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John
Asked: 2010-03-09 17:04:35 +0800 CST

VNC viewer not connecting to Mac from Windows

  • 772

I have a VNC server running on a Mac. When I try to use a VNC viewer, it says "no matching security types".

Is there any other software which can connect to a Mac like RDP?

If iI use screen sharing from another Mac, then it works but not from VNC.

EDIT: I am using:

  • Leopard 10.5.7,
  • vnc VIEWER 4.1.3,
  • nothing installed on Mac,
  • On Same LAN,
mac-osx mac vnc

10 Answers

  1. A few years later, the "world has changed", so

    The free version of RealVNC (v. 6.17.1113, Nov 2017, x64) works smoothly for me. In particular from Windows 7 Professional to OS X Yosemite (10.11) and to OS X High Sierra (10.13 w/ latest updates), the "OS X Authentication" that Mac OS builtin VNC requires, with username and password and no tweaks to the VNC server side, posed no problem. These are security types 30 and 35: see https://vncdotool.readthedocs.io/en/0.8.0/rfbproto.html#security

    Although performance was clearly lacking. It's using ZRLE compression; perhaps JPEG or something else is superior, and perhaps professional RealVNC is optimized.

    TightVNC and TigerVNC both fail complaining those are unknown codes.

    [And do everything over a VPN for heaven's sake if going through the Internet.]

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  2. I'm not sure which VNC server you have running on your Mac, but you can use the built-in one.

    Apple menu --> System Preferences --> Sharing --> Screen Sharing

    Make sure that its configured for VNC access with a password. Then try to connect to TCP port 5900 with a VNC client on your PC.

    To answer the other question: VNC is the Mac answer to RDP, actually. Even the commercial "Apple Remote Desktop" package ultimately uses the VNC protocol.

    • 6

  3. I ran this command and could get it to work with RealVNC Open/Free edition viewer. Ensure that on the client, the color level is set to Full [Options->Colour & Encoding->Colour Level]

    sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -activate -configure -access -off -restart -agent -privs -all -allowAccessFor -allUsers -clientopts -setvncpw -vncpw secret -setvnclegacy -vnclegacy yes

    This method works via the command line (local terminal and remote ssh session too).

    • 6

  4. Try turning off encryption, works for me for a similar problem.

    • 5
  5. Best Answer

    Try TightVNC to connect. It seems to work when the free edition of RealVNC does not. http://www.tightvnc.com/

    I've also found that the VNC viewer will konk out when connecting to the Mac if the viewer is not running in millions or full color mode.

    • 3

  6. From memory you'll need to either use a v3.x viewer or configure the one you have to use the version 3 protocol. How depends on your viewer but it should be covered in its help file or web site.

    • 1

  7. Any VNC client I've tried works. On your Mac

    1. Go to System Preferences -> Sharing -> Enable Screen Sharing
    2. Click the Computer Settings... button
    3. In the drop-down sheet, check both boxes for Anyone may request permission to control screen and VNC viewers may control screen with password:
    4. Enter a password
    5. Click OK button
    6. Leave system preferences

    Once you've done that, be sure not to use 256 colors. Then, when connecting from your other computer you should be prompted for a normal VNC password, followed by the OsX login screen, where you can choose the user you'd like to log in as.

    • 1

  8. Had the same problem on El Capitan. TightVNC viewer (version 2.7.10) worked without any problem with Yosemite but failed to connect to Mac after upgrade to El Capitan. Looks like TightVNC 2.7.x does not support VNC protocol used by newer versions of OSX.

    I've switched over to RealVNC Viewer (version 5.3.1) which works without any error.

    • 1

  9. You can encounter this problem if the server does not have a password configured, or the server is running with integrated authentication and you are using the free VNC viewer. The free VNC viewer does not support some of the newer authentication methods.

    • 0

  10. If, like me, you have problems to connect to MacOS from Ubuntu (I know the question was originally for windows, but this might be useful)

    What worked for me was: Use Remmina, use the Vnc Password that was setup on Mac as Username, any valid user in the mac system will do. Do not use 256 bit colors

    In my case neither xtightvǹc or tigervnc could connect from ubuntu 18.04

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