Apple remote desktop Windows
How to Access Your Macs Screen from Windows (and Vice-Versa)
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Sharing your screen remotely is a convenient way to access another computer as if youre sitting in front of it. OS X and Windows havethis ability built right into them, meaning you can easily share your Macs screen with Windows PCs, and vice versa. If you run a mixed network, its most likely a combination of Macs and Windows PCs. You might have a Linux machine tossed in there to serve files, but most people have Windows or Macs, and sometimesboth. Witheachmethod described below, were connecting from a client that we installed on our system to a target computer. On our Mac were using the Remote Desktop (RDP) application, and on Windows the RealVNC Viewer.Advertisement These tools allow us to connect to the targetscomputer via each systems native method. In other words, Windows uses RDP natively while OS X uses VNC. This means we have to do almost no configuring to the targets, so getting everything working is usuallyhassle-free. Connecting to Windows PC Clients froma MacWeve previously discussed how to use Remote Desktop to access other Windows computers in the same house. Its not so much different doing it from OS X, but lets go through it for the sake of thoroughness. To connect to a Windows PC, you must first turn on remote connections. Open the System Properties and click the Remote tab, then make sure Allow remote connections to this computer is enabled. You also want to make sure you install the Microsoft Remote Desktop client on your Mac. It is available in the App Store. The Best Tech Newsletter Anywhere Join 425,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of features, articles, news, and trivia. Sign Me Up! We've got your info - thanks for signing up! We were unable to subscribe you! Please check your e-mail address or contact us for assistance. Signing you up... By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Advertisement Remote Desktop will be installed in your Macs Applications folder. In our example, weve already set up a user profile, which is ready for action. Lets take a moment, however, to click Edit and show you whats involved. Next to Connection name we give it a friendly name while the PC name is either the name we gave our target PC or its IP address. We dont worry about configuring a gateway because were connecting to our PC within our local network. Also, if you do not want to enter your user name and password every time you connect, you can addthem tothe Credentials. Not entering any credentials means that when you connect to your Windows machine, you will need to log into an account. If you want to know what your PCs name and/or IP address is, you need to check. Use the keyboard shortcut Windows + R and then type cmd to open a command prompt. In the command prompt, type ipconfig and hit Return. You want to use the IPv4 address it gives you. Advertisement If you cant remember what you named your computer, you can find that information on the System control panel. The advantage of using the computer name over an IP address is that the name remains the same unless you change it, whereas IP addresses can change from time to time. The rest of the Remote Desktop connections settings concern resolution, colors, and full screen options. When you connect to a new client, youll likely see a Verify Certificate dialog. Click Continue to connect. If you dont want to see this warning dialog in the future, click Show Certificate and then check the Always trust option as shown below. Advertisement To confirm changes to your certificate trust settings, you will need to enter your system password. Remember, if you didnt previously enter anything in the connection credentials, you will see the login screen when you first connect. Once youve successfully connected to your Windows PC from your Mac, your Windows desktop will appear. If we want to mess with our Windows 10 test machine, we dont need to actually be there. As we mentioned, beingable to connect to a Windows machine is a pleasant convenience. For example, your Windows PC may be a super beefy machine you use to do compiling or rendering. You can use remote desktop to check on a jobs progress or start tasks without actually being physically at the machine. Connecting to a Mac from a Windows PCConnecting to a Mac from a Windows PC is a little different. Youre not going to be able to use Remote Desktop, but thats okay because theres a free client called RealVNC viewer that does the trick nicely.Advertisement Just like with Windows, you first have to set up your Mac for screen sharing. Open the Sharing preference panel and check the box next to Screen Sharing. If you want to edit the name of your computer you can click the Edit button. You can leave the Allow access for: options as they are. Click Computer Settings and make sure VNC viewers may control screen with password is checked. Then enter a simple password. The password can be one to eight characters. It doesnt have to be complicated but at least make it hard to guess. The VNC Viewer requires installation, but you dont have to sign up for an account to use it. Recall from the earlier screenshot that our Macs screen can be accessed at 192.168.0.118 or Matt-Air.local. If youre unsure how to access your Mac, go back to your Sharing preferences anddouble-check the information on the Screen Sharing settings.Advertisement We enter 192.168.0.118 in our VNC client and leave the encryption as it is. The RealVNC Viewer application has a plethora of options you can peruse at your leisure. Youll probably be fine leaving them as is, though, if you want your connection to automatically open full screen, you need to tick the box next to Full screen mode. To be honest, we almost never mess with these. Screen sharing from Windows to Mac seems to work just fine as it is. We return to our connection and click the Connect button. An authentication box will appear where you will need to enter the simple password you created in the Sharing preferences on your Mac. Whenyou connect to the target Mac, you will also need to log into a (presumably yours) user account, just like we had to do with Windows (if we didnt supply our credentials). Once logged in, your Mac desktop will now appear in the VNC Viewer window in the same state as you left it. Advertisement If you mouse to the top-middle of the window, you can spawn extra controls, which when you hover will give you a tooltip explaining what each one does. This little toolbar will let you do stuff like close the connection, go to full-screen, and more. Hover over each button to learn what it does. Youll find handy shortcuts to close and save the connection, as well as to change options, and a full-screen button so your shared desktop fills the screen. On the Mac side of things, a Screen Sharing icon will appear in the menu bar. This lets you quickly and easily access the Screen Sharing preferences ordisconnect clients. Its important to remember that sharing a computer screen is really only suited for short bits of work. If you were trying to remotely repair something or show another user how to do something, its ideal, but to get any meaningful work done, not so much. You will always experience a little bit of lag and stutter, and theres not a whole lot you can do about that.Advertisement Like we said, however, its not intended for heavy-duty work. Keep in mind also, were only sharing our screens locally, which means that if you leave the house, say to go get coffee, and you realize you need to connect to a machine at home, youll need to know how to connect to it through your router. There are ways to do this with a Mac as well as Windows machines. We encourage you to check out those articles for more information on how to remotely connect to your machines at home. If you have any comments or questions about what youve read today, please leave your feedback in our discussion forum. Matt Klein Video liên quan |
