How to 'remote desktop' to my Mac

[willed]

Hi all,

During the pandemic I've been forced to discover Microsoft Remote Desktop, and I've been surprised to find how well it works for accessing a PC in the office from my home Mac.

Inspired by this, I'd love to be able to access my home Mac from anywhere using my work-provided Mac laptop, as I work in digital video and this would enable me to edit from anywhere without copying huge files to a laptop.

I discovered Screen Sharing, which works great... but seemingly only when both Macs are on the same network, according to this support doc (and if you're in the same place, why would you need this??):
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh14066/mac

Is there a way of screen sharing from anywhere, for free? Or do I have to purchase Apple Remote Desktop? I don't have administrator access to my work machine, so I wouldn't be able to install this software - even if I wanted to pay £75 to do so.

Thanks for any tips!

Will

 

[synicalx1]

I guess you could try Chrome Remote Desktop, apparently that works with Mac as well - https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1649523?co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop&hl=en

You could in theory setup port forwarding and access Screen Sharing over the 'net but that's not a great idea from a security perspective.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I do this by having an OpenVPN server setup on my router. In my case it's a Linksys running DD-WRT firmware. Once I'm remotely connected via Tunnelblick it's like being on the local network.

There are more ways to have a VPN server on your home network than I know about, I'm sure. It could probably be done using a Raspberry Pi, for instance.

I don't know what the situation is with Big Sur and the new M1 Macs, though. Probably a new problem to tackle.

 

[alisalem]

TeamViewer is free for personal use.

 

[willed]

I guess you could try Chrome Remote Desktop, apparently that works with Mac as well - https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1649523?co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop&hl=en

You could in theory setup port forwarding and access Screen Sharing over the 'net but that's not a great idea from a security perspective.

So I finally got around to trying out Chrome Remote Desktop, and it works very well! Very easy set-up, and can be accessed from any browser, not just Chrome. Even has an iPhone client, in case you want to run your 27" 5K iMac from a 5" display...! Thanks for the suggestion.