Remote control mac book pro.
- @cghague
Hello sir
I am very new to the KVM space. Looking for suggestions.
My requirement is below: I have a mac book pro and a HP windows laptop with a wireless mouse and keyboard in usa. HP windows laptop hosts a zoom call and share screen and grants control to a friend in xyz country.
My friend is in xyz country, and he wants to connect to Mac book pro and control the mouse and keyboard. My friend Viewing the Mac book pro screen is optional. Could you please let me know if this solution is possible using any of your products ? - also, I don’t want any software/drivers to be installed on Mac bookpro.
Hope to see some comments and suggestions.
- CCharles Hague @cghague2023-06-30 15:02:28.333Z
Hi @gmettn, thanks for reaching out with your questions about controlling a MacBook Pro.
A TinyPilot device plugs directly into a target computer using HDMI and USB, allowing a client computer on the same network to control the target computer. A remote user could then control the client computer using a Zoom screen share. The client computer would need sufficient resources to simultaneously handle the TinyPilot and Zoom apps, plus a high-quality network connection to the TinyPilot device and the remote user.
In your scenario, the MacBook Pro would be the target computer, and the HP laptop would be the client. It might be worth noting that, although you wouldn't need to install any drivers or software on the MacBook Pro, someone could still detect the TinyPilot device in various ways.
- GHello IT @gmettn
Thanks a bunch. I have more questions:
Can the mac book pro be controlled by my friend from a different country ?
Do I need to attach a wired / wireless mouse and keyboard for this to happen ?
Or just the inbuilt mac book pro mouse pad and keyboard are good?
Does the voyager have wifi?
What are all the possible names that the voyager shows up when a network admin of mac book pro wants to track ?
Thanks in advance.
- CCharles Hague @cghague2023-07-03 14:43:06.037Z
Thanks for getting back to me.
Can the mac book pro be controlled by my friend from a different country ?
My understanding is that your friend would be controlling your HP laptop via screen sharing in a Zoom call and that the HP laptop would then have a local connection to a TinyPilot device. If that is correct, as long as your friend can successfully control the HP laptop using Zoom screen sharing, then there is no reason they wouldn't be able to control the TinyPilot device and, by extension, the MacBook Pro.
Do I need to attach a wired / wireless mouse and keyboard for this to happen ?
Or just the inbuilt mac book pro mouse pad and keyboard are good?You shouldn't need to connect an external mouse or keyboard to any device for TinyPilot to work.
Does the voyager have wifi?
The Voyager 2a supports Wi-Fi, although you'll usually need a wired Ethernet connection for the initial setup.
What are all the possible names that the voyager shows up when a network admin of mac book pro wants to track ?
The page linked in my previous reply summarises how TinyPilot identifies itself, but please note that TinyPilot is designed to control systems that you own or have permission to access. TinyPilot does not attempt to evade detection from software that searches for remote administration tools.
- GHello IT @gmettn
Thank you sir.
I have received the tiny pilot 2a from Amazon today and started testing it.
If I have just one target system that is connected to tiny pilot in USA, Can my friend in xyz country access this target system directly by using https://tinypilot? And any other credentials ?
I mean, is this voyager 2a device truly a connectivity between two complete different networks ? Target system in Network A is in USA and operated by a system in xyz country in network B.
Thanks
- CCharles Hague @cghague2023-07-05 15:12:30.352Z
Thank you for getting back to me, it’s great to hear you’ve picked up a TinyPilot device for testing!
TinyPilot works over the local network by default, but there are several options available for accessing a TinyPilot device over the Internet. I’d recommend using a cloud access tool such as Tailscale, as they don’t require any alterations to firewalls and routers and are easy to setup.
- GIn reply togmettn⬆:Hello IT @gmettn
Hello
My tiny pilot blanks out very frequently since couple of days. Why ? This is a big issue for me.
I am accessing mac on windows. Both are in my home wifi, different floors.
Also why doesn’t tiny pilot connect for the first time on edge? Is there a better compatible browser? I need to restart my windows and tiny pilot multiple times to get connected.
Please answer these 2 questions asap.
- CCharles Hague @cghague2023-08-31 16:26:31.534Z
Thanks for your message, I'm sorry to hear you're having connection issues.
The most common reason the screen blanks out is that the target computer (i.e., your Mac) has entered sleep mode. You can usually wake the target computer up by typing something; alternatively, you can configure the target computer so that it doesn't go to sleep automatically.
If you want to try an alternative browser, Chrome or Firefox are good choices. However, TinyPilot should work in an up-to-date version of Edge, so there may be a different issue. If using an alternative browser doesn't help, please let me know, and we can investigate further.
- GIn reply togmettn⬆:Hello IT @gmettn
Mac going to sleep is not possible because I am actively working on Mac thru Windows when the issue happened.
- CCharles Hague @cghague2023-08-31 20:39:30.483Z
Thank you for confirming, I appreciate how frustrating that must be! There are several possible explanations for this, so we'll need to investigate further. The next time the issue happens, could you please send me a copy of your TinyPilot logs by going to System, then Logs, then Get Shareable URL.
In the meantime, could you please let me know if the video starts working again by itself, or do you have to take some action to fix it (e.g., restarting the TinyPilot device)? This information could help to indicate whether the issue is a hardware or software problem.