accessing another computer

Question

Level 1

16 points

accessing another computer

I have a newer Macbook, running High Sierra and also an older iMac (2009) still running Mavericks. (10.9.5) 3.06 GHz... Memory 12 GB

Just as recently as a few days ago, I could log into my Macbook, and under "shared"in the finder, I could see my iMac and access all of my files on my iMac. Now I cannot. It shows my iMac, but when I try to access it it says it's not connected. I'm not sure if I accidentally changed some type of settings, or maybe my connection is bad. I cannot figure it out. Its only been less than a week ago that it was working. It just showed up.. I didn't have to go into any type of settings to "share folders" or anything.. it just worked. I am logged into icloud on both computers. Any suggestions or ideas??

Thanks.

MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016)

Posted on Dec 16, 2017 5:41 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 19, 2017 4:40 PM in response to Gwen Harold

The settings for remote access and for the built-in screen sharing and the Apple Remote Desktop sharing are in System Preferences > Sharing. Remote access for file sharing and/or for screen sharing needs to be enabled on the target system.

If that's not it, and the necessary access is enabled... Reboot it all, as a test. Sometimes that clears up odd problems.

Remote access problems can also be due to the network topology; mixing Wi-Fi and wired networking can involve some specific settings for the IP addresses or for the Wi-Fi router settings. What mix of switches, firewall/gateway/router boxes, Wi-Fi boxes and wired networking is in use here; what's the network configuration?

You're not probably using the Apple Remote Desktop software here (this community), and that software app is also probably not necessary here. The in-built screen sharing client provides basic remote screen sharing akin to what can Apple Remote Desktop provide (though the latter provides quite a bit more), and the built-in screen sharing client is free. Both the built-in client and the Apple Remote Desktop package use the same built-in screen-sharing server support in macOS.

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Answer 2

Gwen Harold Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 19, 2017 5:13 PM in response to MrHoffman

Thank you for reading and replying. I spent over an hour with Apple Support yesterday evening. We did a number of tests, and configurations with no luck. The gentleman at Apple trying to assist me spoke with several other people in his area. The conclusion as I understand it. My iMac and my Macbook are running two very different Operating Systems. My iMac (late 2009) still running Mavericks. My Macbook just recently updated to HighSierra. All was working before I upgraded to HighSierra from Sierra. Something about the configuration in High Sierra prevents me from accessing my iMac running the old operating system Mavericks. This makes sense, as I just upgraded to High Sierra probably only a week ago. I had no problem accessing my iMac files just fairly recently...no more than 2 weeks ago. I'm not sure I want to try to "fix something that's not broken" by trying to upgrade my older iMac to HighSierra. It runs fine now with very little slowdown. I have 12 Gig memory, and it probably would have no problem upgrading. I'm stubborn, and don't want to give up my iPhoto in Maverick's operating system. So I'll sleep on it awhile and do a little more research. Accessing my iMac from my mac book not a big deal...it was just a fun thing to be able to do. But thank you for your time in responding. Gwen

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Answer 3

Dec 19, 2017 8:26 PM in response to Gwen Harold

De nada.

FWIW, I've been running Photos for a while on Sierra, with around 8,000 photos. If you're inclined, you could export your collection from Mavericks and import it into Photos on High Sierra, and see how well it works for your needs. (Ensure that iCloud sharing and related are disabled while performing this test, and definitely have complete backups of all of your data on both of your Macs, lest something happen to your data during your testing, during the upgrade, or "just" because a 2009-era computer is getting pretty old.)

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Answer 4

Jan 15, 2018 12:08 PM in response to Gwen Harold

Thanks for posting this. I was having the same issue. My desktop iMac was running 10.13.2 and the Mac BookPro was running 10.13.1. I upgraded the laptop and now all works.

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