OSX 10.9 can't connect to OSX 10.11

I have two identical 27" iMacs on my desk, and a Mac Mini. The Mac Mini and one of the 27" iMacs is running 10.9.5. The other iMac is 10.11.


The 10.11 iMac can see the other two computers as servers, and can interact with them – Share Screen and so on.


The two 10.9.5 machines can see each other, and interact, but they cannot see the 10.11 iMac.


Can anyone suggest how I can get the 10.9.5 machines to see the 10.11 machine?

iMac 27″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jul 3, 2023 9:26 PM

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2 replies

Jul 4, 2023 12:21 AM in response to Guy Burns

Hi there!


It sounds like there's an incompatibility between the two Mac computers running OS X Mavericks and the one running OS X El Capitan. This is expected when using newer and older system software.


The good news is both iMac computers can be upgraded to, at least, macOS High Sierra, and the Mac mini can be upgraded to, at least, OS X El Capitan. If you're interested in upgrading the software on your Mac computers, let us know the exact model and year of each device, and we can provide suggestions on an upgrade path which could resolve this issue.


- Jack

Jul 4, 2023 8:20 PM in response to Jack-19

Hi Jack,


Thanks for the suggestion. I played around some more with System Preferences, saw a thing called Sharing, and opened that. When I ticked File Sharing, all computers connected to each other. I'll have to remember that.


One more thing – in my playing around and renaming computers under Sharing, I now have two extra computers showing in Sidebar > Shared. One is called home_network_ga, the other is called guy's_imac. Zombie computers because I can't connect to them, I don't know where they came from, and I can't get rid of them.


How do you remove phantom computers that appear in the Sidebar under Shared?

OSX 10.9 can't connect to OSX 10.11

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