Screen Sharing Dialog Box won't close

Question

Level 1

8 points

Screen Sharing Dialog Box won't close

I didn't mean to put this post in the "Previous to 2009" section.....

I don't get the impression that screen sharing should be as much trouble as I seem to be having. I'm trying to share the screen of a Mac Mini with a MacBook Pro. When I initiate the Screen Share I get a dialog box asking for user name and password. Once I enter them it starts "Connecting" and that box never closes, ever. Even after the screen sharing session is closed it never goes away and there is no way to close it. It sits on top of all windows and doesn't show up for Force Quit. The only way to make it go away is Restart or Shut Down. It also seems to take a really long time for a screen share to come on. This is all happening on an Airport Extreme network. I'm new to Macs so be gentle.

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on May 8, 2010 2:13 PM

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Answer 1

Dah•veed

Level 9

64,597 points

May 8, 2010 5:54 PM in response to timztunz

The Airport Extreme is creating the network and the two Macs connect to the Extreme?

It uses DHCP to create the WLAN?

Have you activated Screen Sharing or Remote Management in Sys Prefs/Sharing?

Both Macs are configured the same way in Sys Prefs/Sharing?

The issue with the dialog box that will not die is on the MB Pro?

You are entering the name and password for the Mac mini on the Screen Sharing dialog box on the MB Pro?

What happens on the Mac mini if you try to share the MB Pro's screen from the mini?

Dah•veed

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Answer 2

timztunz Author

Level 1

8 points

May 9, 2010 9:29 AM in response to Dah•veed

I don't know why yet but today everything works as it should. Could be pilot error I suppose but don't know what. Thanks.

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Answer 3

twilfong

Level 1

0 points

Aug 5, 2010 11:06 AM in response to timztunz

This happens to me often if I have a problem connecting a remote computer -- those connecting windows just never go away if they hang. The issue is that NetAuthAgent is hanging. To get rid of these without rebooting:

From GUI:

1. Launch the Activity Monitor program.
2. In the Process Name list, look for "NetAuthAgent". It may show as "Not Responding".
3. Select NetAuthAgent, and then click Quit Process (the red stop sign button at the top of the Activity Monitor window). Then, click Force Quit.

From Terminial:

1. ps ax | grep NetAuthAgent
2. kill <pid-of-the-process-found-above>

This should get rid of the dialog boxes and the hung process, and VNC/Screen Sharing should continue to work, as it will launch NetAuthAgent again when it needs it.

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Answer 4

ezdub

Level 1

0 points

Aug 16, 2010 7:14 PM in response to twilfong

thank you for the solution to this annoyance.
-Z

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Answer 5

Mar 1, 2011 8:14 PM in response to ezdub

This is why old forum posts should be kept and cataloged. This happens in OS 10.6.6 when you enter the wrong username or password for screen sharing. If you screw it up, it never times out.

THANK YOU!!

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Answer 6

Obs0lete

Level 1

4 points

Mar 25, 2011 12:22 PM in response to twilfong

Thanks for the workaround, twilfong. It did the trick! This annoyance should be fixed by Apple.

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Answer 7

v8media

Level 1

15 points

Jun 15, 2011 12:41 PM in response to twilfong

Another note of thanks for the name of the process.

For whatever reason, I only have this issue with one machine running 10.5.8. I do Mac tech support, and have yet to find this issue on any others.

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Answer 8

Roy_H

Level 1

18 points

Oct 6, 2011 12:14 AM in response to timztunz

This has been happening to me recently since I moved to Lion on my Macbook Pro - Screensharing login fails on first attempt and box refuses to close, second attempt opens another login window and works fine. First one remains on screen though and floats above all other windows.

Thanks for the solution to a little annoyance.

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Answer 9

Dec 9, 2011 4:54 PM in response to twilfong

The single command:

$ killall NetAuthAgent

Should do what you need. Thank you twilfong, for pointing out the appropriate process.

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