TRC and Mac OSX Remote control issue

When trying to take control of a mac that has been “locked” , ie the screen is asleep I can connect remotely but cant wake up the screen… Neither mouse or keyboard (remote) will wake it up… I have tied the installed inject commands, If there any way around this … Using a standard deployment but changed the port and the acceptance timeout.

What sequences can I inject to wake the remote screen up and enable the mouse so I can sign in.

Hi Pete_F
Sorry for the late answer,

Can you provide the Mac model and OS version please ?
Are you using an external monitor or multiple monitors ?
Are you able to control the machine If you push the physical keys of the Mac you want to control ?

Sure… its a Mac Mini (late 2012), OSX 10.13.2 external monitor (not optional) and yes, once the mac is signed in, on the local keyboard (woken only by the space bar as the local usb mouse wont wake it either) then the remote has full control.
This scenario is when the mac goes to the lock screen either after inactivity timeout or the user locks the screen
If the space bar is tapped on the mac directly, Control is restored to the remote console.

Hi Pete_F,
I can confirm you that this is a bug of the macOS target.
We tracked it and included in our plan for the next patch that will be released probably in March/April.

Regards,

1 Like

@f.pezzotti Any news on this please. Im getting flack about this. Im happy to test something.
If there is some key combination we can add to the insert list, it would help too

Hi Pete_F,

You can try this:

  1. Disable the screen sleep:

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Energy Saver.

Do any of the following:

Set the slider to “never”.

  1. Disable the screen saver (set the minutes to “Never”)
  2. Disable the logout after X minutes

However if the session is locked manually then you might come across the “black screen issue” again after few minutes from the lock. (Probably the screen power off automatically)

We are trying to find a way to wake up the screen when it falls in this status.

Let us know,
Federico

Thanks Federico. I already have the power saver options set to never but the screen save is set to 20 mins.
Thats when the problem occurs (along with the lock screen option.

One thing I have found, With the screen locked, on the local machine (ie the mac itself) normally you HAVE to press the space bar to wake it, however, by using a PC mouse, if you left click and hold it down, it seems to wake the screen up… However, the same process will not work using the remote controller.

One other thought I had, is is it possible to use the Perform action in target to send a “key stroke” ie a space to the endpoint ?

Unfortunately, turning the screen saver off on the macs is not an option as we often have confidential data on display etc.

Another issue is that we need to allow session acceptance automatically if the screen is locked both on a PC and a mac…
Currently we are running Peer to Peer but I am setting up a gateway for machines that are off campus and not on the VPN.

Thanks

Hi Pete_F,

The target receives the input from the controller but when it try to forward the commands to the local screen they have no effect because the screen is black (disabled) and it doesn’t process the commands. So the only way is to force the screen to power on when the controller connects.

Federico

Hi Pete_F,

We fixed the issue related to the screen power off and this will be available on the next patch shipped by the end of September.

We also found a command that might help in the meanwhile: caffeinate -u -t3
If you run this command from an ssh session the screen is “waked up”.

Federico

Excellent… We look forward to the update… Will “play” with the SSH

@f.pezzotti , The Remote Control Client seems to be having Issues with Mojave 10.14.1 …
Mouse Control from the Controller to the client no longer seems to be working.
Its like its in Monitor mode only.

Secondly, the Target, when installed, seems to 1: not run at boot or login without manually going to Spotlight and typing "Remote Control Target"
Doesnt seem to be available for all users…
I kind of got round this by creating a plist and installing it in the /Library/LaunchAgents folder bit in all honesty, it should behave the same way as the Windows Target.

Thanks @Pete_F for reporting the problem.
We will make some test on our environment.
In the meanwhile can you please open a case to the support team so that we can track this issue ?

Hi @Pete_F,

The problem seems to be caused by a security policies for remote desktop sessions intruduced by Apple in Mojave OS.

At the moment, you can enable the targets by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy >Accessibility and allow Remote Control Target to control the computer.

We are working to automate this steps.

Regards.

3 Likes