Screen Sharing username missing

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Level 1

10 points

Screen Sharing username missing

I share the screen of my iMac (home office) from two MacBooks, and it's gone well for years.

Recently, when trying to log in my Screen Sharing host (iMac, Snow Leopard) from clients (MacBooks, one Lion and one Mountain Lion), the username field is either greyed out or absent, and I can't log into Screen Sharing using either my host's username password (the usual way) nor my Screen Sharing password as specified in the Sharing pane of System Preferences (but which I have never needed before). Without the username field, it won't let me in.

Background: this is both i) from within my home network, and also ii) remotely via an SSH Tunnel (which I learned how to do on Apple Support Communities - see www.ctlow.ca/SSH-VPN_MacOSX.html.) Same problem either way. Recently I have been using RealVNC, either natively or through the SSH tunnel, only to get to VMWare Fusion's internal VNC feature (to circumvent Fusion-Windows 8's lack of "Windows-key" functionality). RealVNC also works to get to the general iMac's screen sharing, but I don't need it for that and don't use it - I just use "Connect to Server" (either on my home network or through the SSH Tunnel"), or click "Screen Sharing" sometimes if on the home network. Same problem no matter which.

In the process of finding the Fusion/Win8 workaround with VMWare Support, we installed not only RealVNC, but also LogMeIn and it's related service, join.me. They didn't help so I uninstalled them, but perhaps messed that up by deleting programs intead of using the LogMeIn uninstall feature, so reinstalled LogMeIn, uninstalled it properly, uninstalled it's web page version properly, and then deleted any remaining join.me files.

I mention that because, whether related or not, it seems to me that my old, standard, VNC/Screen-Sharing window disappears/malfunctions (described above) when I get rid of LogMeIn (whether properly or sloppily) and returns when I reinstall it - would have to do further testing to confirm.

So, i) does anyone know why my username field has vanished when I try to access Screen Sharing, and ii) does it have anything to do with uninstaling LogMeIn? (Or, could RealVNC have anything to do with this? It's working fine for Fusion's internal VNC server, which however has never required a username.)

Also, iii) I read about a few related problems where people have downloaded an older version of a file related to Remote Desktop, and fixed a similar problem, but Remote Desktop is a specific Apple software program (isn't it?) which I don't have or use. So, that wouldn't apply to me, would it?

Thanks to all.

Charles

N.B. Anybody can fix the easy ones!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jan 10, 2013 7:24 AM

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Answer 1

BobHarris

Level 9

57,035 points

Jan 10, 2013 7:43 AM in response to ctlow

When you say you installed RealVNC, do you mean the RealVNC server? If so you have at least 2 VNC servers fighting for control of port 5900, unless you did something special to avoid that.

If the RealVNC server got control of port 5900, then it would ONLY want the VNC password that you would have needed to give to RealVNC (totally separate from your user account and any System Preferences -> Screen Sharing -> Computer Settings -> VNC viewers may control screen with password: xxxxxxx setting.

NOTE: RealVNC client would not ask for the username as it would ONLY want the VNC password either from the above mentions "VNC Viewers may control screen with password" field if Mac OS X Screen Sharing is in control, or if the RealVNC server is in control the VNC password RealVNC server was configured with.

Apple Remote Desktop is a software package intended for managing a classroom full of Macs, or a company's Macs. ARD is also what System Preferences -> Remte Management is used for. ARD is overkill for home use, and it is better to stick with System Preferences -> Screen Sharing, or if you want your own VNC server then disable that so that you do not fight over port 5900.

LogMeIn should not matter.

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Answer 2

ctlow Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 10, 2013 11:35 AM in response to BobHarris

Hello, again!

Wow. Simple! So, I have now succeeded, with your help, at doing a "Screen Sharing" session using the ReaVNC server on the iMac host, and using my RealVNC password. Don't know why that never occurred to me. Partly it didn't occur to me because that's not the way the internal Fusion VNC works - I use the Fusion password I have chosen, not the RealVNC one. (Weird!)

The RealVNC output on the "client" is awful (fine for Fusion/Win8's internal VNC - different screen parameters) - barely usable and not that configurable, and so I'll have to check into what to do about that.

On the host, I don't have "Remote Management" selected, but I do have "Remote Login" (for my SSH tunnel?) as well as "Screen Sharing" (among others).

So, a port 5900 issue - that explains why File Sharing was unaffected.

Thanks again. More later perhaps.

Charles

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Answer 3

ctlow Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 12, 2013 11:00 AM in response to BobHarris

Thanks again, Bob. This is all working. Sometimes I need to use the VNC password without a user name and sometimes it wants the username plus its password, which is just odd, but one works or the other.

I can do Screen Sharing from my MacBook to my iMac using Cmd-K, not explicitly through RealVNC Viewer, while using the RealVNC Viewer for the internal VNC feature of VMWare Fusion, and both of these give good results in terms of screen resolution, Cmd-key functon, right-clicking (the latter 2 not working with Fusion's VNC without RealVNC), etc.

Why the processes are inconsistent is a puzzle.

Oh: I did reset VMWare's Fusion's internal VNC's port to a higher number, like 5911 - something about RealVNC incrementing the number (from 5900), while it institutes multiple iterations, made me wonder about that, and I thought "why not?" Perhaps it will avoid a port conflict. Whether that has anything to do with my new-found success I do not know.

Charles

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Answer 4

ctlow Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 22, 2013 6:52 AM in response to BobHarris

Hello again, Bob.

Addendum: I'm now at the stage where I have first disabled then uninstalled the RealVNC Server from my iMac (and rebooted it), but left the ReadVNC Viewer on my MacBook, and it still works. Through the Viewer, I can access VMWare Fusion's internal VNC server, work the Command key normally, as a Windows key, having made the appropriate settings changes in the RealVNC Viewer. This is over the SSH tunnel which you taught me to do (http://www.ctlow.ca/SSH-VPN_MacOSX.html). I'm using a port several steps higher than 5900.

In the RealVNC Viewer, on the advice of the VMWare people, I changed (under Expert options) LeftCmdKey to Super_L and RightCmdKey to Super_R.

Right-clicking seems to work most of the time, and if it doesn't it's not a big deal if I can work the "Charms" bar (Windows 8), which requires the Windows key, which otherwise does not translate properly from the Command key through Fusion's internal VNC server - known bug. (Affects very few people, apparently.)

For VNC Screen Sharing (terminology?) over SSH to Mac OS X on my iMac, I'm not bothering with the RealVNC Viewer, just using Finder's native Command-K "Go To Server" function, and that works better for me ( in terms of "Scaling" and of managing a 2-monitor display at the iMac end) than RealVNC does.

All excellent!

Thanks again.

Charles

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