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Screen sharing - Not working

cosmichobo

cosmichobo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 4, 2006
991
612
G'day,

For about 5 years I had my father's 2009 iMac (Mavericks) set up so that I could use Apple's "Screen Sharing" app to remotely see, and control his computer from my own iMac. Originally I was also on Mavericks, but upgraded various times - currently a MacPro 5.1 running Sierra.

He would confirm his current IP address via Google, and then call me so I could log in.

About a year ago, the system broke, and I can no longer get to the point of signing into his computer - when I open Screen Sharing and put in the IP, it just tries for a while, then says it can't connect.

I'm finally at his house now, looking at the settings etc to figure out why it stopped working, and - I can't see anything "wrong".

I thought perhaps the permissions had been turned off, but it's still all set to allow remote access.

Is there a checklist of things I should look at to get this working again? Remotely helping someone who barely knows how to turn a computer off and on again gets pretty frustrating...!

Cheers

cosmic
 
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Addendum

I found a suggestion over at AppleStack, to turn Screen Sharing off, Restart, then turn it back on.

Not 100% sure it made a difference - still can't log in how I used to (which was to simply put the IP address into the "Host" name in the Screen Sharing app), but I can now log in and control my father's iMac from my MacbookAir running Catalina) - BUT - only if they are on the same Wifi. When I move the MBA over to a hotspot on my Phone (from 4G network), it wont connect.

The other "new" thing - to connect on the same network, instead of using the IP, I need to use "user@imac.modem". The IP address doesn't work. Not sure if that is "normal", as I haven't tried to connect before whilst on the same network...
 
It might have been about a year ago that Apple discontinued the "Back to My Mac" service; perhaps that had something to do with your failure. Still, even with that service up, I'm surprised to hear that Screen Sharing worked over the internet just by putting his IP address in! I thought the NAT feature of most routers would prevent that. Hmmm-- maybe be got a new router about a year ago... anyway, it doesn't matter now, I guess.

Anyway, I would recommend initiating the Screen Sharing feature from the Messages app. I'm pretty sure that works between networks (e.g., over the internet). Start a Messages conversation with him, go to the Details on the top-right corner, and click the Screen Sharing icon. You can ask to share his screen, and he only has to accept.
 
Ah!

Ok - that could explain it! I had no idea that Apple had discontinued the feature. I've said above "a year ago", but it could well be 18months...

Will the Messages app work on Mavericks? I'm leaving tomorrow, so don't have time to attempt an OS upgrade (ie to El Capitan, as the highest supported OS... -- just checked, it's a Early 2008 iMac, not 2009...)
 
I've signed in to Messages on the 2008 iMac, but when I first tried to take control of the iMac using my MBA, it gave some kind of error about authorising the account, and now the screen share button is disabled, so I can't even try to do it. Also on the iMac, the "Share my screen with..." option is grey.

I wish Apple stuff really would "just work"... (But, I know it's still better than PC stuff...)
 
Aaargh! That is frustrating. Who knows what it up with it! The Apple page does mention this:


If you can’t share a screen​

In the Messages app
ae8d596d44d76eddfb1ea9eb4772e949.png
on your Mac, if the Share button
0a59b1f119ee078620034f7521c3e2d6.png
is dimmed, try the following:
  • Make sure the person youʼre trying to share with is signed in to iCloud using the same Apple ID they used to sign in to Messages.
  • If they can’t sign in to iCloud and Messages using the same Apple ID, open your Contacts app
    a670c614e3fc9faf6630d318e516ea04.png
    , and make sure your contact card for the person includes both Apple IDs—the one they use to sign in to iCloud, and the one they use in Messages. Then try sharing again. (See Create a new contact.)
 
Thanks for that, Brian33. I appreciate your assistance! Sadly now I've left my dad's house, which makes it rather difficult to continue problem solving this. :(

I did however convince him it's time for a new(er) Mac - going to look for a 2015-ish era model in time for Easter.
 
If you need to do this you should configure your father's router as a VPN and then log into that before starting to use screen sharing using the local IP address of his computer

Alternatively consider a commercial programme such as Teamviewer – many are free / very cheap for non-business use.
 
MtLoin2020 said:
My 2 macbooks share a screen through a wireless network via that apple airport i purchased in 2006.
the key is the proper id and password, nothing else from google, vpn etc.
Click to expand...
I presume they are on the same internal network – this is not what the OP is discussing.
 
Never got to the bottom of this... But today was rather frustrated to hear that my dad's telco (Telstra) are able to remote access his computer.

Annoyed that they could get in... and I can't...

(Also a big concerned at first, til I read that Telstra do indeed say on their website that they can remote access your computer, and that dad called Telstra - it wasn't some random person calling him. He also didn't provide his IP or anything useful, so they must have had his details on their end...)
 
I would be very concerned about that. I would check up on that now. Why should a telecoms company be able to access a computer? The network perhaps!
 
This is their page on the subject:

Telstra support - Telstra

Use quick tools and FAQs to get help with your Telstra account, billing enquiries, mobile data usage, nbn plans or your entertainment subscriptions
www.telstra.com.au www.telstra.com.au

Australians (particularly older Australians) trust Telstra... Historically, they were Australia's only telco, and government owned, too - but they were privatised years ago, and of course no longer the only option.
 
So, I now have a fuller picture of what happened.

My father (73yo, limited computer savvy) called Telstra because he was having issues receiving emails, and had spoken with a number of other people in his area who were also Telstra customers, and also having issues.

The Telstra tech as noted above - used "LogMeIn" to remote access his computer. By the sounds of it, the tech got frustrated, and told my dad to stop using Apple Mail (Mavericks era), and installed the Thunderbird mail app on his computer.

Firstly, I don't mind that the telco use remote access to help their customers... But as far as I am aware, the Mail app would not have been causing the issues - because it is now once again receiving emails. I find it incredibly rude of them to instal new software - likely because they were not familiar with the Mac OS, and now causing all kinds of problems.

I am guessing that whilst trying to "fix" the problem, the technician has mucked around with the outgoing mail settings, because dad can't send mail with it any more. And Thunderbird hasn't been set up properly either - it wont send (different error message).

So now I have a very cranky father, who wont call Telstra back, and is 400km away from me.

My older brother is visiting today (he lives 200km away), so hopefully he can fix it...
 
ssmed said:
Sounds like you need to use logmein too.
Click to expand...

Mmm... just checked the pricing... at $520 USD per year (so, $745 AUD), I wont be signing up - unless my dad pays!

He's actually agreed it's time to upgrade from his 2008 iMac, and is happy to pay for a brand new iMac, so hopefully that will make things easier for me to remote in using Messages, that wasn't working under Mavericks...
 
LOL - All good! I certainly considered it! Well, til I learned of the price. Actually - I went to their website the other day when I found out the name of the software, and what I found was - "Sign up for a free demo!" - and that was enough to tell me - nah, this is gonna be expensive. Went back just now following your post to verify, and if you think the price I quoted is bad - it goes up 10 fold for businesses - ie $5k - versus the $520 price for individuals.

Once I get him onto a new machine, hopefully things will be easier to resolve a remote access situation...
 
If you need easy remote login, try using TeamViewer. It is free for personal use and it works pretty good. I don't really care for having to use use finger touch instead of trackpad but, it will get the job done for you.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
If you need easy remote login, try using TeamViewer. It is free for personal use ad it works pretty good. I don't really care for having to use use finger touch instead of trackpad but, it will get the job done for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks Apple_Robert - hadn't realised it was free. While my brother is with my dad, I'll get him to instal it.
 
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Nguyen Duc Hieu said:
And while your brother is with your dad, get him to install High Sierra or Catalina to the machine, too, after replacing the old HDD with SSD.
Click to expand...

When my brother tried to install Teamviewer, it said it was $29/month..? So, haven't solved that problem.

It has an SSD after the HDD failed a few years ago.

It can't run HS or Cat - highest the 2008 goes is El Capitan, apparently. Maybe it can go higher with some hacks, but would probably need more RAM too.

Whilst I'd talked my dad into a new (or at least, new second hand) iMac, my brother told him that the 2008 is fine. Bastard. So not sure where that's going to take me now. Think I'll just start referring my dad's calls to my brother!
 
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The combination of 4GB DDR2 RAM + SSD + El Capitan is adequate for senior use case.
I installed Catalina to my iMac 2009 (dosdude1 patch).
Things runs well with the web surfing + MS Office 365.
But other apps are troublesome, this including Messenger, VLC, etc, which is not recommendable for a senior to troubleshoot and work around.
 
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