How do I connect MacBooks remotely

Question

How do I connect MacBooks remotely

I know how to connect my Macs and screen share - at home using my wireless network.

But I do not know how to do this when one of the Macs is not on my local network.

I have tried doing everything I do when setting up file sharing, and screen sharing.

I have the person with the remote Mac do the same. I get the address and/or name that his sharing setup is showing him.

Then I go to my Main menu and select GO > Connect to Server, and enter that info.

After a couple of minutes or less I get "Connection Failed...the server may not exist or is unavailable..."

I am doing while talking to my friend over the phone and giving him these results. He and I try to make whatever changes we can think of but none of it works.

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? And how to make this work?

Thanks

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6), MacBookPro; G4,G3 PPCs

Posted on Oct 22, 2011 7:16 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

BobHarris

Level 9

53,315 points

Oct 23, 2011 11:18 AM in response to GeorgeInTheMountains

You need to get through the destination Mac's home router.

The easiest approach is to use iChat based Screen Sharing. Start an iChat session, and then select screen sharing from the iChat menu. You can use AOL Instant Messenger free accounts to iChat.

Next in line for easy would be TeamViewer.com and/or LogMeIn.com services. Both have free for personal use options. I think TeamViewer.com is a bit easier to use.

I think Lion's use of iCloud now supports the Back-To-My-Mac feature for all users (previously it was a MobileMe subscription option).

At the bottom of the list would be going to PortForward.com, then following the instructions to configure the destination's router to allow port 5900 forwarding from the internet to the destination Mac. Bonus points if you configure your Screen Sharing applications preferences to us secure connections for both login and data.

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Answer 2

Oct 23, 2011 11:48 AM in response to BobHarris

Bob

Thank you lots for the reply and how you prioritized the possible solutions.

I will work on this later today when I can be in phone contact with friend on the other end.

I'll get back to you (or just post my experience).

Meanwhile, any chance you might help me understand how come I can't do remotely what I do locally using MacBooks and Snow Leopard? It's not that I'm too lazy to do the information gathering, I have loads of articles and my own notes, so I do know on some level what the issues are. But I really thought things had changed with OS 10.6, specifically regarding screen sharing and file sharing.

Thanks again and I'll post my results after checking out the different apps and options you noted.

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Answer 3

BobHarris

Level 9

53,315 points

Oct 23, 2011 4:09 PM in response to GeorgeInTheMountains

Meanwhile, any chance you might help me understand how come I can't do remotely what I do locally using MacBooks and Snow Leopard?

The destination Mac has a home router. Home routers use NAT (Network Address Translation) which allows 1 internet address assigned to the home router by the ISP. The home router then assigns private (non-routing) IP addresses to the Macs in the home (10.x.x.x, or 192.168.x.x, or in rare cases 172.16.x.x-172.31.x.x).

In order to connect to a remote system across the internet you need to specify a routable IP address, like the one the ISP assigns to the home router. You can use a service such as <http://whatismyip.com> in order to find out what the IP address is.

Consider that a home router tends to have multiple devices attached to it. Macs, PCs, iPhones, iPads, iPod Touchs, network printers, Android devices, etc... If you try connecting to the home router via the IPS assigned IP address, the home router does not know where to send the request to. So it basically drops the request.

Unless both sides are communicating through a 3rd party (such as iChat server, TeamViewer.com server, LogMeIn.com server, MobileMe server, iCloud server, etc...) *AND* both sides use the speical tricks needed to fake out a home router's NAT interface, then you cannot connect.

The alternative is to tell the destination home router to forward a specific port to a specific system inside the home. This is where PortForward.com comes in.

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Answer 4

Oct 26, 2011 6:16 PM in response to BobHarris

Bob

I have found that your recommendation of TeamViewer is solving my problem. Far better and easier than I had anticipated. WhatismyIP is also quite useful. So thank you very much for that, and thanks for the added information. Helps me focus the process in my mind's eye. I'm going to continue to experiemtn with the other options you made mention of, but for now, problem solved!

George.

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Answer 5

Oct 26, 2011 6:25 PM in response to BobHarris

Bob

I don't know how this happened but I somehow gave myself credit for the "correct answer." It certainly was not my intention but I cannot see a way to undo it. You, BOBHARRIS, gave the CORRECT ANSWER.

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Answer 6

BobHarris

Level 9

53,315 points

Oct 26, 2011 6:30 PM in response to GeorgeInTheMountains

No problem. It is better that you found an answer, than I get some "Points". Enjoy

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