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Level 1

91 points

Lion screen sharing over Internet

I'm having some issues setting up screen sharing. The problem is that I set it all up and can see the other computer when we are on the same network. But I cannot see the device when I'm back home and trying to screen share over the internet.

I need to be able to see the screen of my client's Mac while I am at home.

Here is what I've done to set up screen sharing:

Both Macs are running Lion 10.7.3
I have set myself up in the address book of the Mac I want to access.
In my address book card I have multiple emails. One of them is the email that I use as my Apple ID.
I turned on screen sharing on the remote computer and added myself to the list of people able to screen share by selecting my address book card that includes my Apple ID.
- Access is for all users
- I have checked "Anyone can request permission to control screen."
On my computer I have ensured that my Apple ID is included in the Users and Groups control panel.

When I am on their network, in their home, I see their computer in the shared devices section of my Finder window.

I am able to request permission to screen share and am able to gain permission when they accept.

But when I get home, their computer does not show up in my Finder window under shared devices.

What critical step am I missing?

Thanks!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 27" 2009 iMac

Posted on May 1, 2012 8:37 AM

21 replies

Aug 16, 2012 6:15 PM in response to Soto

I'm going to have to chime in here on this subject. I agree with the people saying that it is easy to do. Actually it is easier than I thought when I went out of town. I live in North Carolina and went to Boulder, Colorado to visit my son at school. I was in my hotel room and was doing a bit of work and noticed that my home Mac was showing in the side-bar in the Finder. I clicked on it asked to screen share and I was remotely using my home Mac. My girlfriend even called me called me a few minutes later because she was freaked out my home Mac was performing tasks on it own. The strange part of it was I did not do any of the VNC set up but I do have a .Mac account.

Oct 3, 2012 7:44 PM in response to explorz

The trick to using iCloud for Screen Sharing is to have both computers logged into the same iCloud account. Make sure both have Back To My Mac checked in iCloud preferences. I need to access my mom's account and wasn't seeing her computer after losing Mobile Me. I fixed it by adding a user on my computer that I used to log into her iCloud account. With both computers logged into the same iCloud account I could see her computer in my Sidebar again. Screen Sharing gives me a choice to access my mom's account on her computer (it asks her permission) or logging into another account in the background.

If my mom was a client, I'd reverse the process and add a user to my clients account that had my iCloud login.

I miss MobileMe.

Oct 3, 2012 9:47 PM in response to Soto

The earlier discussion in this thread sounded as if it was restricted by some undisclosed security policy (perhaps understandably, since this is obviously a security risk for Apple with only potentially weak passwords as protection). However, I believe that answering customer questions in this manner is both annoying and somewhat partonizing.

Soto's solution above works. it is is quick and easy --not complicated in any way. It worked for me in 30 seconds using and imac and macbook pro (both os lion) on completely different networks.

please use strong passwords!

Oct 4, 2012 6:08 AM in response to johnodonovan

Your annoying simply by the fact you assume someone was annoying and patronizing.

Oct 4, 2012 10:26 AM in response to pastafreak

Just to clarify for others who start reading on page 2 of this thread instead of page 1.

My post

a) corrobrates that SOTOs method works (for the setup i described.)

b) highlights what I believe to be biased advice, a problem that is rampant in tech forums. Comments made by the most experienced commenters are not always in the best interests of the original poster. Specifically in this case, I refer to Linc Davis' (40,480 experience pts) response to the orignial poster (explorz, 35 experience pts): "If it's not obvious to you how to carry out the above steps, then reconsider using iChat". In my humble opinion, Linc Davis appears biased towards iChat, or at least biased against SOTOS simple approach, which he is likely to be aware of, since he has >40k experience points in this forum.

Why should we have to use iChat (or LogMeIn, or TeamViewer), when a simple vnc solution is intergrated into OS Lion: Finder >> Go >> Connect to Server

PastaFreak, I hadn't noticed your post, but after reading, why not elaborate on the particular "task" you were performing in your hotel room that promped your wife to call you so quickly. Perhaps we can provide technical advice for you 😉

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Oct 4, 2012 12:49 PM in response to johnodonovan

b) highlights what I believe to be biased advice, a problem that is rampant in tech forums. Comments made by the most experienced commenters are not always in the best interests of the original poster.

I really didn't want to get back into this, but it seems that there is a lot of criticism being leveled here, all based on improper understanding of the discussion.

First, I'll agree that Soto's solution is good, as far as it goes. The problem is that a couple of the major hurdles are left unmentioned or undescribed, and those hurdles make this a non-trivial problem. First is the issue of the router, and setting up port forwarding. This requires that you know how to set your Mac to use a static IP address, that you know what range of addresses are and are not appropriate to use, and how to configure port forwarding in your router. There's a lot of room for error there. Second, there's the issue of the ISP's hardware: cable modem, DSL modem or whatever else that may be. Not all such devices are pass-through devices, meaning that there is probably nothing whatsoever that you can do to make this work.

Secondly, the OP (explorz) was looking for a trivial solution, and insisted that it must be possible to share screens as easily remotely as it is when both machines are on the same network. Both Linc and I mentioned some aspects of Soto's solution, and they were not accepted, as they were not the expected "easy" solution.

Back to My Mac, which pastafreak was using back in August, is not an appropriate solution for connecting to a client's machine, for the reasons that I have already given. It would certainly be reasonable for connecting to your own machine or your mom's machine, but not to a client who should not be asked to trust you with his/her Apple ID password.

So let's please end all the accusations of biased advice and whatnot that have been thrown around here.

Lion screen sharing over Internet