VNC Screen Sharing: White Screen

Question

Level 1

14 points

VNC Screen Sharing: White Screen

When I connect to a remote VNC client, I get the password prompt (yay) I appear to connect (yay) but then all I see is a white window instead of the remote desktop (boo).

I've simultaneously logged into the remote client with Logmein. If I move my cursor over the (totally white) screen sharing window, I can see the cursor moving on the remote client desktop. So it's connected and operational, but I can't see the display.

I previously did not have this problem. I have since made changes to the remote firewall and I've bought a new wireless router at home, so those could be factors. But like I said, it's fully functioning besides the fact I have a white screen sharing window.

Any idea why?

Message was edited by: Lord Zero

MBP 15-inch, Mac OS X (10.6.3), all software updates installed.

Posted on Apr 27, 2010 6:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Bob237

Level 1

0 points

May 11, 2010 3:05 PM in response to Lord Zero

I had the same problem, what worked for me is setting the Screen Sharing application to run in 32-bit mode. You have to find the app first, it's buried in the System folder:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Screen Sharing.app

Get Info on the application and check the box "Open in 32-bit mode".

Some others with this problem report that this still doesn't fix things, but it worked for me!

Bob

Reply

Answer 2

May 25, 2010 7:28 AM in response to Bob237

I had exactly the same issue as the OP, too: blank white screen when logging into a known good VNC server (on CentOS 5; vncviewer and CotVNC both worked) via Screen Sharing.

The suggestion of setting /System/Library/CoreServices/Screen Sharing.app to run in 32-bit mode worked for me.

CT

Reply

Answer 3

widgit

Level 1

0 points

Jun 5, 2010 3:04 AM in response to Bob237

Thank You Bob, this has been stumping me for over a year and I found the solution here. It works.

Regards
W

Reply

Answer 4

Jun 7, 2010 3:13 PM in response to Lord Zero

Bob nailed it. I tried setting to the 32 bit mode and it's FIXED!. Some notes: I was able to connect to our old Win 2000 server and vnc screen share just fine. Then out of nowhere it stopped working, upon launch of the screen sharing window, the screen would go white. I began troubleshooting and found that while the screen was white on the Mac, the mouse cursor still functioned on the server. I tested screen sharing to other Macs and it worked exactly as it should. After finding this article I tried the 32 bit fix.

Reply

Answer 5

TEMc

Level 1

25 points

Aug 30, 2010 2:32 PM in response to Bob237

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have been trying to get past the white screen on VNC for a number of months and decided to search the community again. 32-bit mode nailed by VNC access to a VMWare Fusion XP virtual machine.

Reply

Answer 6

Nov 21, 2010 6:07 PM in response to Bob237

This fixed things for me. Thank you very much. This had been bugging me for a while. C'mon Apple, let's get with the program here...

Reply

Answer 7

BobHarris

Level 9

55,049 points

Nov 21, 2010 6:30 PM in response to Nicholas Conwell

This fixed things for me. Thank you very much. This had been bugging me for a while. C'mon Apple, let's get with the program here...

You are not speaking to Apple here. This is a User-to-User forum. I would encourage you to file a bug or feature enhancement with Apple at either:

BugReporter
<http://bugreporter.apple.com>
Free ADC (Apple Developer Connection) account needed for BugReporter.
Anyone can get a free account at:
<http://developer.apple.com/programs/register/>

And/Or

Mac OS X Feedback
<http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html>

That way Apple would know what you know.

Reply