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How do I get to Screen Sharing on my Mac OS X system?

I've been experimenting with the Mac Snow Leopard Screen Sharing capability and it's really terrific for managing our workgroup server, but every time I want to run it I have to launch Server Tools, then select the server, then choose "Screen Sharing". Isn't there a better way?


Dave's Answer:

We also have a Snow Leopard Mac OS X server in our offices and unlike a regular Mac system, the server version includes all sorts of interesting additional features and capabilities, one of the most interesting of which is the ability to seamlessly operate it remotely from elsewhere on your network.

Our office is powered by a Time Capsule which gives us 802.11n wi-fi throughput at a good clip, certainly enough that I can actually watch movies via the Screen Sharing capability (though, alas, audio isn't piped through so it's only good for silent movies!).

Launching it is definitely a pain in the booty, though. What I'd love is an icon on my desktop that is a shortcut to launching the sharing app with my server already specified. It turns out you can do just that, but it's a bit tricky...

Start by going to any Finder window and clicking on the name of the server:

mac finder shared servers

Now, once you're looking at the server window, even if it is still trying to resolve the connection, notice that instead of the usual "Connect As..." notice that there's a second button there too:

mac finder shared servers share screen

Click on "Share Screen..." and you'll see your sharing screen show up:

mac finder shared servers screen sharing on

Here's the trick: click and drag on the icon next to the server name in the window title, as you can see here:

mac finder shared servers screen sharing drag icon

That's it. It's not necessarily a pretty icon, but it'll do the job:

mac finder shared servers screen sharing icon

Oh, and you can change the icon to make it prettier too. Here's what you do: click once on the icon then choose File --> Get Info. You'll see something like this:

mac finder shared servers screen sharing icon info

Now find a picture you like, perhaps on Google Images, then Ctrl-Click on the picture or photo and chose "Copy Image". Now click once on the tiny icon in the Get Info window and use Cmd-V to paste the image into the icon space:

mac finder shared servers screen sharing icon info 2

Now my icon's very nice:

mac finder shared servers screen sharing icon 2

That's how ya do it. Hope that's helpful!!









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Comments

You say "Our office is powered by a Time Capsule which gives us 802.11n wi-fi throughput at a good clip, certainly enough that I can actually watch movies via the Screen Sharing capability (though, alas, audio isn't piped through so it's only good for silent movies!)."

I connect to my server iMac from my MacBook using the Connect As button (rather than screen sharing). I get offered all the volumes connected to the iMac. I select a movie I want to watch on the MacBook and double click it. The movie now plays audio and video on the MacBook over ethernet without a glitch.

Posted by: Stefan Youngs at April 15, 2010 10:19 AM

Stefan, true enough, I could have had the video *player* running on the local system and the video content on the server, but then it wouldn't give you a sense of the snappy response of Screen Sharing. :-)

Posted by: Dave Taylor at April 15, 2010 11:11 AM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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