# RDP from Windows to Mac?



## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

My work gave me a Mac... my big monitor, keyboard and mouse are connected to my PC. When I used to work at a Windows shop, I'd just RDP into my work PC and it was smooth. Is there such a thing to go from PC to Mac? Saw some stuff that you can use VNC, which I've used before, and it sucked pretty bad compared to RDP.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Your thread title and your description are saying two different things. Are you wanting to connect to your PC from a Mac or from a Mac to Windows.

From the description it sounds like you want to connect from the Mac to Windows. If that is the case you can install Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac on the Mac and connect to your Windows PC. If they are connecting from networks from work to home or home to work you will need to either setup a VPN or you will need to open RDP ports in your router with port forwarding.

If you want to go from PC to Mac like the title of this thread you use screen sharing on the Mac and in the settings enable VNC then use a VNC client to connect. Same about port frowarding to connect to a machine across the internet unless you have VPN setup. If you don't like VNC you can install the free Chrome Remote Destop extension in Chrome and go either way Mac to PC or PC to Mac. You access the remote computer with Chrome. It works well. During Covid our people that only had PC's at home were connecting that way to their work Macs. And I think you don't have to worry about port forwarding if you aren't using a VPN. Not sure as we had VPN setup for direct connections.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Just add when you use Microsoft Remore Desktop on both the Mac and PC you can only do remote connection from Mac to PC and not PC to Mac with it.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

NoMachine works on Intel-based Macs. I can't speak for ARM hardware.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> If you want to go from PC to Mac like the title of this thread you use screen sharing on the Mac and in the settings enable VNC then use a VNC client to connect. Same about port frowarding to connect to a machine across the internet unless you have VPN setup. If you don't like VNC you can install the free Chrome Remote Destop extension in Chrome and go either way Mac to PC or PC to Mac. You access the remote computer with Chrome. It works well. During Covid our people that only had PC's at home were connecting that way to their work Macs. And I think you don't have to worry about port forwarding if you aren't using a VPN. Not sure as we had VPN setup for direct connections.


Yeah, I want to go from my PC to work mac.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

If you don't like VNC then I would go with the Chrome Remote Desktop. Just have to have Chrome installed on both machines.





__





Chrome Remote Desktop







remotedesktop.google.com


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

b4pjoe said:


> If you don't like VNC then I would go with the Chrome Remote Desktop.


Other than maybe some sound support CRD isn't much more capable than VNC.

Clipboard support as well as drive sharing are high on the list of things that make remote operation practical. Remote printing probably isn't important here but in general, it is a biggie.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

harsh said:


> Other than maybe some sound support CRD isn't much more capable than VNC.
> 
> Clipboard support as well as drive sharing are high on the list of things that make remote operation practical. Remote printing probably isn't important here but in general, it is a biggie.


CRD gives you access to the remote computer to do anything you need. Our users had no issues using it for PC > Mac remote computers. Clipboard and remote printing worked fine. Since the connection was via VPN we also had access to drive sharing.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> CRD gives you access to the remote computer to do anything you need. Our users had no issues using it for PC > Mac remote computers. Clipboard and remote printing worked fine. Since the connection was via VPN we also had access to drive sharing.


How do either of them work with keyboard translations? I.e. my PC keyboard has a Windows Key and the Mac has func, option, command, etc.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Your Windows key becomes the COMMAND Key and your Alt key becomes the Option key. At least that is how it works with my PC keyboard on my PC Hackintosh. CRD settings may let you change that. Not sure as I haven't used CRD on a PC to Mac connection but co-workers did and they didn't report any issues.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> How do either of them work with keyboard translations? I.e. my PC keyboard has a Windows Key and the Mac has func, option, command, etc.


I don't access Macs (either real or virtual) so I can't comment on that but what b4pjoe is saying is how pretty much everything else works.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

b4pjoe said:


> Clipboard and remote printing worked fine. Since the connection was via VPN we also had access to drive sharing.


When I looked at CRD, it didn't support drag and drop between computers or remote printing. Setting up shares isn't my idea of a good time.

Good to hear that they've at least added remote printing.


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## mrfatboy (Jan 21, 2007)

Try TeamViewer or AnyDesk


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

mrfatboy said:


> Try TeamViewer or AnyDesk


Those are both (ultimately or out of the gates) pay services.


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## mrfatboy (Jan 21, 2007)

Free for personal use. Do you need it for commercial use?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

mrfatboy said:


> Free for personal use.


I found that if I used it enough, they'd force me to subscribe.


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## mrfatboy (Jan 21, 2007)

TeamViewer for sure does this now. I switched to AnyDesk. So far so good. 🤷‍♂️


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> Your Windows key becomes the COMMAND Key and your Alt key becomes the Option key. At least that is how it works with my PC keyboard on my PC Hackintosh. CRD settings may let you change that. Not sure as I haven't used CRD on a PC to Mac connection but co-workers did and they didn't report any issues.


The other problem I always had with VNC is that it doesn't scale well. If the screen resolutions aren't the same, you can't max out the screen.

RDP is really something Microsoft has NAILED. Very fast and works seamlessly. Mac people tend to be command line oriented, so this is really lacking there.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

mrfatboy said:


> Free for personal use. Do you need it for commercial use?


I have a personal desktop PC with a big monitor and full size keyboard (that I'm muscle memory'ed on) and a nice mouse. At work, we use macs .

I've been dragging the laptop onto my desk at an angle and using bluetooth mouse & keyboard haha.

I have plans to move to a bigger house with hopefully a bigger office where I can fit a bigger desk. I'd probably get a docking station or a second monitor... but I've never been a fan of multi-monitors.

Hopefully I can get the remote access working smoothly enough so I don't have to keep dragging the laptop around.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> I'd probably get a docking station or a second monitor... but I've never been a fan of multi-monitors.


I use a KVM switch a lot at work. It works pretty slick for sharing a mouse, keyboard, usb port and a single HDMI monitor between up to four computers. Of course the morons at Apple don't see fit to use standard monitor outputs so this might not work without a boatload of adapters.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

harsh said:


> I use a KVM switch a lot at work. It works pretty slick for sharing a mouse, keyboard, usb port and a single HDMI monitor between up to four computers. Of course the morons at Apple don't see fit to use standard monitor outputs so this might not work without a boatload of adapters.


I'm scared of KVMs. I had a traumatic experience when I was in high school. I was running a 2 node BBS and used a KVM switch to toggle between nodes. KVM would intermittently short out the DIN port on the mobos. Went through like 5 mobos before I made the connection.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> KVM would intermittently short out the DIN port on the mobos.


Modern KVM devices use USB rather than DIN connections. This also goes some distance towards working with Macs and their various goofy ports.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

harsh said:


> Modern KVM devices use USB rather than DIN connections. This also goes some distance towards working with Macs and their various goofy ports.


I have a PS/2 keyboard and most PS/2 -> USB adapters get bad reviews.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> I have a PS/2 keyboard and most PS/2 -> USB adapters get bad reviews.


I've never had a problem. I've used the molded adapters as well as the Monoprice short cabled Y-adapter (PS/2 female keyboard + mouse to USB A male).









Amazon.com: Monoprice PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse to USB Converter Adapter, Black (110934) : Electronics


Buy Monoprice PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse to USB Converter Adapter, Black (110934): Cables & Interconnects - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



www.amazon.com




It is worth a try at $2.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

SledgeHammer said:


> The other problem I always had with VNC is that it doesn't scale well. If the screen resolutions aren't the same, you can't max out the screen.
> 
> RDP is really something Microsoft has NAILED. Very fast and works seamlessly. Mac people tend to be command line oriented, so this is really lacking there.


I know Macs and PC resolutions usually don't match. I have a Mac at home and had a Mac at work and used the Mac Screen Sharing app so that wasn't an issues for me. My co-workers never complained about the resolution with using Chrome Remote Desktp. I can't guarantee you won't see some of those issues but it is free to try. I know if I use Microsoft RDP on my Mac and login to a Windows server and tell it to display full screen I don't have any resolution issues.

Is the Mac you are remoting into an iMac or something else? What is the resolution set to on that Mac? If it is an iMac is it a 21.5" or 27" iMac? If not an iMac what is the monitor resolution it is using?

Also what resolutions can you do on your PC and monitor?


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> I know Macs and PC resolutions usually don't match. I have a Mac at home and had a Mac at work and used the Mac Screen Sharing app so that wasn't an issues for me. My co-workers never complained about the resolution with using Chrome Remote Desktp. I can't guarantee you won't see some of those issues but it is free to try. I know if I use Microsoft RDP on my Mac and login to a Windows server and tell it to display full screen I don't have any resolution issues.
> 
> Is the Mac you are remoting into an iMac or something else? What is the resolution set to on that Mac? If it is an iMac is it a 21.5" or 27" iMac? If not an iMac what is the monitor resolution it is using?
> 
> Also what resolutions can you do on your PC and monitor?


MacBook Pro 16" @ 3456x2234
PC @ 1280x960

1.5 vs. 1.3, so pretty close ratio. A few jobs ago, I had a PC at work with a different resolution and RDP just works and scales right.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

SledgeHammer said:


> MacBook Pro 16" @ 3456x2234
> PC @ 1280x960
> 
> 1.5 vs. 1.3, so pretty close ratio. A few jobs ago, I had a PC at work with a different resolution and RDP just works and scales right.


Is 1280x960 the highest the pc can go. Best option is if you can set both to the same resolution. I know the macs at my old workplace were 5K cinema displays that can be set to 5120x2880 but you can’t work at that res (everything way too small) so Apple sets them by default to half that…so 2560x1440. Users that were using pc had HD monitors and when they used Chrome RDP they set it to full screen and the Mac desktop scaled to HD…1920x1080.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> Is 1280x960 the highest the pc can go. Best option is if you can set both to the same resolution. I know the macs at my old workplace were 5K cinema displays that can be set to 5120x2880 but you can’t work at that res (everything way too small) so Apple sets them by default to half that…so 2560x1440. Users that were using pc had HD monitors and when they used Chrome RDP they set it to full screen and the Mac desktop scaled to HD…1920x1080.


It's a 21" monitor. I could go up to 1600x1200, but the text is waayyy too small at that point. I know you can mess around with the DPI, etc... but that can mess up a lot of UIs that aren't DPI aware.

I'll probably play around with it and see what results I get using VNC and CRD.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Just for kicks I installed Chrome RDP on my Mac and accessed it from my PC. My Mac screen resolution is 2560x1440 and my PC montior (24") is 1920x1080. Chrome RDP has the option to scale the remote screen to fit or you can turn it off. With it turned on it scaled the Mac desktop to fit the screen in full screen mode. The Windows key does become the Mac COMMAND key and the ALT key is the Mac Option key. Control and Shift both work as the Control and Shift key.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> Just for kicks I installed Chrome RDP on my Mac and accessed it from my PC. My Mac screen resolution is 2560x1440 and my PC montior (24") is 1920x1080. Chrome RDP has the option to scale the remote screen to fit or you can turn it off. With it turned on it scaled the Mac desktop to fit the screen in full screen mode. The Windows key does become the Mac COMMAND key and the ALT key is the Mac Option key. Control and Shift both work as the Control and Shift key.


Nice! 2 jobs ago it was PC at home to PC at work, so I just used RDP. 1 job ago it was PC at home, Macbook Pro for work and I was just dragging it onto my desk at a weird angle and used a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Doing the same at my current job (and destroying my office furniture in the process of moving the laptop every start of day, end of day, and moving my keyboards & mice around lol).

Hopefully, none of that is blocked by IT. I am local admin on my work mac.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

@b4pjoe actually, I was able to get it installed.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

SledgeHammer said:


> I tried Chrome Remote Desktop. You need to generate a new code every time you want to connect? That sucks.


Actually, I was able to install it. The screen was all distorted... but if I need to generate a new code every day on the laptop, that kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it? Or is there some way for perm permissions or password oriented type access?


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

SledgeHammer said:


> LOL... remotedesktop.google.com is blocked. Of course it is.


Of course.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> Of course.


Lol... I dunno... it worked for a few minutes then it stopped working. Oh well.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

SledgeHammer said:


> Actually, I was able to install it. The screen was all distorted... but if I need to generate a new code every day on the laptop, that kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it? Or is there some way for perm permissions or password oriented type access?


Weird. I don't have to generate a new code when I use it. When I installed I gave it a name to use and when you want to login you go back to remotedesktop.google.com and click the link that you named it.

Also my screen wasn't distorted but if yours was it might be because of the resolution that laptops use. I have seen some weird results when logging into a laptop remotely.

The only thing I have to generate a new code every time is Team Viewer.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> Weird. I don't have to generate a new code when I use it. When I installed I gave it a name to use and when you want to login you go back to remotedesktop.google.com and click the link that you named it.
> 
> Also my screen wasn't distorted but if yours was it might be because of the resolution that laptops use. I have seen some weird results when logging into a laptop remotely.
> 
> The only thing I have to generate a new code every time is Team Viewer.


Seems like they're blocking the remotedesktop.google.com while I'm on the VPN. Although Screen Sharing / VNC Viewer works, but definitely not the same quality experience as RDP. Although the screen looks better then CRD. Bit of a lag and the mouse cursor is tiny lol.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Tell the company they need to buy you a Mac for home so you can remote in with Apple Screen Sharing.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> Tell the company they need to buy you a Mac for home so you can remote in with Apple Screen Sharing.


Lol. I hate macs. I only started using them at work because they pay you a lot more money when you use a mac for software engineering haha.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

b4pjoe said:


> Also my screen wasn't distorted but if yours was it might be because of the resolution that laptops use.


Scaling Macbook resolutions to anything standard is likely to be a hot mess of pixel interpolation. Some of the better tools aren't just native screen scrapers; they set up a virtual desktop with the desired resolution. RDP is always a virtual desktop.

If the mention about "Mac people tend to be more command line oriented" is true for the TS (it certainly isn't for the typical Mac user), maybe Putty sessions are all that are needed.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

harsh said:


> If the mention about "Mac people tend to be more command line oriented" is true for the TS (it certainly isn't for the typical Mac user), maybe Putty sessions are all that are needed.


Certainly was not that way at my old job. We had around 20 mac users and myself and one other person would be the only ones to even know what the command line is.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

I wouldn't put myself in a situation where Mac use was required but in the development community (especially anything surrounding the WWW), many see the Mac as a preferable development platform to Windows and for that crowd, shells are popular.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

harsh said:


> I wouldn't put myself in a situation where Mac use was required but in the development community (especially anything surrounding the WWW), many see the Mac as a preferable development platform to Windows and for that crowd, shells are popular.


I can tell you for a fact that as a software engineer, I have researched HUNDREDS of companies as I have been job hopping during the great resignation to rapidly ramp up my comp.

In the terms of large, well known tech companies that a software engineer would actually want to work at, I found a total of ONE company that uses any Microsoft tech at all and that's DocuSign. Majority of the companies are Java. At Amazon there are some teams that are using Kotlin as well. Facebook is an outlier and they use PHP and C. Some of the newer unicorn companies are using GO. As these companies are all anti-Microsoft, they're typically on AWS. My current company is using Python which is an outlier as well as that's mainly something you'd use for ML & data science.

Everything in Java / Python / AWS is scripted and done through command line. Development is done in an IDE (typically IntelliJ for Java & Pycharm for Python).

The majority of these companies won't even give you a choice and tell you that you have to use a Mac because all the build scripts and tooling is built around that.

There are a few companies that'll let developers pick between Mac and Windows, but you're generally HEAVILY pushed towards Mac because most people don't want to bother supporting the one whiner on the team who uses a PC and has to be different and has non stop issues.

At my current job, I am the team lead and we have this one guy on my team who has a PC and he is nothing but trouble. Always has issues. He claims to be an expert on everything and he somehow fried his laptop and hasn't been able to work for like a week now. Not that he was productive when his laptop was working, but that's a different issue.

An ex-coworker that for some reason stayed behind at a crappy Windows company refuses to make the switch to Java & AWS even though I've told him a hundred times he isn't going to get a high paying job at a large tech company doing C# because none of them use it.

Oh well, his call, but I'm making 2.5x what he's making, so his loss. And that's not an outlier salary comparison case. His comp is typical for a crappy Windows shop using C# and mine is typical for what you would get at a well known tech company.

All you have to do is look at job listings for the large tech companies and you'll see they're mostly Java / AWS at which Mac use is implied.

As I told my friend just the other day, yes, I still hate Macs and I would never use one at home even though I'm an iPhone guy. But for 2.5x the pay, I'll use a Mac.


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## Riot Nrrrd™ (Mar 29, 2006)

If you hate VNC you might look into Splashtop streamer for individual use; it's $5/month. (As a Mac/Linux guy I'm not going to be dragged into the Culture Wars discussion.)


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Riot Nrrrd™ said:


> As a Mac/Linux guy I'm not going to be dragged into the Culture Wars discussion


How dare of you to post such statement.  That's hidden attempt to be in such turmoil


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

Riot Nrrrd™ said:


> If you hate VNC you might look into Splashtop streamer for individual use; it's $5/month. (As a Mac/Linux guy I'm not going to be dragged into the Culture Wars discussion.)


Not a culture thing. I've been a PC guy for ~40 yrs and have no intention of getting a Mac at home. I can either stay as a PC guy at work and make 25% of market or I can use a mac and make market. Simple decision.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

P Smith said:


> That's hidden attempt to be in such turmoil


This isn't about cultures. This is about making something work that was seemingly designed not to be easy.

I'd test NoMachine but I don't have a Mac to test it on. I use it back and forth between Windows and Linux boxes and it is fast and relatively painless.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

The issue with VNCViewer is that while it works, it doesn't scale the mouse correctly, so on my big monitor it appears as a tiny arrow. I can't make it bigger on the Mac side since its the local cursor. Doesn't seem to be a way to scale the mouse per app in Windows. A google search indicates this is an issue with various other VNC viewing apps too.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> I can't make it bigger on the Mac side since its the local cursor. Doesn't seem to be a way to scale the mouse per app in Windows.


UltraVNC Viewer uses the local Windows mouse pointer by default. You can alternatively use the remote pointer.

I'm pretty sure you can alter the size of the Mac mouse pointer for all applications through the Accessibility preferences.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

harsh said:


> UltraVNC Viewer uses the local Windows mouse pointer by default. You can alternatively use the remote pointer.
> 
> I'm pretty sure you can alter the size of the Mac mouse pointer for all applications through the Accessibility preferences.


UltraVNC doesn't even work connecting to a Mac. I get "No supported authentication methods". Some other VNC viewers have the same issue. I guess they don't support the newer version of VNC protocols in the newer OS. RealVNC connects though.

RealVNC supports local cursor vs. remote cursor. I've got it set to local cursor. At the size I have the cursor now, I get a single cursor. If I make it big enough to see on the PC side, I get double mouse cursors in RealVNC.


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## nazareth (Nov 13, 2007)

Another option you may wish to try is "Luna Display" by Astropod.com. This is a hardware USB-C dongle that you can use with a Mac or PC. With this HW dongle, and a driver that you run on both the laptop and the "remote display machine", you can send the display to the remote machine. With this dongle, you can either add a "secondary" display at the remote display resolution to extend your desktop from the laptop, or you can "mirror" the laptop display to a remote display. Like VNC, the display data is sent over the network connection which can be Wifi, thunderbolt, or ethernet. I use this solution so that my Mac can drive a 34" display directly over usb-C display port, and then I use my 27" iMac as a secondary display to extend my mac's desktop. Theoretically, this dongle works for both Mac and PC, but I haven't used it with a PC.

--Sean


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

SledgeHammer said:


> UltraVNC doesn't even work connecting to a Mac. I get "No supported authentication methods". Some other VNC viewers have the same issue. I guess they don't support the newer version of VNC protocols in the newer OS. RealVNC connects though.
> 
> RealVNC supports local cursor vs. remote cursor. I've got it set to local cursor. At the size I have the cursor now, I get a single cursor. If I make it big enough to see on the PC side, I get double mouse cursors in RealVNC.


Meh. I got UltraVNC to work by switching the Mac VNC into password mode. UltraVNC sucks. Screen is blurry even with the proportional scaling and there is a much bigger lag then RealVNC even in high bandwidth mode. Didn't get to dealing with the mouse.

When I worked at a Microsoft shop. I RDPed into my work PC over the internet and it was much smoother then VNC to the Mac that's on my local network. Apple really needs to implement RDP.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> Apple really needs to implement RDP.


Perhaps Apple should port their own protocol to other OSs.

It looks like NoMachine now has an M1 native version but it has a few issues.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

harsh said:


> Perhaps Apple should port their own protocol to other OSs.


They don't have their own. They use VNC which is slow & buggy. Microsoft spent a lot of time and money to make RDP super fast and they got all the things right: performance, scaling, mouse/keyboard, audio, printing, etc.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> They don't have their own. They use VNC which is slow & buggy.


They use VNC for their screen sharing between physically adjacent Apple devices?

It seems more sophisticated than VNC.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

harsh said:


> They use VNC for their screen sharing between physically adjacent Apple devices?


You mean like to a TV with AirPlay? Or extending the screen?


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

The Mac has their own RDP called screen sharing. But it is Mac to Mac only. It is every bit as good as Microsoft RDP. And more secure. Microsoft RDP is one of the main ways hackers use to get into machines. Not really because of how it works but because of how many Windows installs there are that have it installed and users don’t keep their machines updated properly.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> You mean like to a TV with AirPlay? Or extending the screen?


I'm talking about the screen sharing setup that Apple introduced within the last couple years. I suspect it is what b4pjoe is referring to.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> The Mac has their own RDP called screen sharing. But it is Mac to Mac only. It is every bit as good as Microsoft RDP. And more secure. Microsoft RDP is one of the main ways hackers use to get into machines. Not really because of how it works but because of how many Windows installs there are that have it installed and users don’t keep their machines updated properly.


You mean Apple Logo | System Preferences | Sharing? That's VNC. Or do you mean they have a more optimized protocol when you go from Mac to Mac? There is also Apple Remote Desktop. All I can find on Google is some stuff implying that Screen Share is backwards compatible with VNC clients, so maybe they have something better when its Mac to Mac.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

harsh said:


> I'm talking about the screen sharing setup that Apple introduced within the last couple years. I suspect it is what b4pjoe is referring to.


You mean where I said it is called “Screen Sharing”? Yeah that is it. It has been there for several years. Longer than “the last couple years”. Screen Sharing” is installed with the OS on every Mac. Apple also has a commercial app (not free) called Apple Remote Desktop that is more feature rich and can connect to a pc but has to use VNC just like the free Screen Sharing app. His biggest issue with trying to control a Mac laptop from Windows is that the laptop is using the non standard resolution that his pc can’t do. If he was connecting to something like an iMac or a Mac mini he would not be seeing the problem he saw in Chrome Remote Desktop. I would try changing the resolution to something more compatible with the pc when he is going to remote in to it. Something like 1920x1080 if the MacBook can do that.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

SledgeHammer said:


> You mean Apple Logo | System Preferences | Sharing? That's VNC. Or do you mean they have a more optimized protocol when you go from Mac to Mac? There is also Apple Remote Desktop. All I can find on Google is some stuff implying that Screen Share is backwards compatible with VNC clients, so maybe they have something better when its Mac to Mac.


Mac to Mac uses the Screen Sharing app and does not use vnc. It has the option to use vnc if you want a computer that is not a Mac to remote in to the Mac. But a Mac to Mac connection does not use vnc. (Unless you enable vnc and use a vnc client to connect from another Mac and no one should ever consider doing that) lol


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

b4pjoe said:


> Yeah that is it. It has been there for several years.


I could have sworn that they highlighted it as part of the M1 Mac intro. Maybe they had just added the protocol to the iPad.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

I’ve been using it since around 2008-2009 to remote in from my home iMac to my work iMac.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> I’ve been using it since around 2008-2009 to remote in from my home iMac to my work iMac.


Too bad they don't let people use it from a PC. The VNC experience sucks.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> Too bad they don't let people use it from a PC.


Remember that we're talking about Apple here -- a company built largely on doing things in ways that require special adapters/protocol converters. This goes all the way back to RS-422 and ADB but it can be software as well.

Of course if it is truly command line, you can use as many terminal sessions as you want.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

Just revisiting this. So pretty much to "RDP" from Windows to Mac the only choice is VNC? I have a new M1 mac from work, so its fairly powerful, my PC is an i7 with 32GB of RAM. Coffee Lake. So also fairly powerful (probably going to upgrade to Raptor Lake once the PCI 5 SSDs start to roll out). PC is hard wired into the router. Mac is going over WiFi6.

Aside from the mouse problem, the typing lag makes VNC useless for anything other then quick logon/test type things. I tried to send my manager a one paragraph Slack message over it and the typing lag was unbearable.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> So pretty much to "RDP" from Windows to Mac the only choice is VNC?


NoMachine claims support for M1 based Macs. Apparently the early releases hadn't updated the system requirements in the installer to accept Rosetta 2 emulation.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

harsh said:


> NoMachine claims support for M1 based Macs. Apparently the early releases hadn't updated the system requirements in the installer to accept Rosetta 2 emulation.


Hmm... I hadn't heard of NoMachine / x2go. I'll have to try that out.

Right now, I only got RealVNC VNC Viewer to even connect. But...

1. The mouse cursor is tiny. I can make it larger on the Mac, but for some reason, once you go past a certain size, you get "Double Cursor" syndrome. Mouse doesn't seem to have much lag, but I haven't really tested it much for precision work because the cursor size / double cursor made it pretty much not viable.

2. What really killed it was the typing lag. Just awful.

3. Screen scaling isn't right either.

When I worked in a Windows shop up until 2020, I RDPed from my current home PC to my work PC and that's going over the internet, through all that company's poorly set up infrastructure, etc. and it was smooth as butter. Pretty much as good as at the machine. Except for the MFA to logon.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> Hmm... I hadn't heard of NoMachine / x2go. I'll have to try that out.


I mentioned it in post #4.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

SledgeHammer said:


> Just revisiting this. So pretty much to "RDP" from Windows to Mac the only choice is VNC? I have a new M1 mac from work, so its fairly powerful, my PC is an i7 with 32GB of RAM. Coffee Lake. So also fairly powerful (probably going to upgrade to Raptor Lake once the PCI 5 SSDs start to roll out). PC is hard wired into the router. Mac is going over WiFi6.
> 
> Aside from the mouse problem, the typing lag makes VNC useless for anything other then quick logon/test type things. I tried to send my manager a one paragraph Slack message over it and the typing lag was unbearable.


The Mac being on Wifi is not optimal. Have you tried it with the Mac using an ethernet cable instead of Wifi?


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> The Mac being on Wifi is not optimal. Have you tried it with the Mac using an ethernet cable instead of Wifi?


I don't even think it has a ethernet port lol (friggin Apple). I think you need to buy one of those lighting to ethernet adapters.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

What kind of Mac is it? iMac? Mac Mini? Macbook Pro?


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> What kind of Mac is it? iMac? Mac Mini? Macbook Pro?


Its an M1 Macbook Pro.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Yeah looks like they saved 5 cents and removed the ethernet adapter.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> Yeah looks like they saved 5 cents and removed the ethernet adapter.


The laptop is too thin to fit one in. Aesthetics over function.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> The laptop is too thin to fit one in.


Some really thin devices use a flip-down RJ45 port. They look even more fragile than the old hoop style pop-out ports that were used with PCCard modems and Ethernet adapters back in the day.

This is a side view of the HP Omen gaming notebook:









The HP is 50% taller than the MBP.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

Finally got around to trying NoMachine. No keyboard / display lag, but the mouse scaling doesn't work as with the others, neither does the num pad / num lock and the display doesn't scale right. Granted the Mac is wide screen and my monitor is not, so if I upgraded to a wide screen where the resolutions matched closer, that might address one issue.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

SledgeHammer said:


> Finally got around to trying NoMachine. No keyboard / display lag, but the mouse scaling doesn't work as with the others, neither does the num pad / num lock and the display doesn't scale right.


I'm not sure how a Windows keypad should work with a Macbook given that the Macbooks have no keypad (not even a simulated one) by default but can support one if added. Someone would certainly howl if the Mac client default was to translate all client keypad entries to host keyboard entries. Maybe there is a keymap available for NoMachine on the client side to use in translating client keypad entries to host keyboard entries.

As I understand it, here is a Mac client mapping the Mac's clear key to the rest of the World's num lock key so some thought has been given to Mac keyboard idiosyncrasies.

Apple's goofy display properties are always going to present a significant problem when it comes to translating the display. I don't know if NoMachine can turn off local cursor rendering and use the remote cursor instead. UltraVNC has a setting for this and maybe NoMachine does as well.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

harsh said:


> I'm not sure how a Windows keypad should work with a Macbook given that the Macbooks have no keypad (not even a simulated one) by default but can support one if added. Someone would certainly howl if the Mac client default was to translate all client keypad entries to host keyboard entries. Maybe there is a keymap available for NoMachine on the client side to use in translating client keypad entries to host keyboard entries.
> 
> As I understand it, here is a Mac client mapping the Mac's clear key to the rest of the World's num lock key so some thought has been given to Mac keyboard idiosyncrasies.


Seems pretty obvious to me. If my numlock is off, it should send arrow keys. If its on, it should send numbers. I have both the num pad and the T arrow keys and I never use the T arrows.

NoMachines answer is that there's no num pad on the Mac, so they default it to off and send numbers which is wrong. My keyboard sends arrows with it off.



harsh said:


> Apple's goofy display properties are always going to present a significant problem when it comes to translating the display. I don't know if NoMachine can turn off local cursor rendering and use the remote cursor instead. UltraVNC has a setting for this and maybe NoMachine does as well.


My mac uses a 3456 x 2234 resolution which is non-standard. When I worked at a Microsoft shop, my work PC had a wide screen monitor and my home based 4:3 monitor had no scaling issues whatsoever with RDP. Like I said, RDP just works.


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