Remote Takeover!

[caseyo]

Hi.

I was just wondering if it is possible to take control of a mac, from another mac without the controlled mac's immediate permission.

I have access to both macs, and I can install any application and change any settings on both of them. Basically I want to disable the mouse and keyboard, and take remote control of the other computer from the first one.

It's important that there is no way for the other computer to accidentally exit out or take back control, or even that thing where you have 2 mice hooked up to one computer and they are like battling for control.

Both are on the same wifi network in my house. It's important that I'm not opening up the mac to anyone, just one the one I authorized.

Like I said, both of them are my computers, both in my house. I don't want to just like share files, It would be nice to remote control it from the other computer. It doesn't really matter if its slow and laggy, as long as it works.

If you know of anything, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[GimmeSlack12]

I do this everyday with my Mac Mini. I use VNC to control the machine.

It's very easy. Get Chicken of VNC (program, free) and put it on your host machine (controlling machine).
On remote computer System Prefs>Sharing>Remote Management. Hit the options and check everything and set a password.
Set a manual IP on the remote machine System Prefs>Network>TCP/IP>Manual DHCP. Set as 192.168.1.XXX (remember this).

On host machine open Chicken of VNC dial in the IP you set for the remote machine. Put in password when prompted. Boom!

 

[72930]

I do this everyday with my Mac Mini. I use VNC to control the machine.

AFAIK with VNC, the other Mac's mouse can still be move, resulting with a 'battle' the OP doesn't want. I am not very experienced with this, but it has been like this in my brief encounter with Chicken of the VNC and Apple's own screen sharing app

 

[Tankgunk]

In my experiences with VNC, I've noticed that there is usually a mouse war, but the client (connecting computer) usually wins said war, even though the mouse will jerk on the host (and occasionally client) computer. However, I would be worried about a keyboard war as all input from both keyboards is "accepted".

 

[72930]

If this is not a major concern, I greatly recommend LogMeIn

 

[GimmeSlack12]

You'll need Apple Remote Desktop if you want complete control. Which I have, and is awesome. Though Leopard's Screen Sharing thing seems to have made ARD semi-irrelevant.

Heck, take the mouse away from your remote computer.

 

[Aperture]

I think there is a Terminal command to enable extra Screen Sharing features. (features usually only in ARD)

One of the features might be to stop their mouse movements.

 

[panoz7]

I think there is a Terminal command to enable extra Screen Sharing features. (features usually only in ARD)

One of the features might be to stop their mouse movements.

yep

 

[Makosuke]

10.5's screen sharing app basically makes VNC unnecessary--it appears to use ARD rather than VNC, is most certainly compatible with 10.4 (I assume 10.3 as well), and works more smoothly than VNC in my experience (I've used Chicken of the VNC to control a number of Macs remotely, and Leopard's app has had far less odd glitches, display errors, and has never had a stalled session for me thus far).

And, with that nifty terminal tip panoz7 linked (thanks, I hadn't seen that!), it'll give you the last of the features you want without needing to pay several hundred dollars for the full ARD.

 

[FoxyKaye]

Here's a question, though - The Terminal commands seem to rely on the premise that Apple won't identify them as a "bug" in Leopard and "fix" them in future OS updates so that they're no longer available. Or is it the case that because they're linked so closely with ARD, that this is not very likely? I guess I'm asking whether or not this is an un-enabled feature or just a hack?

 

[theLimit]

Hopefully Apple doesn't "patch" Leopard's Screen Sharing to permanently disable the ARD features.

 

[Makosuke]

I guess I'm asking whether or not this is an un-enabled feature or just a hack?

No way to say right now, but I'd lean toward hack.

All these features have been a standard part of the full ARD package, so the question is whether Apple stripped down an ARD tool to include with Leopard and just left some of the "pro" features around (in which case they may disappear if Apple thinks it's losing money on ARD licenses, though ARD does do a lot of other things), or if they're dev-level features that just aren't enabled, ala a lot of the stuff in Safari or any number of semi-hidden OS features .

Bottom line being that while they probably work fine they may or may not be removed in the future.

If they're still around in a couple of 10.5.x updates, they're probably going to stay, at least through the life of Leopard.

 

[caseyo]

Awesome guys! I got it working except for one thing. It keeps asking me for a password. I've tried the admin passwords for both machines and the custom VNC viewers password thing I set in the computer settings in preferences/sharing/remote management.

I've got it working perfect with the permission thing, but its really clunky and defeats the point if i've got to run over and ok it every time. So, I was just wondering where I'm supposed to set the password, or like which password it would be.

I used this guide, by the way.

Thanks a ton, you've been extremely helpful!

 

[Makosuke]

If the controlled machine is running 10.4, go to the Sharing pref pane, select Apple Remote Desktop, click the Access Privileges button, and put a checkmark next to whatever users you want to be able to log in remotely as. If you log in remotely as the currently logged-in user, you should just be grabbing the mouse from them.

At least, that's how I THINK it works...

10.5, it looks like in the same place you either click the "All Users" option or add the specific ones you want to the list.

You shouldn't even need VNC enabled, since the 10.5 share screen app uses ARD. While they do the same thing, and are both available from that same preference, VNC and ARD are not the same thing--VNC has a single password that essentially gives you a hook into the mouse and lets you see the screen. ARD has a lot more available, including all the stuff being discussed here.

 

[GoKyu]

I have a question related to the original topic - I'm getting my first Mac (Mac Pro) within a week or so, and I was wondering if i can use VNC to connect from the Mac directly into the PC that I'm currently using?

Would it be possible to transfer files this way as well, or is it just easier to set up an FTP server on the PC, then transfer my stuff over that way?

Thanks,

-Bryan

 

[Makosuke]

...I was wondering if i can use VNC to connect from the Mac directly into the PC that I'm currently using?

Yes. Just install a VNC server (there are many freeware ones) on your PC and run Chicken of the VNC on your Mac (or does the screen sharing app also do VNC?).

Alternately, you could use Microsoft RDC which may actually work better. Turn it on in the prefs of your PC (in System), then download the RDC client for Mac:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downlo...download/MISC/RDC2.0_Public_Beta_download.xml

Instructions from MS:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=Article_RDC

This may be preferable because...

Would it be possible to transfer files this way as well, or is it just easier to set up an FTP server on the PC, then transfer my stuff over that way?

...VNC doesn't, I believe, provide any means of file transfer, but RDC will let you auto-mount a drive from the remote machine to transfer files:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=Article_MoveFiles

I use this system occasionally to remote-control Windows machines at work, and for what you're wanting to do it's probably easier than VNC+FTP.