Macs are herd animals: When a Macbook, iMac, Mac Mini or Mac Pro enters the household, it tends to multiply: Suddenly, the whole family has Macs. This massively increases the maintenance burden on the home administrator. But thanks to Mac screen sharing, you can stay comfortably at your computer when it’s time to say, "Dad, can you look at my computer for a minute?" – you can maintain the Mac remotely from the comfort of your own computer.
Part 1: Activate Mac Remove Access
To use Mac remote maintenance, you must first enable screen sharing on all Macs in your household:
- Start the Mac and log into the administrator account. Unless an additional account has been created, this is the default account.
- On the device in question, open System Preferences.
- Select "Shares."
- Place a check mark next to "Screen sharing".
- If necessary, assign a unique network name for identification, such as: "Anna’s iMac".
- Afterwards, restart the Mac set up in this way for safety’s sake. Screen sharing should work without a restart, but it will definitely work after a restart.
Part 2: How to Remote Access Mac from PC
That’s basically it. You can now get back to your own Mac. If a family support request comes in, you can easily log in to the other Mac:
Step 1: All Macs with screen sharing appear for you (and all other Macs) in the Finder under Network. Click them on the Mac you want to control remotely and select "Screen Sharing".
Step 2: In the following window, enter the administrator credentials of the target Mac and click "Connect" to start the screen sharing.
Step 3:You can now control the target Mac remotely: it will appear in the window on your Mac. Everything you do here will be done on the target Mac.
Note: You can still control the Mac yourself. So the person on the target computer should keep their hands off the mouse and keyboard. ×
Step 4: The Apple screen sharing even allows a better display quality – of course only if you want it and the network connections allow it.
Caution: If you shut down or reboot the target computer, you may have to reconnect afterwards.
Please do not spy
In principle, remote maintenance is a practical matter. However, it should be used carefully. For example, you can use the function to spy on Macs in the network by connecting to them. However, the target Mac shows in the menu bar that remote control is active. In this respect, the function is certainly not something you want to mess with teenage daughters about.