Cant share my screen in 10.8!

you need to log in with something other then iMessages.

I assume you had your Apple ID set up with iChat?

If you did, then you had it set up through AIM's chat servers.

Simply go to messages>preferences>accounts and add a new AIM account and log in with your Apple ID and Password.

You will have the ability to screen share as well as view your buddy list and hopefully your buddy with the mac mini.

Hi,

Make the Buddy List the "Front" Window.

As with iChat some items in some menus are not active until the "right" window is "Front"

Actually seeing you have hidden a Name in Remove and Add items it would seem the person is in a Buddy list.

In that case are they using iChat.

You can only Screen Share to another iChat user

i.e. the Mac Mini person cannot be using Adium or AIM for Mac as their App

Also make sure you and the Buddy have Screen Sharing Enabled in iChat or Messages (Video Menu)

10:42 PM Sunday; August 5, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

If both of you are on the same network, you can go to System Preferences --> Sharing and turn on Share Screen.

This is a similar but different process although it does use the same Apple Remote Desktop engine.

This uses the Finder > Go Menu > Go to Server and using VNC:// as the leading prefix.

This is easiest to LAN IPs as you just enter something like VNC://192.168.1.13

You can do it to anyone in the world but they tend to need to Port Forward the Port used in their Router pointing to their computer.

See port 5900 in this table

When it work, it is simpler in iChat as it does all the VNC connection for you (Although it does use a random port).

iChat has the added AUdio Chat as well

Your Suggestion does not actually answer the Question.

7:53 PM Monday; August 6, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi dmatic,

So we are using Mountain Lion and Messages (Although Screen Sharing is Unchanged from iChat)

It appears your first pic in the first post was using an iMessages contact (Not Buddy)

Uploaded with Skitch!

I can see you now have an AIM Account logged in.

This should give you a Buddy List (Use the Window Menu and the keystrokes is required)

Highlighting a Buddy should enable your to use the icons at the bottom of the Buddy List (Or the Buddies Menu or the one that pops up on Right Clicking)

Uploaded with Skitch!

Did you have this working in iChat before Upgrading to Messages ?

If not make sure UPnP is Enabled in your Router.

Notes

iChat uses several ports to do different jobs with Messages at different times.

There are Login ports from the Buddy Lists

There is a port to do the Visible Invite bit for any A/V chat (Including Screen Sharing)

There are Ports for the A/V chats.

Screen Sharing has this VNC connection to do the actual Desktop view bit and this is on a Random port

This means that Messages needs UPnP to be used in the router.

(you can't Port Forward a random port).

UPnP allows the app to "tell" the router which ports to open and allows several computers to use the same ports at the same time.

8:24 PM Monday; August 6, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

I recently solved this problem. Both users have to be signed into AIM accounts in Messages. Then you have to make sure you're in an AIM, not iMessages chat (green instead of blue). Then you can share screens

Hi,

It can be a Jabber based connection as well (GoogleTalk IDs, Facebook and other jabber IDs)

It is not restricted to AIM

It cannot be a Yahoo connection as this will not do a Video or Audio Connection.

It cannot be an iMessages contact as your have said. (Although the Colour of text is you choice in the Messages App)

8:09 PM Tuesday; September 11, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

I just had success between iChat and Messages performing Video Chat, Audio Chat and Screen Sharing both ways.

What I did at my end was to ensure I had an AIM account that was enabled, along with my me.com and for good measure Bonjour. If I did not have an enabled AIM account in Messages on my Mountain Lion machine it did not work.

I added the other person's AIM information in the Contacts app along with their regular contact information. On their end all they had to do first was make sure they were logged in to their AIM account. I first sent a simple text message from Mtn. Lion's Messages app by starting a new text and as I began to enter their AIM contact name all of their contact information I had in Contacts was then exposed. Note that if the other person is not available there will be a red dot beside their name. So, assuming there is a green dot indicating your intended recipient is available, type a brief text message and press Return.

The iChat window popped up for them right away and once they jumped through the hoops presented by iChat to finally accept my invitation we were in contact via text. Initially they could not send a message back to me, it turned out they had misspelled part of my me.com address, so I sent another message and asked them to try and respond to my text. That worked and we both were now "attached" to one another.

From then on it was a simple matter to initiate a successful Video Chat, Audio Chat and two-way Screen Share.

HI,

What I did at my end was to ensure I had an AIM account that was enabled, along with my me.com and for good measure Bonjour. If I did not have an enabled AIM account in Messages on my Mountain Lion machine it did not work.

This bit ignors the fact that iChat to iChat (or Messages to Messages or in fact Messages to iChat) Jabber Video chats are possible.

I added the other person's AIM information in the Contacts app along with their regular contact information. On their end all they had to do first was make sure they were logged in to their AIM account. I first sent a simple text message from Mtn. Lion's Messages app by starting a new text and as I began to enter their AIM contact name all of their contact information I had in Contacts was then exposed. Note that if the other person is not available there will be a red dot beside their name. So, assuming there is a green dot indicating your intended recipient is available, type a brief text message and press Return.

This is a fair description of doing things this way.

What it does not do is Display the Buddy List(s) and work from there.

1) Any Logged in iChat type account including the Binjour account will appear ina combined Buddy List (CMD + 1 in the Window Menu)

2) These Buddy list can be separated by Unticking the line in the General Section of the Preferences that gatheres them together.

3) The Buddy Lists then display the iCons at the Bottom of the Buddy List or you can use the green icon in the list to start a Video chat.

(Or you can right click a Buddy)

A Video chat can then be "Converted" to Screen Sharing in the Buddies menu. (It's not a real conversion but it stops the Video Chat and starts the Screen Share so quickly that is what it looks like).

The iChat window popped up for them right away and once they jumped through the hoops presented by iChat to finally accept my invitation we were in contact via text. Initially they could not send a message back to me, it turned out they had misspelled part of my me.com address, so I sent another message and asked them to try and respond to my text. That worked and we both were now "attached" to one another.

When iChat receives a Text Chat Invite a window for that Invite appears top right of your Desktop.

It has Accept or Deny Buttons and the Text Chat is just one click away (Hardly "Hoops").

In iChat you can also Set Auto Accept which will by-pass the Invite window. (It is done in Preferences > Alerts > Text Invite > and enabling AppleScript and choosing the Auto Accept one)

With the Buddy List visible in Messages you can access the Scren Sharing directly from highlighting and Right clicking the Buddy (or highlighting and Buddies menu) or highlighting the Buddy and the icon at the bottom of the Buddy List - without the need to use a Text Chat first or messing with the Messages main window and it's various drop downs or typing in the "To" field.

However not Text chatting first is a little rude in my book.

7:32 PM Sunday; January 13, 2013

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

HI,

Hello and thanks for your comments. I had previously read a lot of your postings on this and while you obviously have more experience and knowledge than I do I still struggled to get this to work after following recommendations.

What I did at my end was to ensure I had an AIM account that was enabled, along with my me.com and for good measure Bonjour. If I did not have an enabled AIM account in Messages on my Mountain Lion machine it did not work.

This bit ignors the fact that iChat to iChat (or Messages to Messages or in fact Messages to iChat) Jabber Video chats are possible.

I wasn't deliberately trying to igonore anything but rather, I was offering something that worked for me to communicate between iChat and Messages because I had been struggling with achieving that. I got a lot of spinning gears when trying to connect from Messages in Mountain Lion and machines running both Lion and Snow Leopard versions of iChat.

I added the other person's AIM information in the Contacts app along with their regular contact information. On their end all they had to do first was make sure they were logged in to their AIM account. I first sent a simple text message from Mtn. Lion's Messages app by starting a new text and as I began to enter their AIM contact name all of their contact information I had in Contacts was then exposed. Note that if the other person is not available there will be a red dot beside their name. So, assuming there is a green dot indicating your intended recipient is available, type a brief text message and press Return.

This is a fair description of doing things this way.

What it does not do is Display the Buddy List(s) and work from there.

1) Any Logged in iChat type account including the Binjour account will appear ina combined Buddy List (CMD + 1 in the Window Menu)

2) These Buddy list can be separated by Unticking the line in the General Section of the Preferences that gatheres them together.

3) The Buddy Lists then display the iCons at the Bottom of the Buddy List or you can use the green icon in the list to start a Video chat.

(Or you can right click a Buddy)

A Video chat can then be "Converted" to Screen Sharing in the Buddies menu. (It's not a real conversion but it stops the Video Chat and starts the Screen Share so quickly that is what it looks like).

What happened when we went the opposite way, that is from a Screen Share to a Video Chat, was that we got completely disconnected. Is that to be expected?

The iChat window popped up for them right away and once they jumped through the hoops presented by iChat to finally accept my invitation we were in contact via text. Initially they could not send a message back to me, it turned out they had misspelled part of myme.com address, so I sent another message and asked them to try and respond to my text. That worked and we both were now "attached" to one another.

When iChat receives a Text Chat Invite a window for that Invite appears top right of your Desktop.

It has Accept or Deny Buttons and the Text Chat is just one click away (Hardly "Hoops").

In iChat you can also Set Auto Accept which will by-pass the Invite window. (It is done in Preferences > Alerts > Text Invite > and enabling AppleScript and choosing the Auto Accept one)

Which, in theory is great. In practice for myself and the person I was connecting to these are the dialog boxes that appeared (in order of appearance):

and then for the Screen Share:

Which is what I mean when I referred to "hoops". Multiple clicks were required for us to achieve the connection and in the initial screen there were no buttons or anything to indicate what a person should do. Clicking in the window prompted the next prompt to appear.

With the Buddy List visible in Messages you can access the Scren Sharing directly from highlighting and Right clicking the Buddy (or highlighting and Buddies menu) or highlighting the Buddy and the icon at the bottom of the Buddy List - without the need to use a Text Chat first or messing with the Messages main window and it's various drop downs or typing in the "To" field.

Thanks for all your contributions on this. Once I was able to make the connection with the other machine properly all of your information has helped a lot.

However not Text chatting first is a little rude in my book.

I completely agree and certainly was not trying to suggest I wished to bypass that part with my comment about initially two-way texting to get this to work for us.

Hi Wile E.,

I just posted as many people are used to the "iChat way" of using Buddy Lists.

What happened when we went the opposite way, that is from a Screen Share to a Video Chat, was that we got completely disconnected. Is that to be expected?

Yes. It is a real pain. Going from Video to Audio + Screen Share is "instant" but trying to "go back" results in Disconnection and needing to start the (Video) chat again.

The two Pink Alert boxes I have not seen before. (Well, not pink anyway)

The Alert does sort of flow through different Stages and seems to require many clicks.

Th first shows the plain alert and clicking it shows the Accept or Deny.

If you time it so that the First Message has Arrived you will see this before you Accept.

And then as you show it finally resolves into to the Chat window.

Now you show it like this it does take that many steps - I just seem to have forgotten about them all.

I have obviously streamlined my clicks as I know what is going to show next.

My apologies about any confusion caused.

I am glad you have it working.

9:30 PM Monday; January 14, 2013

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

I'm having this problem too. Gotta say that ever since Apple went to the new "Messages" app I've had nothing but problems. Thought we had it all worked out but now today, again, can't do a screen share with my employee. It's SO frustrating! We did screen-shares successfully for a long time via iChat. Now we just try to avoid it because we end up spending half and hour trouble-shooting and still can't do anything. Its kinda like the old TV show "Get Smart" and the "Cone of Silence". If one of us suggests screen-sharing we all groan because we know it won't work.

I'm sure the problem is something related to AIM vs iCloud vs Bonjour vs 10.8 vs 10.6 vs iChat vs Messages vs new permissions setting vs ad nauseum variables but with two people in remote locations, trying to sort through and test all the potential configurations it is a colossal waste of time. As of this afternoon we officially gave up. I'm going to just take a polaroid picture of the screen and mail it to the other guy!

This doesn't feel very "Apple-like" (and I'm a big Apple fan). OK, done venting now. Blood pressure returning to normal.

I agree TChards.

It is frustrating trying to work something out that worked perfectly fine for years in iChat. I have ben trying to figure out why my mom can't share her screen with me for months, since we upgraded to Mountain Lion and Mavericks. Being 1600 miles away makes it difficult and nothing on these posts have solved the issue.

I DO feel fortunate not to own a polaroid, but iPhones so we can do FaceTime as she points her camera at her screen with a shaky hand so I can help her! I am not one to quit, so I will still chip away at this. Also knowing, once I figure it out I will know most everything about Network, Server, IP, DNS, Router, Domain, DHCP, Port, iChat, Messages, iMessages, AIM, AOL and Buddy settings and configurations! Not to mention OSX re-installs and Erase and installs. I'm sure there's more, but this is as far as I have gotten.

Don't get me wrong, I still feel the $3000.00 we spent for our iMacs is well worth it.

I miss Steve Jobs.