Screen sharing or VNC connection rejected

Establish a connection to a Mac

If you receive an error message due to an invalid username or password when connecting to your Mac, consider these four possible scenarios:

1. incorrect username or password

Make sure you are using a valid Mac username and password, not your Screensƒ-ID, which is only used to log in to the Screens Connect service. To find your Mac login information, follow these instructions:

To find your Mac username.

Update your saved screen settings in Screens and re-enter your password to ensure it is correct.

Note: As of Screens 5ƒ.3.4, passwords with leading or trailing spaces are supported and are no longer truncated. If your password does not contain spaces, please make sure that it has been entered correctly, without unintentional spaces at the beginning or end.

2. configuration problem with remote management or remote login

Reset the Remote Management service and make sure that both the Watch and Control options are enabled. Also make sure that your Mac user has the required access authorisations:

Troubleshooting - How to reset the Remote Management service.

If secure connections are enabled, make sure that the Remote Login service is enabled and make sure that your Mac user has the required access permissions if you are using a secure connection.

Full configuration instructions can be found here:

Getting Started - Configuring macOS for Remote Access.

3. problem with the network configuration

Check the network settings and firewall configurations to ensure proper connectivity.

4. Remote Desktop/ARD prevents connections

If Remote Desktop is running on the Mac you are trying to connect to, it is blocking connections to screen sharing (Remote Management). You may see a log entry like this:

09:45:25.586295 -0700 screensharingd Do not allow access because Remote Desktop is open

Close Remote Desktop and try again.

Alternatively, you can configure Remote Desktop in its settings to allow incoming connections:

If the problems persist, reinstall ARD as described in this thread.

The latest Remote Desktop version is available here.

Connecting to a PC

When establishing a connection to a PC with Linux, Raspberry Pi or Windowsƒ, an incorrect VNC password can cause problems.

Detailed instructions can be found in the articles on initial computer configuration:

• Configuring Windows for remote access
• Configuring Linux for remote access](/en-GB/screens-5/getting-started/configure-linux)
• Configuring a Raspberry Pi for remote access](/en-GB/screens-5/getting-started/configure-raspberry-pi)

Make sure that your VNC password is set correctly and matches the configuration of the VNC server on the remote PC.