4

I want to connect to my home mac using screen sharing from another point in the world. But even though I can connect to my home mac from the local network with my macbook (which is nonsense to me). I could not manage to connect it from another network.

I read articles about screen sharing, watched some youtube videos and also installed Screens app. At the end, I am totally confused with the network jargon and app usages.

Could someone help me to sort it out? All I want is to use screen sharing(if applicable) to connect remotely.

Best Regards

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    Honestly the easiest thing is a service like LogMeIn (there are many others) that offer their services free to home users. You install an app on your home Mac and then access it with a web browser. So a good strong password on your home Mac would be advised.
    – Steve Chambers
    Jan 24, 2019 at 14:09
  • Do you use a IPv4 or IPv6 network? Do you have a dynamic or fixed IP address at home? If you have a router at home, do you know the model number? What type of operating system is the remote machine running?
    – David Anderson
    Jan 24, 2019 at 16:28

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
2

There are two parts to remote sharing your Mac computer: software on the computer and configuration of your network.

Software on your Mac

You can use the built-in VNC server on your Mac; there is no need for third party software.

  1. Launch System Preferences and open Sharing.
  2. Select Screen Sharing then click Computer Settings.
  3. Finally, enable VNC viewers and provide a secure password.

Next, test you can access and control your Mac using a VNC client within your home network. This can be done from a Mac, Windows, or mobile device using a VNC client.

Configure your network

To access your Mac from outside of your home network, you need to open a port for VNC:

  • port: 5900
  • protocol: TCP
  • direct the incoming traffic to your Mac

If this port is not open and passing traffic to your Mac, then you will not be able to connect from outside your network.

How you configure your modem/router differs between the make and model of each device. Some routers will have built-in assistants to help set this up.

Improve this answer
0

In additional to @Graham Miln idea:

How to public your port easily?

Using ngrok is the best idea.

In your terminal:

./ngrok tcp 5900

It will give you a public tcp address, let's use it in VNC connect from outside.

open vnc://0.tcp.jp.ngrok.io:XXXXX (for MAC)

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    This doesn't actually answer the question - it is probably better suited as an edit (and addition) to Grahams answer. Note that you should note that ngrok is not an Apple supplied command - it is a program you'll have to install yourself before following your example.
    – jksoegaard
    Oct 4, 2019 at 1:22
0

I have a free and secure solution: What's the easiest way to remotely access my own computer?

Using a free service called ZeroTier you too can have a private secure connection between the remote computers (I've no affiliation to ZeroTier; it just works really well)

ZeroTier is a 'virtual switch' that creates private encrypted networks which also deals well with getting through routers with NAT/firewall; no manual port forwarding required. If you're behind a home/domestic router (rather than a corporate firewall) there's a high probably it'll work for you.

Once setup and connected you will see your remote computer in Finder and you can connect directly to whatever services you have enabled on it, e.g., Screen Sharing, SSH, File shares.

Here's a link to my full answer: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/375063/67883

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .