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Problems with Apple Remote Desktop in Mavericks

Since updating to Mavericks and ARD 3.7, the software had been running extremely slow. My laptop fans will spin up, CPU usage increased, etc, and I would have to keep force quitting and re-opening ARD every few minutes and do as much as I could for the few seconds that it ran OK.


The software worked fine logged in as another user, so I followed these instructions to uninstall ARD and start again:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2577


However, after executing each command, Remote Desktop re-opened with the same database / settings and problems.

I realised that the terminal could not find any of the files in ~

I used spotlight to find that the files were located inside "Containers". I deleted them.


It seemed to be succesful, as I re-opened ARD to find it wanted me to set it up again. Everything running smoothly, just having to r ebuild my computer lists etc.


However, now every time I open ARD, it goes through the setup process again and all the settings and database changes I made in the last session is lost.


I don't want to create a new user to use for ARD, so what can I do to strip it bare and start again?


Thank you,

Rhys

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 11, 2013 3:37 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Nov 12, 2013 7:06 AM

Hi Rhys,


ARD 3.7 has been plaguing us with issues at work ever since we got it, so naturally I tried the uninstall guide as well, but ended up completely missing the 'Containers' folder, and ended up deleting my entire ~/Library in rage.

This will come in handy in the future 🙂



So, I just tried the same steps as you on my iMac, and got the exact same issues as you described above.


This is an issue encountered normally when you're trying to setup ARD under a standard user account. Even though your account probably has admin privileges, turning these off (system prefs -> users and groups -> "allow user to administer this computer" checkbox), rebooting, enabling the checkbox again, starting ARD (enter password, taskserver settings) and then rebooting again fixed it for me.


Hope this works!


Kind regards,

Vincent



EDIT: If your account is the only admin account on the computer, make sure to create a temporary admin account or enable root, or you'll be in trouble!


Message was edited by: Tegenwind

13 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Nov 12, 2013 7:06 AM in response to rhyb

Hi Rhys,


ARD 3.7 has been plaguing us with issues at work ever since we got it, so naturally I tried the uninstall guide as well, but ended up completely missing the 'Containers' folder, and ended up deleting my entire ~/Library in rage.

This will come in handy in the future 🙂



So, I just tried the same steps as you on my iMac, and got the exact same issues as you described above.


This is an issue encountered normally when you're trying to setup ARD under a standard user account. Even though your account probably has admin privileges, turning these off (system prefs -> users and groups -> "allow user to administer this computer" checkbox), rebooting, enabling the checkbox again, starting ARD (enter password, taskserver settings) and then rebooting again fixed it for me.


Hope this works!


Kind regards,

Vincent



EDIT: If your account is the only admin account on the computer, make sure to create a temporary admin account or enable root, or you'll be in trouble!


Message was edited by: Tegenwind

Nov 14, 2013 11:53 AM in response to rhyb

From my own experience ("torture" more like), what functionality I did have with ARD 3.6.1 running on my 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 iMac running OS 10.8, it totally and completely FAILED with both updates.... OS 10.9 and ARD 3.7. My clients only showed up 1/3 of the time, my existing clients in my list would actually appear then disappear (flashing on and off) and forget about any scheduled tasks pre-defined. I ended up taking another iMac, running 10.7 and installing ARD, updating it to 3.7. COMPLETELY USELESS and a waste of my time. I THEN took another iMac, installed 10.7 and ARD but only to 3.6.1 and it worked.... for ONLY 1 WEEK. ARD become so corrupted, that it wouldn't even launch. FINALLY, I erased the HD AGAIN, installed OS 10.7 again and ARD 3.6.1. At this moment, it's running and I was even able to make a Time Machine backup. We'll see how long it lasts. Therefore, my advice would be to NOT install OS 10.9, keep your Mac at 10.8 and update no further than ARD 3.6.1. Until Apple gets the message that ARD NEEDS A COMPLETE REWRITE and NOT A SIMPLE ".1 update", we'll have to settle for a sub-standard product.


Best of Luck,

Mike


Oh, and by NO MEANS is my current setup 100%!!!!! I have the following errors....


1) Clients showing as "inactive" are actually "active"

2) Clients showing as "active" are actually "inactive"

3) Scheduled tasks would FAIL, showing "not authorized" BUT if I submit the same command manually, it works ***????

4) I would make a "New List", edit the name and it would revert back to the default name.

5) My icons in the toolbar would disappear only to reappear ONLY if I quit and relaunch

6) I find it VERY ANNOYING when selecting active clients to submit a UNIX command only to have my selection negated by one of my scheduled tasks running.

7) After "Controlling" a client, my ARD master list would then show that same client as inactive, no longer able to receive UNIX commands. I would have to quit out, relaunch and regain control.... talk about a waste of time???????

8) Can't organize my Templates within UNIX Command (nice to have sub-folders)

9) When editing a template or scheduled task in the sidebar, the existing name of the command reverts back to "Untitled". I have to create a new command with my change and then delete the older command. Again, a waste of time!!!!


I'm hoping someone from the Apple ARD team sees this and has the initative to starting programming and come out with an ARD 4.0 and NOT a 3.7.1.


Message was edited by: binkysdad

Aug 1, 2014 2:21 AM in response to rhyb

Although no one has commented on this post in quite some time, I too had this problem but have been able to resolve it in my configuration. In my configuration, the problem appears to be associated with forgetting the display settings. The fix was to keep the monitor on and let my Mac Mini put the monitor to sleep.


I have two Mac Mini's attached to the same monitor. The first is a 2012 i7 Mini running Mavericks 10.9.4 with an Apple Thunderbolt to DVI adapter connected to an Eizo ColorEdge CG245W monitor. I connected remotely to this computer with a mid-2012 i7 MacBook Air running Mavericks 10.9.4 and Apple Remote Desktop 3.7.2. Under this configuration, Remote Desktop ran perfectly, regardless of whether the monitor was powered on or off. I then attached a second Mac Mini to the same monitor, and had the problems of slow cursor response. This 2010 i5 Mac Mini, running Mavericks 10.9.4, is attached to the monitor's DisplayPort with an Apple Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort adaptor. To conserve power, I always manually turned off the power of the monitor. I discovered that when I did this, the System Preference's Display settings would be forgotten and the 2010 Mini no longer knew what monitor was attached. Even if I forced the resolution settings during a remote session, and the display noticeably changed shape, the Remote Desktop session would show a slow cursor response. Once I powered up the monitor and the Mini recognized the monitor, the Remote Desktop session responded rapidly. This rapid response continued even after the Mini put the display to sleep. It should be restated, I ONLY had this problem with the 2010 Mini attached to the DisplayPort. I NEVER had an issue with the 2012 Mini attached to the DVI port, the monitor could be on or off.


Once I set the 2010 Mini to put the monitor to sleep and kept the monitor turned on, the Mini has continued to know what monitor is attached and the remote sessions have worked perfectly, regardless of whether the monitor is awake or asleep.


I hope this helps others troubleshoot your issues under your configurations.


Jeremy

Sep 15, 2014 10:21 AM in response to j1e100

Hello


The same here with a macmini i7


All the other clients works (5 other iMacs i7) are working perfect so the ISP line should not be the problem. when I try to connect to the macmini there is a delay and you can't work on the machine.


As workaround we installed Teamviewer and this has a normal speed and you can work on the macmini server. The macmini has 8Gb RAM. Is it possible that it doesn't use the maximum part of shared memory. The server is a headless server. I tried all the possible monitor resultation without any success.


Is really stupid to use another remote software when we own the original ARD 3.7.2


Any Tips?

Nov 5, 2014 3:10 PM in response to Gerard Dirks

I have this exact same set up and same issue. I just reinstalled the 3.7.1 ARD client, and updated my ARD admin to 3.7.2, problem still exists.


Mac Mini is connected via HDMI to a panasonic 42" plasma, which is always off (standby mode) when I try to remote in.


I will be connecting it to a 24" Dell LCD this evening and see how remoting in behaves tomorrow, and will then play with display sleep settings if things don't improve.

Nov 6, 2014 4:18 PM in response to Mark Donovan

OK well this is a bit embarrassing - I just noticed the image quality slider at top right of the control window was set to maximum.


I slid it down a notch (where I have nearly always had it) and cursor control is now back to normal.


(I had already connected mac mini back to a 24" LCD, and did not alter whatever the sleep settings were).


Still....the connection to the mac mini is about as fast as you can get: the mac mini (at home) is connected via fibre with 4ms ping time, and my connection here at work is on whatever the fastest connection is you can to the national backbone.


I would have thought controlling w/ maximum colour quality wouldn't have affected it as much as it did.

Sep 21, 2015 2:48 PM in response to rhyb

The main problem we have with ARD is that as soon as we observe a client, their UI becomes very choppy - they basically cannot work.


This started happening with Lion and has only gotten worse over the years. We are currently on Yosemite.


The odd thing is - we had an old Leopard computer (same CPU, Mac Pro 4,1) - I logged in the other day and it was just GREAT. Snappy, no (or very little) degradation to screen redraw. The Admin was still Yosemite, with ARD 3.8


I have been unable to figure out whether it is the client version or the OS. We have no choice on the OS, we have to be current.


It's just a shame that the performance is so bad. Does anyone have any idea of what to do?

Problems with Apple Remote Desktop in Mavericks

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