must have messed up something changing the name of the other computer. This is a computer that I have in another room of the house (from now on 'Computer 2', 'Computer 1' being my computer, the one I'm trying to connect from). In this computer I have various accounts for my children, for myself and for guests. The thing is that before the computer used to have another name (I don't remember the exact name) and then I changed it to Marta.
Since I did that, when I look at the public folders in Computer 2, things are a bit amiss.
The first thing I notice is that now the public folder looks different from the other folders:
http://img146.imageshack.us/i/computer1mountfinder.png/
View of the folder on the desktop:
http://img717.imageshack.us/i/computer1mountdesktop.png/
i.e it doesn't have the three little guys that mounted folders usually have.
The second thing I notice is that now I can drag files to that public folder but I can only see the files that I have put in there at the moment. If I turn off the computer and turn it on again, I cannot see those files any more. Nevertheless, the files are there. I can see them when I go physically to computer 2 and I look at the contents of the public folder.
Furthermore, I noticed that if I click on 'connect as' and I introduce the login name and password for my daughter's account, then I get to see another folder called 'mfm' (her user's name) which I don't see before doing 'connect as':
http://img163.imageshack.us/i/mfm.png/
Now, what you have to understand is that 'mfm' and 'Marta' are the same. That is, 'Marta' is my daughter and the name that I gave the computer. 'Marta's public folder' and 'mfm' are in fact also the SAME folder. If I do 'connect as' and enter mfm plus password, I can see all the files that I dragged to 'Marta's public' folder.
So my hypothesis is that I have done something (probably when I changed the name of the computer to Marta) that has screwed up the network settings and now the computer is not recognized when I try to do 'Screen sharing'.
If I try to do screen sharing from Computer 2 to Computer 1, things work smoothly. I get a pop up window with two options:
. Enter your name and password to share the screen of Josep M. Fontana's iMac (my computer)
- by asking for permission
- as a registered user
Then I give my user name and password and I can do screen sharing with no problems.
As I said, when I try to do this from computer 1 to computer 2, I am not offered any options: a little screen pops up saying 'contacting "Marta"' and it stays there until I get the error message.
I've wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what the problem is. I would REALLY appreciate any help anyone can give me to solve this problem.
Thanks in advance.
Josep M.

Please, don't tell me my problem can be solved Perhaps I was spoiled with these forums since all my other calls for help were answered very promptly and with lots of good advice. Is this really such a hairy problem to solve? Was my description not clear? Please, if I can provide any more information or describe again something you don't understand, I will do it gladly but I need urgently to be able to do screen sharing with this other computer. I just added a new Mac to my network (a MacBook air) and I connect to and from it via screen sharing without any problems. So there is something screwed up in the configuration of this particular iMac which doesn't allow me to connect to it.
Please, please, please. I implore the Mac experts that hang out in these forums to lend me a hand.
Josep M.

Asking for permission when screen sharing between MBP and Mini?

Hi Guys,
Like many others I have a mini connected to the TV, and use that as my media center, all music, movie, pictures, etc. is shown thrue the mini.
After upgrading to Lion I cannot use screen sharing as before, where I just connected to the mini, and voila I had the full control. Now it seems I have to accept the screen sharing request!?!? Is there a way around this, I surely hope so, because otherwise it will defeat the purpose of my mini! I mean, I have no mouse or keyboard attached to it obviously!
I hope there is an answer to this
Best regards
Viktor

Viktorrrrr,
It appears that Screen Sharing is a bit "buggy" in this first release of Lion.
Having said that, I have managed to get mine working and it is possible to have screen sharing without the approval prompt - the key is that you need to connect using the same account that is already logged on at the machine you're connecting to. So, in your case, after you click "Share Screen..." on your MBP, you should enter the account name and password that matches the account currently logged on your Mac Mini.
This should be fine if the account currently logged on your Mac Mini is allowed to do Screen Sharing (see the list of users in the "Allow access for:" section of the "Sharing--->Screen Sharing" system prefs).
If this works for you, stop reading here!
However, if (like me) you log on locally to your Mac Mini with a Standard account, but only allow Administrators to connect to the Mac Mini via Screen Sharing, then you have some extra work to do because, as you know, when you connect via Screen Sharing with one account in order to view the screen of another logged-on account on the Mac Mini, you get the prompt asking for permission. There does not appear to be an option to switch off this behaviour and, I suspect, this behaviour will remain due to privacy/security issues. So, if you want to avoid this prompt, you are going to have to log in using the same account. And to do this, you will need to allow this account to Screen Share.
The quick way to enable this would be to choose the option to "Allow access for: All users" on your Mac Mini - this would then allow your account (and ALL others!) to connect via Screen Sharing. But you really don't want to enable this if you can help it. Much better, would be to create a new local group on your Mac Mini called something like "Screen Share" and populate this group with all the accounts you want to be allowed to connect via Screen Sharing.
To create and populate a new group:-
Go to the "Users & Groups" system pref and click the + below the list of users to bring up the "New Account" window. Where you see the pull-down menu that says "Standard", click on this and select "Group". Enter your new group name and click "Create Group". The new group will be created and you can then select the accounts you want to include in this group (ie. the accounts you want to allow to connect via Screen Sharing) in the "Membership" section - just tick the boxes of the ones you want.
Now go back to the "Sharing-->Screen Sharing" system pref. Where it says "Allow access for:", click the "Only these users:". Now click the + below the list to bring up a window of all users. Make sure "Users & Groups" is selected in the left pane, then click on your newly-created group in the right pane and click "Select".
Sadly, this is where the real bugs seem to be!! When I try to permission my group for access, more often than not, my selected group is not added to the list of allowed access. I have played with this for hours, clicking various options in various sequences, but have not found a pattern. Even when my selected group does get added successfully, I sometimes find access is still not granted to that group and its members!!
I'm afraid it seems to be trial and error at the moment - I guess a fix will come eventually, but for now you just need to keep adding the group, removing it, turning Screen Sharing on then off then on again, try adding again...etc! I CAN tell you that I did eventually get my group to stick and work as intended, so it is possible...but it will take time!
Sorry for the lengthy response. Good luck!
C.

Screen sharing without Port 5900?

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