Unable to pair Apple Remote with Mac mini

Hi all,

just wanted to confirm that cappy's approach solved the issue for me. I think he's right when it comes to Plex (or any other Media Center from the XBMC branch that use the apple remote as an input device for that matter).

I went to the remote settings in Plex and set input device to disabled. Then I disabled the remote under the Mountain Lion system preferences and restarted my iMac. After the reboot, I enabled the remote again and was then able to pair it.

Thanks for the help, guys.

Sebastian

Thank you Cappy,

I haven't been able to get my remote to work for a long time. Plex was the culprit, as it turned out.

Works also with XBMC. Disable Apple Remote in Prefs -> Reboot -> Pair.

Enable in XBMC again.

Hi all,

I just want to give up another workaround by using BetterTouchTool. Just enable Apple Remote in Preferences without pairing it, then add all the functions of the Apple Remote in BetterTouchTool Preferences > Apple Remote by adding shortcuts (bottom panel). You can even customize the remote's function also (Use the remote to open Mission Control etc.)! I think you don't need to restart for installing BetterTouchTool.

Another confirmation... Same problem and fix worked for me as well. I was about to give up and seek help from Support thinking the IR receiver in my mini was busted until I found this thread and solution. A working old white remote suddenly stopped working with my mini (mid 2011) running Mavericks. Worked fine with other computers, so I knew the problem was not the remote. Disabling remote in Plex prefs, then under OS X prefs (Security & Privacy -> General -> Advanced), rebooting, re-enabling the remote under OS X prefs made the remote work with the mini again.

Thanks cappy and Sebastian!

Hello Cappy.

Excellent post, you saved me hours of troubleshooting, thanks a lot 😎

In my case I didn't have to reboot my Mac nor uninstall Plex. Disabling the Apple remote in Plex (using the menus of the Plex client) allowed me straight away to pair the remote with the Mac (Mac Mini 2009 with 10.9).

I had the exact same problem: I have Mac Mini, all the remotes work, but I need to pair the remote, because I have Apple TV next to it, and the remotes must not interfere each other.

The pairing didn't work. The disabling and enabling IR didn't work. (I did not try to configure Kodi to disable remote, and then do the reboots and system preferences), many different key combinations didn't work..

BUT!

I had a program called USB Overdrive installed, and I remembered that people have issues with Openemu and joysticks, because it takes some kind of control of HID and other(?) API's or something.

==> I uninstalled the USB Overdrive, and everything works. Didn't need to touch Kodi's preferences at all.

So If someone uses USB Overdrive, watch out: your joysticks and remotes might not work like you wanted.. 😉