Does Sidecar support login screen aka headless Mac?

[BeatCrazy]

I'm wondering if Sidecar would let you connect/login to a headless Mac mini, especially with no keyboard/mouse?

 

[Ansath]

I'm wondering if Sidecar would let you connect/login to a headless Mac mini, especially with no keyboard/mouse?

Not that I’ve seen. It basically acts the same way as airplaying your Mac to Apple TV.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Not that I’ve seen. It basically acts the same way as airplaying your Mac to Apple TV.

Thank you. Seems like a missed opportunity.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I find no easy way to start up/re-boot a headless Mac mini. My choices seem to be either A) Auto-login a user, then connect via screen share or B) blind-type a password via keyboard.

EDIT - I take that back. Looks like screen sharing Mac app will let me see the login screen of the destination Mac and remotely type in password. This is via a TB3-TB2 ad-hoc connection. Not sure if I couldn't do this before via LAN screen sharing?

 

[sevoneone]

As long as Screen Sharing or remote management is enabled in system preferences, you can use the Screen Sharing app to connect to any headless Mac via any network connection.

Unless something has changed in 10.15, a MacMini does not initialize the GPU unless a display is attached. Which would include the h.265/h.264 quicksync tech in the Intel GPU that makes Sidecar and Airplay work. They make HDMI dongles specifically for fooling a mini that a display is attached so you would need one of those.

It would be awesome if Apple allowed you to initiate Sidecar from the iPad somehow. Assuming that isn't coming, I wonder if one could string together something via Siri Shortcuts, IFTTT and Automator/AppleScript to do the same thing? On demand Mac anywhere in my house? Yes please.

 

[BeatCrazy]

As long as Screen Sharing or remote management is enabled in system preferences, you can use the Screen Sharing app to connect to any headless Mac via any network connection.

Unless something has changed in 10.15, a MacMini does not initialize the GPU unless a display is attached. Which would include the h.265/h.264 quicksync tech in the Intel GPU that makes Sidecar and Airplay work. They make HDMI dongles specifically for fooling a mini that a display is attached so you would need one of those.

It would be awesome if Apple allowed you to initiate Sidecar from the iPad somehow. Assuming that isn't coming, I wonder if one could string together something via Siri Shortcuts, IFTTT and Automator/AppleScript to do the same thing? On demand Mac anywhere in my house? Yes please.

Yes, that would be nice. I ended up with a bit of a workaround, use Duet Display:

First, make sure you have Remote Desktop app configured/enabled. I made a TB3-TB2 ad-hoc network between my iMac Pro and headless mini. Gotta ensure a static IP for the mini connection! In this setup, you can see the login screen from the iMac. Once logged in, I use Duet Display (wired) to an iPad. Launching Duet via the iPad results in a nice crisp image being sent over via Remote Desktop to the iMac. Once Duet is launched from the iPad and you have that resulting high resolution output via Remote Desktop, you can disconnect the iPad if you want. Only need to reconnect upon reboot of the mini, and that’s only if you’re really looking for the best possible resolution.