![]() Add the IP address, Name and Port for your Windows PC.ġ. You can also use the My Computers feature to set up a Screen Sharing session with a Windows PC on your local network (typically they will not show up in the ScreenSharingMenulet drop-down “automatically” like Macs do).If everything is set correctly (the public IP address, port forwarding configuration, etc) – you should now be able to connect to your home Mac from a remote location by selecting ScreenSharingMenulet then My Computers and finally the Name of Mac item.Leaving Wake on Demand selected is a good idea, but make sure to see this Apple KB article about the Wake On Demand service for OS X. is one of the best resources to figuring out Port Forwarding if you’re unfamiliar with the process. You’ll very likely need to configure your router to forward requests to port 5900 to the Mac you’re setting up. Give the connection a name by entering it in the Name (optional) field. Enter the Public IP assigned to your home network in the Host section.Click the small + (plus) button in the bottom left corner. you’re connecting to your home Mac from a Starbucks or at work) – open the ScreenSharingMenulet Preferences again, and click the My Computers tab. If you’d like to be able to connect to and use the Screen Sharing feature on one of your Macs when you’re not on the same network (ie.… and now the (local) IP address of each Mac will be listed in the ScreenSharingMenulet menu.The Show Local IP Addresses feature I find very helpful – place a check in that box… By all means do try it if you’re a fan of Back to My Mac, but know that it’s not consistently reliable. According to the author (and from my experience) the Back to My Mac Hosts feature is not reliable.To enable some additional features, click the ScreenSharingMenulet icon, select ScreenSharingMenulet from the menu, and finally Preferences….Otherwise you’ll have to enter the user/pass associated with the Mac you’re connecting to. If you’ve previously connected to that Mac and set your preferences to remember the username and password, you’ll be instantly connected.Give it a click and you’ll be presented with a list of the Macs on your Network that you can connect to and view/control (ie.A new icon will appear in your Menu Bar.Unzip the file and drag ScreenSharingMenulet.app to your Applications folder the same as you would when installing any other program. Download the small and free App ScreenSharingMenulet.To do so, open the System Preferences, click the Sharing ‘button’, and make sure that Screen Sharing has a checkmark in the box next to it. A few other minor changes were also made.Įven if Back To My Mac worked consistently and reliably, I would still prefer ScreenSharingMenulet for initiating the connection because it's easier and faster to reach from my menu bar than going through Finder.This guide will show you how to use OS X’s built-in Screen Sharing utility to connect to multiple Macs, directly from the Apple Menu – making it a simple two-click process.īefore you get started, make sure that Screen Sharing is enabled on each of the Macs that you want to connect to. One change that people may not like as much is the removal of the "Recent Hosts" submenu, but frequently contacted hosts can easily be added to the "My Computers" menu by checking a box when initiating the connection. ScreenSharingMenulet has just released a new version 2.0 which has preferences to show/hide Back to My Mac Hosts and show/hide local IP addresses. Click on the menu bar icon, type in the DynDNS hostname (check the box to "Add to My Computers"), and voilà! You're connected as easily as you always thought Back To My Mac would be, but never was. Most of it is just one-time configuration which will then make things easier every time you do it in the future.) This does not require a subscription to MobileMe or involve any cost.ĭynDNS hosts don't appear in the Finder like Back To My Mac hosts do, which is where ScreenSharingMenulet comes in. (It's not nearly as complicated as it sounds. My success with Back To My Mac was "spotty" at best until I started using the DynDNS service, port forwarding, and DHCP Reservations to get 100% reliable screen sharing sessions between my home and work computers. ScreenSharingMenulet is a free (donations requested) program which I've mentioned before that runs in your menu bar and gives you access to computers for quick access to screen sharing.
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