Remote Management user keeps disappearing

Ran into the same issue but resolved it by using terminal to activate remote management for specific users. Followed the man page options from here:

https://ss64.com/mac/kickstart.html

Below is the command I used to turn on Remote management with all options enabled for the "Administrator" user account. Sticks after closing the settings app and sticks after a reboot.

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -activate -configure -access -on -users Administrator -privs -all -restart -agent -menu

[SOLVED! For me, anyway]

@Kaelonius is right, but I had to use more than one command to fix whatever may have been borked by the GUI.

This fixed the authentication failure (overkill with privs all, but I wanted my last remaining user to have all anyway, so continue and bear with me):

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -configure -access -on -allowAccessFor -allUsers -privs -all

After that worked and I could actually not just add the new Sonoma iMac but also connect and control it with all users, this then removed privs for each user to be removed (replace user1,user2... with a comma-separated, no-space list of relevant users):

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -configure -users user1,user2... -access -off -privs -none

Then, once privs were gone for all but the one user, this command allows access only for the one user left with privs (all in my case):

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -configure -allowAccessFor -specifiedUsers

Finally, and good grief! I can now control this one remotely and as intended.

NOTE: Can we please stop the unquestioned annual macOS releases and forced 3-year EOL and get back to responsible and less bug-prone development, even if a little slower, please?

I have also experienced this with Sonoma on Apple Silicone. What I have determined is that if you start with Ventura installed and set up ARD with "Only these users" then upgrade to Sonoma, the users stick. If you try to configure ARD with a fresh install of Sonoma the "Only these users" don't stick. So on a brand new M3 Mac with Sonoma pre-installed I wipe the Mac, install Ventura, configure ARD, then I upgrade to Sonoma. First and 2nd Apple Support tiers had not seen it before.

We have the exact same issue with Mac OS Sonoma. Our "Administrator" local user will disappear from Remote Management rendering Apple Remote Desktop useless. When manually enabling Remote Management or using an MDM configuration profile, the problem persists. We can confirm that the problem only exists on systems that are not upgraded to Sonoma. Systems that were upgraded seem to work just fine. I also want to mention that this is an issue even after a fresh wipe and install. We are contacting Apple Support today.

I just got this to work on a brand new MacBook Air M3. I'm sorry but I don't have the exact steps I did but it stuck. I am going to be testing agin to see if I can repeat the steps I took to get it to work. I did something like enabling all the permissions, clicking okay, quitting Settings, then going back in and adding a user while still under the Any user then back out and back in then adding Only these users, etc. Posting this so that maybe others can also be testing to help figure it out.

WE **WISH** it were purposeful, b/c then it could be more readily reversed. No, this is simple ineptitude and haste making waste as they shove a new release down our throats EVERY SINGLE YEAR and half-baked dot releases to fix the even bigger mistakes made in same. This is actually the Microsoft way - we're all now beta testers b/c Steve is no longer able to confront the morons in the elevator pre-release while eating his own dog food...

Clicking on "Me too" gives a spinning circle which never stops spinning ...

So I am leaving comment here that I have a similar problem : worked OK, with "All Users", then I added an individual User, now I cannot switch back to "All anymore", or adding more Users also does not work :-(

I found a work-around. 1) Un-toggle Remote Management. 2) Toggle Screen Share, click the info button, click "Choose who can log in to your computer. Click the pop-up menu next to “Allow access for". Choose “Only these users,” click the Add button at the bottom of the list, select users who can log in remotely, then click Select. Toggle the items that you want the user to have and click Okay. 3) Toggle Remote Login and click the Info button, toggle Allow Full Disk Access, click "Choose who can log in to your computer. Click the pop-up menu next to “Allow access for". Choose “Only these users,” click the Add button at the bottom of the list, select users who can log in remotely, then click Select. In essence, Remote Manager is these two combined.

When is apple going to fix this godddamn problem?

Not sure how these threads are being organized, but in re: to my earlier post today about fixing it with three kickstart commands, here's what it looked like in the GUI (I'm not clicking anything in here anytime soon - and even dismissed it with the esc key!) after performing the first and second commands:

...and then after the third command (and the user no longer disappears - well, so far, but I'm not using the GUI for more than visual checks anytime soon either!):

It seems obvious that Apple has decided (or rather one department at Apple has decided) that mere purchasers of their hardware cannot be trusted to configure Remote Management, and so they have neutered the code not by removing it but by breaking user control over it. This is the new Apple method! Another example of this corporate philosophy is the option to "Remember Playback Position" for audio files in the Music app: the option is still there in the UI, but selecting it changes nothing.

I've seen this same issue on some of the new Macs the University has bought. Now I'm seeing it on the older Macs when I wipe and reinstall the latest version of Sonoma macOS. Sure hope they get this fixed soon.

We loaded up a M2 MacBook and it worked so I went back to Macs and mac mini M3s and still ran into the same issue. I am going to try another laptop and see what happens.

Nope.

I setup a new(est model, as of this writing) iMac which creates an Admin user by default, which is used only if/as needed (never as an actual login!) by the daily user. I enabled Remote Management and Remote Login w/o issue, and before limiting either to any specific user. Then used Time Machine to migrate the Standard, everyday user account from the old iMac (which itself hung the first try, during "Looking for Incompatible Software" even though I was ONLY migrating a single user, and canceling hung the thing, requiring power button held restart before working - more current brilliance...think waiting until it FULLY computed sizes of everything -even unchecked migration item entries besides the one user wnated- may have been the fix on 2nd try?). Then, I created another admin account for myself on this system - the one used for ARD. Went back and set Remote Login to this last user only and it works like a charm. Did the same for Remote Management and my admin system with ARD won't add the computer (fails verification). Check and see the added admin is gone. Repeated a few times to no avail, so finally set it to All users and then I can add the system. HOWEVER, now, even though added, ANY of all 3 users gets Authentication failed to <the new iMac> (see images of current sad state of affairs - the new normal beyond just ARD).

That's how I found this sadly and wholly unsurprising thread: