1

I have two mac with the same iCloud. First mac is M1 MacBook Pro with MacOS Monterey located in London. The second mac is MacBook Pro with MacOS Mojave located in Manchester.

I need to do screen sharing from first mac to second mac.

I was able to use vnc to do screen sharing when the two mac are connected to the same wifi network, using this : vnc://second.mac.ip.address/. However, when the two mac are on different networks, I got this error message:

Unable to communicate with “second.mac.ip.address”. Make sure the remote computer is available and the firewall is not blocking screen sharing.

Note: the firewall is disabled on both devices.

How can I enable screen sharing between two mac on different networks using VNC?

1 Answer 1

2

Your main problem with this is not the Mac's firewall, but the router's. You'd need to open one or more ports, then forward them to that one specific Mac. You'd also need to keep track of the remote router's IP Adress - they're notorious for changing at infrequent intervals, at the whim of the ISP.

Have you considered just using Screen Sharing instead? That can connect using just the Apple ID. I've never tested to the same ID, though theoretically it means the remote Mac doesn't need to give permission. I use it to remote into my folks' Mac the other end of the country. It requires they click 'allow' as it's 2 different IDs, but requires zero configuration. It's a whole lot easier than trying to punch a hole in through someone else's router firewall.

See Apple KB - Share the screen of another Mac also How-to-Geek - How to Share Your Mac’s Screen with Another Mac which covers more situations.

4
  • I tried connect using apple ID, however as you said each time it requires to click allow on the remote mac. The mac is away from me and nobody can click allow for me. So, I cannot use this option. Commented Apr 2, 2023 at 0:02
  • I see the links it all about screen sharing on the same network. I think I have to do the router ports, could you please assist me in doing that? are there any links that explain the steps? Commented Apr 2, 2023 at 0:05
  • You're in for a world of pain, trying to do this manually. You need to research how to track the distant router's IP Address & update your links as appropriate. [DynDNS et al will halp]. Then you need to see how to do port forwarding on your remote router [different per manufacturer]. Also you need to ensure the remote router isn't running on CGNAT [check it's current IP Address for a rough guide, if it's not 10.xxx you could be in luck]. No-one can run through all this in the space of an answer on here, you'll have to research them separately then combine your learning.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Apr 2, 2023 at 8:22
  • Alternatively, use TeamViewer or one of the myriad similar services. They punch through the router from the inside to a central server [as does Screen Sharing], making the other issues all just melt away.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Apr 2, 2023 at 8:27

You must log in to answer this question.

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