
The viewer has lots of goodies, such as file transfers (via copy/paste), desktop scaling, and of course, encryption when paired with the RealVNC Enterprise Server.
MAC VNC VIEWER LICENSE
The server that runs on the Mac does require a paid license key, however the viewer is free! The viewer is VNCViewer from RealVNC, from the Enterprise Edition of their product. It's not mentioned in many reviews, but I've been happily using the Windows version for many years. Once that is enabled, it allows you to connect to a Mac remotely and control it’s screen from other Macs, Linux, Windows, even an iPhone or iPad as long as it has a VNC client.I thought I'd share what I feel to be the best VNC viewer for the Mac.
MAC VNC VIEWER MAC OS X
One particularly great feature of the newer versions of this Screen Sharing app in Mac OS X is the ability to transfer files from Mac to Mac just by dragging and dropping them between the connected screens, giving you simple remote file access through the familiar user friendly interface of the Finder, if you use that often then this app shortcut will probably be particularly helpful to you.ĭo note that Screen Sharing.app is simply a client, and if you’re looking to configure the server end of things you’ll need to set up remote Screen Sharing through Mac OS X System Preferences to enable the VNC server on a Mac.
MAC VNC VIEWER FULL
There are a variety of Preference options available, including the ability to encrypt all network data between the connected machines, toggle whether or not to control or observe the connected computer, scale the screen or show the connected machines in full size, adjust the quality based on the network connections, and whether or not to scroll around on the screen. Now with the shortcut created, you can just launch the app and enter the remote hosts IP, host name, or you can use the common notation of specifying a username (and password, though thats bad practice to expose passwords in plain text) with IP and protocol like so: is an alternative to using the the “Connect to Server” keyboard shortcut or the Safari launch approach.Īs mentioned, the hidden Screen Sharing app is a complete VNC client, and though it’s not necessarily the most full featured app in the world it is more than adequate for connecting to and controlling any remote machine running a VNC server, whether that’s another Mac with Screen Sharing enabled, or even a Windows or Linux box. It can now be found in Launchpad through search, though unless the app is placed in /Applications/ it will still not be found in the wider Spotlight search.

You could alternatively make an alias and place it in the /Applications folder or elsewhere, but usually the Dock or Launchpad is sufficient enough. Locate the “Screen Sharing” app contained in the CoreServices directory, then drag & drop it to the Dock or to Launchpadįor demonstration purposes, we went with a shortcut placed into Launchpad:.

From the Mac OS X Finder, hit Command+Shift+G to summon the “Go to Folder” window and enter the following path:.This is the easiest way to create a simple shortcut:
MAC VNC VIEWER HOW TO
How to Create a Shortcut for the Screen Sharing VNC Client in Mac OS X If you use VNC to connect to remote computers often, you might want to create an easier way to access the mostly hidden Screen Sharing app. System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Screen Sharing.app/ If you’re wondering, the local location of the app is not within the Applications or Utilities folders, instead it’s buried at the following path: This instantly launches the Screen Sharing application on the Mac, which is the built-in VNC client that comes with all Macs. Hit Command+Spacebar to bring up Spotlight, then type “ Screen Sharing“ and hit Return.The fastest way to access Screen Sharing, the VNC Client in Mac OS, is through Spotlight: How to Access the Screen Sharing VNC Client in Mac OS
