Remotely access your Mac with Screen Sharing (and other fun stuff!)

Saturday 01/17/2009  –  Category: Uncategorized

I've recently transitioned to using a  separate machine work but wanted to be able to access my home lappy in case I needed anything.  Here's how I got stuff working:

Set up Screen Sharing (from the helpful guide at Lifehacker)

1. Make sure Screen Sharing and Remote Login are enabled in your Sharing preferences pane
2. Configure your router to forward port 5900 and 22 to the IP of your local machine
3. (Optional) Create a custom domain at dyndns.com to point to your IP
4. From your other machine, create an SSH tunnel for the VNC connection: ssh -L 5900:127.0.0.1:5900 user@remote_machine_ip
5. Still on your other machine, switch to Finder and select Go > Connect to Server and connect to vnc://localhost
6. You should be connected!

Mount your remote filesystem with Macfuse and Macfusion
The built-in Screen Sharing app doesn't support drag-and-drop between windows so we'll have to set up an alternative for that.  Macfuse and Macfusion enable you to mount a remote filesystem that shows up as just another volume on your system.

1. Download and install Macfuse and Macfusion
2. You should be able to easily setup a connection and mount your SSH filesystem through the Macfusion GUI.

Listen to your iTunes Library
I didn't really want to copy all my music to the other machine so I found an app called Simplify Media that lets you share your iTunes library over the internet.  Make sure you have your library shared, install the client on both machines, and sign on with the same screenname.  Your remote library should now show up under the Shared section of the sidebar.

Ending Notes
Your performance may vary depending on your internet connection on both sides.  With Screen Sharing, I definitely wouldn't be able to be productive working on the remote machine due to the refresh lag but for quick and simple tasks (like retrieving a file from the Trash) it works well enough. Simplify Media works as advertised but can have some lag in streaming between tracks.