Is there a way to allow concurrent remote login to a Mac?

[rvs007]

I'm new to the Mac world and I'm trying to find out if it's possible to allow for a concurrent remote login to a Mac while someone else is logged in in front of the computer? So for example, if my wife is logged in at the Mac, can I initiate a remote login from another computer and log in to my own profile without disturbing her work?

If this is possible, what software do I need?

 

[Alrescha]

You need Screen Sharing enabled on the target Mac, and you need another Mac. When you connect you will be asked if you want to share the current session or if you would like to log in as yourself with a new session.

A.

 

[rvs007]

Thanks! If I had two Mac this would be the great solution. However, I want to remote login from a Windows machine. I'd imagine that would complicate things, but is it still possible?

 

[Alrescha]

I cannot help you with the W-word. Perhaps someone else will chime in.

 

[rvs007]

I'm hoping something like VNC is compatible with the Screen Sharing feature.

 

[rigormortis]

okay here is how it works

this dates back to mavericks. this was a feature to mavericks. or maybe it was mountain lion. the bottom line is that concurrent logins is a standard feature of os x.


what you do is you need everyone to have a separate log in ID on the mac
like
mom
dad
sister
brother

enable screen sharing on the target mac

as long as the screen sharing user uses THEIR login, the session will be concurrent and separate as the person on the mac locally.

if you use the same user name and password as the person on the mac locally then your screen is shared with him or her

as far as windows goes. i think screen sharing is VNC compatible. but i just don't know.

oh yeah i remember now. i used some lite version of mocha vnc app for my iPhone to log on to my mac remotely
so yeah its vmc compatible.

 

[rvs007]

Thanks for that Rigormortis. I did more research since posting my question and indeed it is quite simple to get it set up. The tricky part is the concurrent login, but like you said, the Screen Sharing feature on OSX supports that already.

So yes, on a Windows machine, all I have to do is install a VNC viewer and use that to remote login to the Mac. I already have separate accounts for my wife and myself, and she is usually logged in physically at the computer. So when I did a remote login from my Windows PC (after turning on Screen Sharing), it worked! I also tried it from outside my home network, and I have port forwarding on to redirect to the VNC port (5900).

It was quite easy to get it set up once I got input from here and from other forums.