Menu
A VNC server has been included with every edition of Mac OS X, including Mac OS X 10.7 – aka Lion. Let's walk through how to start the server on Lion.
This article refers to Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion. Other versions are available on our VNC on Mac OS X page.
VNC is an acronym of Virtual Network Computing. You can use your Mac's free VNC support to remotely connect and control your Mac over a network. You can even control your Mac remotely over the Internet.
Real vnc free download - VNC Viewer, Chicken of the VNC, RealTimes (with RealPlayer), and many more programs.
- Then navigate to /Library/vnc/vncagent and select the Open button: and then click the lock icon again. Instant Support App is downloaded from the internet. Starting with Mac OS 10.15 you must specifically allow Instant Support to be opened on install as it is downloaded from the internet. Select open to allow the application to run.
- robg adds: For those who don't know, VNC is a way to control one computer's GUI from another location. RealVNC is the official home of the software, but they don't offer a Mac server (just PC/Unix servers and clients). Redstone Software, though, makes an OS X VNC server called, simply enough, OSXvnc.
In Mac OS X 10.5, aka Tiger, Apple introduced Screen Sharing to the Finder. While Screen Sharing appears to be built on VNC, it uses a more sophisticated authentication process that stops most generic VNC clients connecting.
To start a general VNC server on your Mac you need to click a few check boxes.
Starting the Mac OS X 10.7 VNC Server
- Launch the System Preferences.
- Select the Sharing preferences.
- Enable Screen Sharing within the Service list.
- Click Computer Settings… to show the VNC password setting.
- Enable VNC viewers may control screen with password:.
- Enter a strong password.
- Click OK to save your settings.
Your Mac is now running a VNC server and can be connected to from other computers using the standard VNC port (TCP/IP port 5900). Those connecting will need to use the password you entered in step 6.
The VNC server will start every time you power on your Mac. If you want to stop the VNC server, navigate to the Sharing preferences and disable Screen Sharing.
- »
- »
- VNC Server in Virtual Mode
Unlike its Windows and Mac counterparts, the
vncserver
command creates a new, virtual, VNC desktop—one that is not attached to any physical display hardware. For details of how to make the console X server accessible using VNC, please see Starting VNC Server in User Mode and in Service Mode. To start a new VNC desktop, run the
vncserver
command. If this is the first time you have run the command, it will probably generate secure encryption keys:The most important lines are the last three:
Running applications in /home/jpw/.vnc/xstartup
is a reminder thatvncserver
automatically starts some applications on your behalf when it creates a new desktop. These typically include a window manager, thevncconfig
configuration applet and a terminal window. You can edit this file to customise the applications that are started when your desktop is created.Log file is /home/user/.vnc/host:1.log
tells you where the log file for this desktop is stored. Diagnostic information from the VNC server and any applications started by thexstartup
script will go to this file.- Most important of all,
New desktop is host:1
tells you the address of your new server. This is what you have to enter intovncviewer
to connect to your new desktop.
Common configuration scenarios
Server configuration settings can be changed by running the
vncconfig
applet, which is started by default on all new VNC desktops. However any changes made this way affect only that desktop, and do not apply to any desktops started subsequently. To make permanent changes to the VNC server's configuration, you can specify them in one of two places:
![Real vnc for mac Real vnc for mac](/uploads/1/1/7/6/117652724/873595910.jpg)
/etc/vnc/config
for system-wide settings.~/.vnc/config
for per-user settings.
You can also specify settings on the
vncserver
command-line; in this case they will affect only the VNC desktop started by that command.![Download real vnc for mac Download real vnc for mac](https://www.realvnc.com/products/vnc/documentation/4.6/images/mac/mac_install_viewer2.png)
Below are some common configuration scenarios; for full details of the parameters supported, see the Xvnc man page or look at the Expert tab of the
vncconfig
user interface.Real Vnc Viewer For Mac
Allow other users to connect
Vnc For Mac Os
By default, only the user who started the VNC desktop is allowed to connect. To change this, the AllowedUsers parameter must be configured:
This gives all users permission to connect. For full details of the AllowedUsers parameter, see the Xvnc man page. For a more restrictive example, see below.
Maximum security
Realvnc Viewer Mac
For maximum security, you should configure the VNC server to use an encrypted connection. You should also restrict the allowed users, and configure VNC Server to prompt the user to approve new connections:
With the above configuration, only encrypted connections are supported. This could be relaxed by changing the
SecurityTypes
parameter from RA2
to RA2,RA2ne
, ensuring that the password is always encrypted, but allowing viewers to request an unencrypted session. Both the desktop owner and the superuser are granted full access rights and can connect without approval; members of the staff
group can also connect, but must be approved. All users must enter their UNIX password in order to connect. Note that in order for querying of connections to work, you must be running the
vncconfig
applet on the desktop. Note also that since the desktop is not attached to any physical display hardware, there must already be someone connected in order to accept the new incoming connection. You can also restrict access to the server based on IP address using the
Hosts
parameter, for example:Support legacy viewers
To support legacy viewers, you will need to disable encryption and use VNC authentication:
Note that this configuration does not allow encrypted connections (legacy viewers do not support encryptyion). In order to allow both encrypted connections from Enterprise Edition viewers and unencrypted connections from legacy viewers, you would use the following:
Either way, you will also need to run the
vncpasswd
command and enter a password with which to access your VNC desktops: