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Screen Sharing allows viewing but not control of the screen

I have 10 users in my office, and all are setup to allow screen sharing. It works for all of them, except one. On her Mac Pro, we can connect to it with no trouble, but once you see the screen, you cannot control it, even though the "Control" icon (target with cursor) is selected. We have tried toggling between the View mode and the Control mode. We have tried logging in as the user account, and the admin account, with both implicit access, and also by requesting access. In all cases, you can see the screen, but not control it. A couple of times, it seemed as though I could click on a window in the background, and that window would come forward, and then immediately, I would be unable to control it again.


We have tried it with Mojave to Mojave, and Mojave to Catalina. (The target system is on Mojave 14.6.) There are 10 other Macs in the office with the same configuration, and they all work fine.


Any ideas? Thank you!


Mac Pro

Posted on Mar 13, 2020 10:38 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 14, 2020 8:16 PM

Hello, David Green4.


Sorry to hear that you're having this problem with that particular Mac Pro.


If you haven't rebooted into safe mode anytime recently you should try that to see if it helps. Let the Mac OS do drive directory repair, cache clearing and other misc housekeeping. Often just booting into safe mode and logging in, then immediately rebooting normally will resolve an issue.  You should do this with all your external peripherals disconnected but the keyboard and mouse.


Booting into Safe Mode… 

Use safe mode to isolate issues - Apple Support


What Safe mode does:

  • Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed
  • Loads only required kernel extensions
  • Prevents startup items and login items from opening automatically
  • Disables user-installed fonts 
  • Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files


Restarting in Safe mode can often eliminate a problem or help identify the cause.


You can verify that you have started in Safe mode by clicking Apple menu  > About This Mac > System Report. Then find >Software< in the left column and look at >Boot Mode: Safe vs Normal< in the right pane.


Note– starting up in Safe mode could take 10 minutes or more. Be patient.


Does the problem persist while in Safe mode? 

Restart your Macintosh and re-evaluate the issue.

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7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 14, 2020 8:16 PM in response to David Green4

Hello, David Green4.


Sorry to hear that you're having this problem with that particular Mac Pro.


If you haven't rebooted into safe mode anytime recently you should try that to see if it helps. Let the Mac OS do drive directory repair, cache clearing and other misc housekeeping. Often just booting into safe mode and logging in, then immediately rebooting normally will resolve an issue.  You should do this with all your external peripherals disconnected but the keyboard and mouse.


Booting into Safe Mode… 

Use safe mode to isolate issues - Apple Support


What Safe mode does:

  • Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed
  • Loads only required kernel extensions
  • Prevents startup items and login items from opening automatically
  • Disables user-installed fonts 
  • Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files


Restarting in Safe mode can often eliminate a problem or help identify the cause.


You can verify that you have started in Safe mode by clicking Apple menu  > About This Mac > System Report. Then find >Software< in the left column and look at >Boot Mode: Safe vs Normal< in the right pane.


Note– starting up in Safe mode could take 10 minutes or more. Be patient.


Does the problem persist while in Safe mode? 

Restart your Macintosh and re-evaluate the issue.

Mar 14, 2020 9:20 AM in response to David Green4

Hello David Green4,


Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. It's my understanding that you're unable to set up screen sharing on a Mac Pro. You've done a great job trying to get this resolved! I'm happy to help.


If you haven't already, please try the steps in the following resource:

If you can't share Mac computer screens


If the issue persists, please contact Apple Support for further assistance.

Contact Apple Support


Have a nice day!

Screen Sharing allows viewing but not control of the screen

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