Share screen and control of another computer on a different network

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akrugly Author

Level 1

5 points

Share screen and control of another computer on a different network

I am trying to help my mother out remotely. We both have iMacs and we are both using Mavericks.

I found these directions on Apple Support.

Use iCloud to share your screen

Follow these steps for each computer whose screen you want to share.

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Sharing.
Select Screen Sharing.
If Remote Management is selected, you must deselect it before you can select Screen Sharing.
Next to “Allow access for,” choose all users, or only listed users. If you permit only listed users to have access to the screen, click Add (+) and Remove (-) to edit the list.
In System Preferences, click Show All, then open iCloud preferences.
If you aren’t already signed in to iCloud, enter the Apple ID you use with iCloud, then click Sign In.
Select Back to My Mac.

To stop sharing your screen using Back to My Mac, open iCloud preferences, then deselect Back to My Mac.

In Step #3 - how does she list me as a user? What name does she use, the name of my desktop, the name I log into my own desktop with, my mac/icloud id?

Will this allow me to take control of her machine from my house and help her?

thanks

IMac INtel Core 2 Duo

Posted on Dec 4, 2013 10:18 AM

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Answer 1

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Dec 4, 2013 12:20 PM in response to akrugly

akrugly wrote:

…

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Sharing.

Select Screen Sharing.
If Remote Management is selected, you must deselect it before you can select Screen Sharing.

Next to “Allow access for,” choose all users, or only listed users. If you permit only listed users to have access to the screen, click Add ➕ and Remove ➖ to edit the list.

…

In Step #3 - how does she list me as a user? What name does she use, the name of my desktop, the name I log into my own desktop with, my mac/icloud id?

Will this allow me to take control of her machine from my house and help her?

The 'user restriction' is not required, you can allow ALL users.

If you do want to restrict the users click the plus & you will be prompted to add a 'local user'. That means a user on your mothers Mac.

I would choose the admin account, you can still control her account & do the admin tasks etc.

It should allow you to 'remote assist' her Mac via the internet, you may need to check that her router is using UPnP (universal plug & play) it will dynamically open ports so you can connect to her.

I wonder if this could help you understand what is going on…

http://www.macworld.com/article/1139612/troubleshootbacktomymac.html

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Answer 2

akrugly Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 4, 2013 12:28 PM in response to Drew Reece

thank you very much. I am still confused as to how HER mac will know that it is ME getting in and that this is allowed. (If she selects ADMIN account) again, how does her mac know from her house that it is me on my mac tryin to get in to control it. What does she need to tell it so that I can get in?

We both have icloud accounts and we both use the AppleAirPort Time Capsule - so I think the router issue should be ok.

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Answer 3

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Dec 4, 2013 12:48 PM in response to akrugly

iCloud tries to keep track of your mothers IP (sometimes these change depending on the ISP). Back to my Mac periodically tells Apple where it is.

When you try to connect, iCloud tells your Mac where her Mac is, and then your Mac sends the data to that address.

As the connection reaches your mothers Mac you should get prompted to 'authenticate' that will mean entering the username & password of a valid user on that Mac. That is where the 'local user' account comes in.

If you have 2 Mac's locally try just screen sharing on your network (steps 1-3, no need to setup iCloud/ Back ToMyMac), it may show you how it works with the local account. iCloud simply keeps track of it over the internet.

NB: In effect, you are authenticating twice, once to iCloud, once more to the local account.

Message was edited by: Drew Reece - added note about double authentication

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Answer 4

akrugly Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 4, 2013 1:04 PM in response to Drew Reece

thanks. I will give a try as soon as I get home from work.

thanks for your help!

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