kingrich3rd
Level 1 (4 points)

Q: Having trouble opening and using Apple Remote Desktop

System setup: iMac 21.5-inch Mid 2011, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ram.

OS X Yosemite, Version 10.10.5, completely up to date.

Using fresh install of Apple Remote Desktop V3.8 downloaded from the App store.

 

When I open ARD, I see the ‘Enter the Remote Desktop password:’ screen, and get the spinning wheel.  This lasts for about 15 seconds, every time I open it.

 

I then enter my password and the Remote Desktop Setup screen pops up every time.  It’s asking about the Task Server.  I don’t select the Use remote Task Server checkbox, and hit done.

 

ARD then opens as I would expect, but a computer that I added previously and screen shared with at that time will not work.  When I double click on the computer which I have set as Observe, I get the error message in a pop up window "Authentication failed to" and then the hostname of the machine.  The Current Status shows offline, and the Current Application, ARD Version, Current User, and OS Version columns are blank (they show a '-' ).  The Name and IP Address do show up properly for the computer.  I was able to add the computer and connect before, but at that time it still did not generate the information for the columns as it used to.

 

I can search and find machines as I used to, using the Network Address selection in the scanner, and typing in the computers name.  When I double click on the machine, it asks me to enter user name and password, which I do.  I leave it on "Verify user name and password' and after 20 seconds or so it goes through.  I then see a 'Connecting to "computer name"' pop up.  After a bit of time it screen shares the machine as expected.  I can then observe/control the machine normally.

 

I’ve tried removing all the Apple Remote Desktop things I could find throughout the Mac.  I found instructions for that here: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20081017095005445

 

I didn’t use the script, I manually went through and removed everything.  I removed the application and then re-installed it, version 3.8 from my Apple ID.  I’ve done this a couple times and keep getting these errors.

 

I oversee about 75 mac machines and a few PC's which I use ARD to keep up to date, sending terminal commands to or screen sharing and updating software as needed.  This worked great up until the middle of last week when I started encountering these problems.  Can anyone help?  If you need more info from me let me know!

 

-Rich

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5

Posted on Aug 19, 2015 7:51 AM

by Brian Nesse,Solvedanswer
Brian Nesse Brian Nesse
Level 4 (3,027 points)
A:

Well, there's your problem!

 

You can't download them. Remote Desktop should be creating them and is (apparently) failing. This is why your settings aren't being saved.

 

You might check that the permissions on /Library/Preferences are:

drwxr-xr-x root  wheel

Posted on Aug 21, 2015 10:30 AM

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kingrich3rd

Q: Having trouble opening and using Apple Remote Desktop

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Brian Nesse,

    Brian Nesse Brian Nesse Aug 19, 2015 8:34 AM in response to kingrich3rd
    Level 4 (3,027 points)
    Aug 19, 2015 8:34 AM in response to kingrich3rd

    Are you logged in as a non-admin user by chance?

     

    ARD expects to write its preferences into a location that requires admin credentials... or it used to anyway. I doubt that's changed.

  • by kingrich3rd,

    kingrich3rd kingrich3rd Aug 19, 2015 8:36 AM in response to Brian Nesse
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 19, 2015 8:36 AM in response to Brian Nesse

    Hi Brian,

     

    I am logged in as an Admin user

     

    Just to double check this, I did go to ARD>Get Info, and added my user name within Sharing & Permissions.  I made sure it was set to Read and Write.  I also ran Disk Utility to check permissions, and everything comes up correct.

  • by kingrich3rd,

    kingrich3rd kingrich3rd Aug 21, 2015 8:16 AM in response to kingrich3rd
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 21, 2015 8:16 AM in response to kingrich3rd

    Hey everybody,

     

    I noticed that the reason I can't connect to a computer after quitting Remote Desktop and re-opening the program is that the Login and Password for the computers is not saved.  Once I re-enter this information I can connect properly.

     

    It seems like the issue is that Remote Desktop does not write/save any of my initial set-up preferences.  This would explain the Task Server pop up and inability to screen share/connect to a computer that has previously been set up with ARD.

     

    As to the reporting from each machine, I am at a loss.

     

    -Rich

  • by Brian Nesse,

    Brian Nesse Brian Nesse Aug 21, 2015 8:53 AM in response to kingrich3rd
    Level 4 (3,027 points)
    Aug 21, 2015 8:53 AM in response to kingrich3rd

    Setting sharing and permissions in the Finder will have no effect on running ARD.

     

    I'm referring to this:

    Screen Shot 2015-08-21 at 8.49.17 AM.png

    The problems you describe, historically, are caused by not running an Admin user on the ARD console machine.

     

    -Brian

  • by kingrich3rd,

    kingrich3rd kingrich3rd Aug 21, 2015 10:10 AM in response to Brian Nesse
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 21, 2015 10:10 AM in response to Brian Nesse

    Hey Brian,

     

    I'm the only Admin for this computer:

     

    RichUserPermissions.png

     

    Is there some way I can repair my User name or something to fix this issue?  I guess I could try creating another Admin account and see if it works properly there.

     

    -Rich

  • by Brian Nesse,Helpful

    Brian Nesse Brian Nesse Aug 21, 2015 10:17 AM in response to kingrich3rd
    Level 4 (3,027 points)
    Aug 21, 2015 10:17 AM in response to kingrich3rd

    It's unlikely that the user is at fault if it's an admin.

     

    You might try deleting these files:
    /Library/Preferences/com.apple.RemoteDesktop.plist

    /Library/Preferences/com.apple.RemoteManagement.plist

     

    If they've gotten bad privileges somehow, that could be your problem.

  • by kingrich3rd,

    kingrich3rd kingrich3rd Aug 21, 2015 10:21 AM in response to Brian Nesse
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 21, 2015 10:21 AM in response to Brian Nesse

    Hey Brian,

     

    Thank you so much for your quick responses btw!

     

    Neither of those files exist in /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Remote...

     

    I believe I removed them previously when I first encountered this issue and tried re-installing the software from scratch.  Could it be that they weren't installed properly, and this is causing issues?  How could I manually install these files properly?

     

    I downloaded the application from the App store after removing the files, btw.

     

    -Rich

  • by Brian Nesse,Solvedanswer

    Brian Nesse Brian Nesse Aug 21, 2015 10:30 AM in response to kingrich3rd
    Level 4 (3,027 points)
    Aug 21, 2015 10:30 AM in response to kingrich3rd

    Well, there's your problem!

     

    You can't download them. Remote Desktop should be creating them and is (apparently) failing. This is why your settings aren't being saved.

     

    You might check that the permissions on /Library/Preferences are:

    drwxr-xr-x root  wheel

  • by kingrich3rd,

    kingrich3rd kingrich3rd Aug 21, 2015 10:34 AM in response to Brian Nesse
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 21, 2015 10:34 AM in response to Brian Nesse

    Hey Brian,

     

    /Library/Preferences does have the correct permissions:

     

    drwxr-xr-x   83 root  wheel  2822 Aug 21 13:29 Preferences

     

    I'll try re-installing ARD from scratch again and see if it installs those .plist files, but it apparently didn't before.

     

    -Rich

  • by Brian Nesse,

    Brian Nesse Brian Nesse Aug 21, 2015 10:36 AM in response to kingrich3rd
    Level 4 (3,027 points)
    Aug 21, 2015 10:36 AM in response to kingrich3rd

    Well, I'm running out of ideas. If that doesn't work, I guess try a new Admin user like you suggested earlier.

  • by kingrich3rd,

    kingrich3rd kingrich3rd Aug 21, 2015 11:36 AM in response to Brian Nesse
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 21, 2015 11:36 AM in response to Brian Nesse

    Hey Brian,

     

    Thank you so much for your help, I was able to get it working properly again!

     

    I deleted the application, re-downloaded it from the App store, and this time it created the RemoteDesktop.plist file.  When I opened Remote Desktop, it asked for my password (didn't ask me to create a password or anything about the task server), and after I re-entered information for each machine, they started reporting properly.

     

    On a quit and re-open everything worked properly again as well.

     

    Just so you're aware, I did try something a bit different.  I removed the ARD program, and then re-started my machine.  I realized throughout all of this I hadn't restarted the computer at all, so that may have played into the issue, I can't say.

     

    Thanks again!

     

    -Rich