Q: Problems using 'Back to my Mac' with Yosemite

...aaaand, i spoke too soon. The update seemed to work for a while, but now i'm unable to connect to ANY of my computers. In fact, I think the problem is even worse than it was before. Before I could intermittently connect to my home server, but that's no longer the case. Man, Apple really screwed the pooch on this one.

marc249 wrote:

 

It's not you, it's the apple servers. Frustrating isn't it, there is nothing you can really do. You can use third party VPN software. On my iPad, I was using Splashtop, which worked perfectly throughout the crisis and has always bailed me out when Apple servers act up
.

According to Apple's system status page ( https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/ ), Back to My Mac is up and running with no issues.

I can confirm that regardless of Apple's server status page for BTMM, I cannot make a remote screen sharing or file sharing connection. The remote Macs show up in my sidebar, but the connection attempt fails. If I am on my LAN it works.

This is still broken in Yosemite 10.10.1

Agree that despite the green status of BTMM on th aApple page, it is not working for me.

I can get it to work if I ask my 89 year mother who is some hundreds of miles away to restart the Mac mini which i my remote computer. I can then connect for some hours but overnight this ability goes and I can no longer see the Mac mini in the shared list to connect to. I do however now consistently see the remote Time Capsule that the Mac mini is connected to by Wifi. I will try to continue to see if I can narrow down the problem - would like to connect the Mac mini to the remote TC by ethernet and then see if this makes a difference but getting my mother do do this with my instructions over telephone is a step to far I think. Restarting the computer via the telephone and trying to guess what is happening at the other end has been a challenge over the last few days.

- would like to connect the Mac mini to the remote TC by ethernet and then see if this makes a difference

I tried it both ways. It doesn't make a difference.

Although BTMM's behavior changed somewhat with the 10.10.1 release, it is still broken.

Agree that despite the green status of BTMM on th aApple page, ...

That page serves no useful purpose.

Thanks for this information - I won't try to connect via ethernet.

I have reconnected today only after getting the remote computer rebooted but found that I had not set the energy saving setting to never sleep for the computer when I was re setting everything yesterday so I have done that and I am holding onto the hope that this will mean I can re connect after a number of hours or overnight.

KMNZ wrote:

 

I have reconnected today only after getting the remote computer rebooted but found that I had not set the energy saving setting to never sleep for the computer ...

It's not required to configure Energy Saver to "never sleep" for BTMM to work. A remote access request (for one of the sharing services enabled in System Preferences  > Sharing, for example) will wake a sleeping Mac - provided that "Wake for network access" is also selected in Energy Saver. Portable Macs also need to be connected to power for them to respond to a remote wake request.

A comment about the Bonjour Sleep Proxy - although it is open source I do not know if routers other than Apple's support it. If you are not using an Apple router, that element of uncertainty will complicate troubleshooting. In that case you may want to configure Energy Saver to "never sleep" until you determine the problem is resolved. As of OS X 10.10.1 this remains an unresolved bug.

I also noted problems with BTMM beginning with 10.10 and continuing into 10.10.1. Everything works OK on the LAN, so it's not an authentication issue. When I try to get from my MBP to my MacMini over the Internet, though, I notice a degradation of service until it finally does not work at all. Here's the typical sequence when trying to make this work over the Internet:

(1) At first, it will work, but only with a long delay between hitting "Share Screen" and finally seeing my MacMini's screen;

(2) If I kill that connection and then try again a few minutes later, I will see the MacMini in my Finder sidebar but will not be able to connect to it.

(3) After a couple of attempts of (2) above, I will finally get to the point where I don't even see the MacMini in the Finder sidebar.

A couple of other things worth mentioning:

(1) BTMM worked perfectly on these two machines under Mavericks. The sharing settings I used in Mavericks are exactly the same as those I now have in Yosemite, and nothing has changed on my routers or on other network settings.

(2) I am also using "Caffeine" on my MacMini to keep it from going to sleep. I have read that sleep/wake may be an issue, but as near as I can tell my MacMini never goes to sleep.

(3) I have several times logged in and out of my iCloud account on both machines.

Any help will be much appreciated!

(2) I am also using "Caffeine" on my MacMini to keep it from going to sleep.

Or, you can just set your Mac to never sleep using Energy Saver. Using third party hacks to perform functions already provided in OS X will only complicate troubleshooting.

Any help will be much appreciated!

Other than reporting this bug to Apple, there is nothing for you to do other than wait for them to fix it.

I have a Macbook Air running Mavericks then I upgraded to Yosemite.  Currently, my MBA is running 10.10.1.   At home, I have a Mac Mini running Mavericks and I have a second Mac Mini running Yosemite.  I have a Linksys WRT1900ac router.

One day at work, I decided to upgrade my MBA. After I upgraded my MBA to Yosemite (10.10), I was able to see my MM running Mavericks for just that one day.  After that, I can't see either of my MM's at home. Then I thought well let me update my MBA to 10.10.1.  STILL NOTHING. 

I have not done anything to the router and I have not changed my iCloud settings. Both my MM's, I am logged into iCloud and on my MBA.  Yes, I do have Back to my Mac checked on the MM's and MBA. I have done everything to get Back to my Mac to work.

Do I need to install an Airport Time Capsule to get this thing to work?  What the flip is the deal with Apple? I don't want to use Teamviewer or some 3rd party software to see my stuff at home.

As has already been stated several times in this thread alone, BTMM is broken in Yosemite and there is nothing for you to do other than wait for them to fix it.

Works pretty well (sometimes servers are a little slow, remote macs take some time to show up). 10.10.1 fixed it, but it took 12h after upgrading for the last of my macs to show up.

I upgraded two of my computers to 10.10.1 but Back to My Mac is still not working. BTMM worked on both of these machines with essentially zero problems under both Mountain Lion and Mavericks, so I'm guessing it's still a Yosemite issue.