Headless Mac mini Question

[Slevin]

I have a headless Mac mini connected to my home network sitting in my server rack. I have it set to automatically restart after a power outage and auto log in. I have remote access but I was wondering if there was a way I can set it to allow me access and run my home assistant, plex, etc in the background without having to automatically log in since that is a security issue plus when you set it to auto log in you can't set up FileVault.

Any thoughts?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

So you want it to automatically login and run these apps… without automatic login? 🧐

 

[doogm]

Definitely not with FileVault - FileVault requires an approved user authentication before it will even unlock the disk.

Most services require a user account login to start up. It's been a while since I ran Plex, but I don't think it will run without an account login in first.

I have two headless Mac minis and both are set to automatically log in to standard (not admin) user accounts. I just use those user accounts for what I need the mini for, but if I wanted them connected to my Apple Account for some reason I could do that, with the standard accounts not connected to any Apple ID, as both run an Apple Script at login to send me an email that they have started. I could then use screen sharing (well, I use the app Screens with Screens Connect from Edovia because they are located in different locations and I am not always there) to connect and log in to a different account after login.

 

[startergo]

There is a kvm switch called PI-kvm which operates just like a keyboard and you can even access the bios remotely.