Being a “computer guy”, I have several different computer systems but limited computer space. I like to get away from one keyboard /mouse/monitor combination per system. It just makes things easier.
Because of this philosophy, I use a KVM solution for many of my systems that still use PS2 connections. Unfortunately, this does not work as a solution for my eMac. I needed to come up with a different solution.
Once again, VNC to the rescue! For those of you unfamilar with VNC, it is a free open-source remote control software. It originated from the AT&T lab many years ago but has become a must-have for many computer users.
Anyway, enough of the histroy lesson. On with the show!
Get Your Software Here!
In order to remote control your eMac from a standard Windows system, you will need a VNC server written for the OSX platform and a VNC viewer written for the Windows operating system. There are several different ones out there that will work just fine. For this article, I have decided on the following:
- eMac VNC Server - OSXvnc
- Windows VNC Viewer - Ultr@VNC Standalone Viewer
Both of these are open source projects that are quite mature and are proven to work quickly and easily “out of the box”.
Download OSXvnc to the OSX system and Ultr@VNC Standalone Viewer to the Windows system.
Set Up OSXvnc
Note: All of these instructions are to be executed from the OSX system
Once you have downloaded the OSXvnc file, double click on the DMG file on the desktop. In our example, the file is called OSXvnc1.71.dmg. This will extract the contents of the file and install the server on your system.
You should now have an icon on the desktop called OSXvnc. You can double click on this icon to set up the different properties of the server.
When you open up the OSXvnc application, the General tab presents you with the basic setup information. Assuming that you are running this on your own network without any external access, you are probably safe to leave everything at the defaults with exception of the password. Please set this to something that you can easily remember (see 11 Password Tips if you need help). Also, take note of your IP address that OSXvnc is using. You will need this (along with your password) when you go to connect from the Windows system.
UNder the System tab, make sure that Allow Machine to Sleep, Allow Display Dimming, and Allow Screen Saver are checked. If you do not, the system will use up more resources (along with more electricity).
The Sharing tab provides a number of options that can be set to your personal preferences but the defaults should do you just fine. The screen shot shows you how I have mine set up.
The Startup tab is very important to set up correctly. You want the OSXvnc application to start automatically when you restart the system so that you do not need to manually set it each time. Make sure that Start Server When Application Launches and Restart Server if it terminates unexpectedly are checked.
Be sure to also click on Configure Startup Item. You will be promped for your password. Enter it at this time. This is an important step because it will allow for the automatic starting of OSXvnc when the system starts.
Since all of your setting are complete, make sure you click the Restart Server button so that all of the settings take effect. You can now close the application. You have now completed the installation OSXvnc on the OSX system. Now, on to the Windows system.
Set Up Ultr@VNC Standalone Viewer
After downloading the Ultr@VNC Standalone Viewer file, right click on it and select the Extract… menu item. This will start the extraction wizard. Extract the contents of the file to a folder of your choice.
When you have completed extracting the file, open up the folder you extracted the file to and double click on the vncviewer.exe file to start the VNC Viewer.
In the Ultr@VNC Viewer application, you will see a number of different options. For the setup that we are going to be using, the only one that we will have to concern ourselves with is the VNC Server setting. In this box, enter the IP address that you took note of when you set up the OSXvnc server. If you did not write this down or you have forgotten it, then simply go back to your OSX system, double click on the OSXvnc icon, and check for the IP address under the General tab.
Once you have the correct IP address for the VNC Server, click the Connect button.
You will now be prompted for a password. Again, this is the password that you entered into the OSXvnc setup earlier. If you do not remember the password that you entered, you will need to go back to the OSXvnc application and change the password to something that you know.
Enter the password into the window and click on the Log On button.
This is now the moment of truth. If you have set up everything correctly, you should now see your OSX desktop on your Windows system. It should look something like this:
Honey, Can You Hand Me The Remote?
You can now see and control your OSX system as if you were working right at the system itself. There are a few things that you probably should be aware of:
- The right click button does not work on the OSX system from Windows
- You will not hear any audio through the VNC viewer
- You may see some “artifacts” from time to time where the screen does not refresh properly. You can manually refresh the screen to get rid of these artifacts
- The slower your connection, the worse your experience. Reduce the color depth and setup compression to help with the system responsiveness
- You will be fighting for control of the mouse and keyboard with the user on the OSX system if you are trying to use the machines at the same time. Be polite and disable keyboard and mouse access if you are monitoring someone remotely
- VNC is a “clear text” application. This means that the information transmitted between the two systems (including passwords) can be easily viewer by a third party who knows what they are doing
Conclusion
It’s always nice when you can bridge the gap between two different operating systems so that users get the opportunity to work with different environments. Remotely controlling an OSX system from a Windows system will help users become more familiar with the different setup and also allow users of multiply systems to have a more convenient setup.
| Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/remote-control-mac-from-windows-in-progress/trackback/ |
|
October 12th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
There is no need to isntall a third party app on OS X to act as the VNC server. All you need to do is go to your System Preferences -> Sharing -> Apple Remote Desktop.
October 12th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
Just goes to show that just because you have a blog, it doesn’t mean that you know
anythingeverything!I’m going to give this a try tonight when I get home.
Thanks for the heads up!
Tim
Update
I finally got a chance to look at this and my system does not have an Apple Remote Desktop option. This may be due to the fact that I am running OS 10.2.8. Regardless, this option to use Apple Remote Desktop may not be available to everyone and this article would apply to them as it did me.
Tim
December 11th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
As someone who was trying to figure this out, but for some reason having no luck before (it was the Windows side that was at fault apparently), your tutorial is excellent and did work for me- though the Apple Remote Desktop solution seems to work just as well. Thank you (both)!
January 9th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
When I try this on my Wireless LAN (Mac mini with OS X 10.4 at IP 192.168.0 101 running Apple Remote Desktop, PC XP SP 2 at IP 192.168.0.101 running UltraVNC Viewer) it takes 30 mins for the screen to refresh, making the setup unusable.
January 9th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Thanks heaps for the tutorial…by far the easiest I have found on the net. Had a connection up and running within 20 mins.
If anyone is getting the “The server has stopped running. See Log (5)” msg in Vine Server. Simply follow this link:
http://www.redstonesoftware.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=3411&sid=e317e1b560bfb4e622dbe5729dcb4b3e
Cheers,
Josh
May 8th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I was looking for a similar solution, but wanted to access my home mac from my office PC to help my wife. The guys at showmypc.com seem to have a good solution for the PC, but they told me that they might be coming out with a similar solution for a Mac. I am patiently waiting for them. Keep checking… Otherwise this solution is quite good.
August 8th, 2008 at 2:13 am
i used to use VNC a few years back, in the end we stopped using it as RDP was a better solution. I want to control my mac from my windows pc and vnc seems like my best option, will i still experience a lot of drag and refresh problems or is it better now?
September 1st, 2008 at 10:26 am
I have tried this solution to connect to my Mac Mini from my PC laptop running Vista. I have setup using the Apple Remote Desktop options on my Mac Mini with UltaVNC Viewer on my PC.
I enter the IP address for my Mac Mini and hit connect. I am prompted for the password and enter it. After I enter the password, everything just goes away and I never see a screen. I do see the bar at the top of the screen for a few seconds before I type in my password.
I did go in through my Norton software and enable port 5900 on my firewall. I am running my PC laptop and Mac Mini through a wireless router in my home.
Any idea what is going on.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I use this to remote control windows computers. Seems it now allows you to control a Mac from windows. Mac OSX 10.4.6 or higher (LogMeIn Free only).
https://secure.logmein.com/welcome/get_logmein_free/signup.asp
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
UltraVNC viewer 1.0.5.5
You MUST chose LAN (which makes Hextile, Full colours)
Works just fine controlling Mac from Windows
October 20th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
@Danny: I experienced this problem, too, where the connection would immediately just go away. It turns out the default color scaling setting for VNC on that connect was set to Low. Once I changed the colors option to Full, the window would appear fine.
On a side note, does anyone know of a way to transmit a CTRL plus Click event to the remote Mac? I need to do this for some Xcode development, and I can’t seem to figure out how to get that crtl+click event to fire from VNCViewer