Remote disc icon?

Question

Level 1

49 points

Remote disc icon?

Hi,

Just got one of the new Mac minis and it's a cracking wee machine. One small question, however. I re-installed OS X and under devices as well as under Computer I have a cd icon saying 'Remote Disc'. I understand that this is for installing OS X across a network or sharing a disc but why is the icon there? Shouldn't it be there only if I have cd or dvd sharing on?

This is on a clean install (10.5.6) nothing changed, wireless connection. I've got a unibody Macbook and a Power Mac all running Leopard and none of them seem to show the icon.

Apologies for the really dumb questions but gets me wondering why it's there by default.

Cheers guys!

Message was edited by: dunes

Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on May 10, 2009 9:37 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Mar 11, 2010 10:26 AM in response to kemuel

kemuel wrote:
I just got off the phone with applecare support.
It IS an error, the Remote Disc icon is not supposed to be there. It is only meant to be installed on the macbook air. It seems like apple by mistake included it on the Mac mini install DVD's.

hmm ... i wonder.

from this KB i gather it is a regular "feature" rather than an error.

then again, it might have been intended for the mini's server version only, which comes without optical drive ...

Reply

Answer 2

Montdj

Level 1

0 points

May 11, 2010 10:47 PM in response to kemuel

I would say he is right. I am going to call apple right away as I just got my mini 3 days ago.

This is what I found out about the remote disk icon. When I put the install dvd into my acer laptop it wants me to do a remote install for the MacBook Air. The dvd is setup to do a dvd or cd sharing for the remote install. When I put it in a drive of a windows based pc the first thing that pops up is a box that is tittled install assistant. The txt in the box says. Remote install Mac OS X. use this application to reinstall Mac OS X and other software on your MacBook Air. You can also use this application to open disk utility or apple hardware test on your MacBook Air.

This is the install dvd the came with the mini and it is marked Mac mini os x install dvd.

Now I have just made the switch from pc to mac so I dont know if that is standerd on all osx dvd or not. But it sounded like it fit.

Hope this helped
Montdj

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 15, 2010 7:17 PM in response to kemuel

Kamuel, did you fix the problem. I have a new aluminum macmini, same problem. Also have errors in system preferences.

Reply

Answer 4

dww2271

Level 1

9 points

Nov 3, 2010 3:28 PM in response to dunes

I actually want to get the icon back!

I have a MiniMac Server. The DVD icon did not appear until I inserted a DVD to share on an iMac. However, I inadvertently pulled the icon out of finder and it went "poof".

Now, I can see the DVD in Finer under "Computer" or under "Shared" (by looking at my iMac), so this is no great tragedy.

I called Apple Support and they told me the icon ain't comin' back unless I do an Archive&Install on the MiniMac. My guess is that some sort of symbolic link has been deleted. I could easily handle this from a Command Line if I knew what was needed, but the words "Command Line" pretty much give the support guys at this level sweaty palms and a nervous tic, so that was going nowhere.

If by chance, anyone is aware of what needs to actually be done, I would find it interesting.

Thanks!

Reply

Answer 5

newagemac

Level 2

245 points

Nov 8, 2010 10:07 AM in response to dww2271

To add it back, just right click somewhere in the sidebar and then choose Open Sidebar Preferences. Then click the "CDs, DVDs, and iPods" option until you see a checkmark in the box. Of course you can also remove the checkmark and that will remove all those types from the sidebar. If you want to just remove the Remote Disc from the sidebar just drag it off like others have mentioned.

Reply

Answer 6

Jul 10, 2015 6:41 AM in response to newagemac

Oh man, thanks so much for this tip sidebar preference and right click to get back.
I have a macbook air and was sharing the cd to install office from my macbook pro.
somehow i dragged it out of the finder - duh and off it went poof !
I was searching everywhere to find out how to add it back. I even went back to sharing to see if dvd/cd sharing would appear so I can add it again but its totally gone.
It was the first option above screen sharing. but its gone now. after I accidentally removed or dragged Remote Disc out.

so since I right clicked like you advised under sidebar preference I was able to find cd/dvd under the checkmark section. it had a ➖ next to it. I clicked on it and the check came on.

now i can access cd/dvd from macbook pro but SURPRISINGLY it is still gone - the CD/DVD Sharing box from the sharing application. This must be a software error/blip by Apple. I hope they fix it. Very bizarre for an apple product to have a glaring error like this.

But thanks for your help - alot !!

Message was edited by: matv78

Reply

Answer 7

Sven G

Level 1

45 points

Nov 25, 2010 2:09 PM in response to dunes

Maybe this can help:

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2009012605560521

... as an alternative method to get back the icon in the sidebar.

Reply

Answer 8

Designso

Level 1

0 points

Mar 22, 2011 8:04 PM in response to Ocean Digital

This thread started out with users who want to be RID of the Remote Disc icon that's sitting there uselessly on a new Mac Mini. I don't want it there. Perhaps I missed the message in this thread on how to get rid of it completely - not just the icon - but I still would like to know how to do so.

Reply

Answer 9

techtown

Level 1

0 points

Apr 28, 2011 1:57 PM in response to Designso

I've read all kinds of posts about getting rid of this icon from using Terminal commands to 'just dragging' the icon out of the sidebar. I thought it should be that simple, but wasn't.

Normally, you can just drag items out of the Sidebar with a ‘poof’ and they're gone, BUT the Remote Disc icon will only be removed by holding the Apple (Command) key and dragging it out. Only THEN do you see the lovely 'poof'.

NOTE: After you do this, the Finder>Preferences> Sidebar>CDs, DVDs, and iPods will display a minus sign. Normally, if this is displayed then any other mounted CDs/DVDs won’t show up in the Sidebar, but in this case those WILL show up.... HOWEVER, if you click on the minus so it becomes a check mark again, then the good ol' Remote Disc icon returns to the sidebar!!!!! Hope this helps someone.🙂

Reply

Answer 10

iMarc845

Level 1

4 points

May 3, 2011 4:59 PM in response to techtown

Thank you! Your post helped me get rid of the fool thing. My new Mini has a DVD drive, so I wanted this gone!

😁

Reply

Answer 11

Aug 9, 2011 7:50 AM in response to techtown

thanks techtown! your advice about the apple/command-dragging was the only one that solved the problem for me!

Reply

Answer 12

joesuf

Level 1

14 points

Aug 27, 2011 12:00 PM in response to techtown

Techtown: "the Remote Disc icon will only be removed by holding the Apple (Command) key and dragging it out. Only THEN do you see the lovely 'poof'."

Thanks so so much!!

Reply

Answer 13

ckramek

Level 1

4 points

Aug 11, 2014 5:01 PM in response to dunes

This icon is most helpful on the newer Macbook Pros without the optical drive.

Reply

Answer 14

Ale×35

Level 1

0 points

Oct 20, 2014 12:32 PM in response to dunes

Even though this is a very old thread, for any Googlers that come across this...

The solution to drag and drop the "Remote Disk" icon so that it goes "poof" will only hide it from the Finder sidebar, but it will still persist in the root Finder view. To actually disable the "Remote Disk" feature and remove the icon from the system, open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and type the following:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.NetworkBrowser EnableODiskBrowsing -bool false

...then type the admin password, press enter, and type:

killall Finder

Alternatively, to disable it on a per-user basis you can type:

defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser EnableODiskBrowsing -bool false

killall Finder

Of course, to restore it just do the same process again, but substitute "false" with "true".

Reply

Answer 15

May 14, 2015 6:04 PM in response to Ale×35

I found that when I simply click-dragged it from a finder dialog window (not just the finder window), it disappeared all over the system, but I loved having the terminal info for future reference. Thanks!

Reply