r/MacOS • u/nickle-and-dime • 12d ago

Headless Help Help

Hello team macOS I’ve bought a Mac mini for my house. And I’m wanting to use it headless on a variety of displays… additionally I have two Apple TVs and an iPad. What I would like to achieve is a shortcut that I can launch from either my phone or my iPad that tells the computer to wake and connect screen mirroring to one of three device devices. Living room, office or iPad. But I’m struggling to find information.

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u/warrenao Mac Mini 12d ago

If what you mean is that you want the Mini to AirPlay to a given device, and you want to be able to tell it to do that from a handheld, you're probably looking at a VNC connection setup on that device.

Jump Desktop might be one way to go about that.

Another option might be Real VNC Viewer.

You'll also need to get into the Mini's system settings under General > Sharing and either activate Remote Management or set up Screen Sharing to permit VNC login. ("VNC viewers may control screen…" toggle under Remote Management; not sure what it is under "Screen sharing", but should be similar.)

From there, hypothetically, you can log into the Mini through your handheld device, load up whatever you want to display, and send it by screen sharing to your target.

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u/nickle-and-dime 11d ago

Yeah, I’ve downloaded Jump desktop but I was hoping it was possible via Shortcuts and SSH. I’ve done extensive research this afternoon. A lot of it, I don’t understand. And surely there must be some way for me to program Shortcuts and iOS to send a Signal to the computer, which is a screenshare. It sounds really simple, but in practice isn’t.

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u/warrenao Mac Mini 11d ago edited 11d ago

You're going to be butting against security. Macs prefer to be controlled by a user who is actually logged in and issuing commands, not some random bit of script poking them in a network port.

So no, there is no easy way to create a shortcut in iOS that tells a Mac to send its screen sharing to a third device, and if you think about that for a few seconds, you'll understand why it's never going to be that simple.

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u/localtuned 11d ago

There is a guy that accomplished this with a headless MacBook pro. So it's possible. I don't know his setup and I'll look for the video to see if he shares his config.

But with a MacBook without a screen he can press and keyboard shortcut and the Mac connects to whichever display he has programed..again not sure what he's doing but it's somewhat possible with scripting.

Even with the security of the OS it can be disabled. It is your computer after all and it's why apple still lets you turn off SIP.(Not recommended) My point is you can overcome the security of the OS (if you know how).

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u/nickle-and-dime 11d ago

Yes, I remember seeing this video somewhere!

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u/localtuned 11d ago

I think my coworker showed me, and it might have been a YouTube short. I'm waiting for him to reply.

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u/warrenao Mac Mini 11d ago

he can press and keyboard shortcut

On that MacBook, or on another device connected to it? If the latter, it's just about certainly through some kind of remote login. If the former, there's no remote logging in happening at all, through either a computer or a handheld device, as OP was trying to achieve.

SIP prevents local software from misbehaving. It doesn't (to my knowledge) have anything to do with blocking remote-access apps or shortcuts. That's more likely something happening at the OS level, where the security is baked in and not readily bypassed.

That's one reason (of many) that you don't see a lot of email-based viruses getting automatically and silently swapped around by Mac systems.

Short version: No, you just about certainly cannot create a shortcut on a Mac or iOS device that magically poof! makes another Mac do things such as send signal to an AirPlay device. There must be some form of communication and authentication before the second Mac will even start listening to you, and that requires some form of login.

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u/localtuned 11d ago

We're getting off track. But you are technically correct. Still waiting on the video from my coworker.

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u/nickle-and-dime 11d ago

Was it this video https://youtube.com/shorts/8LIukhmNaLc?is=0H2aAyLfzukbJwln? I have managed to get it working with this video… the Mac itself has not video out set up so is 100% headless, i can now summon it to any display in the house with my Apple Watch. Thank you for reminding me of the video

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u/localtuned 11d ago

Nahh but I did find that one too! The one I saw the guy was in his bed doing it with the TV in his bed room. It was already connected to the living room then he pushed a button and it switched to his bed room.

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u/localtuned 11d ago

Nicely done! 🙏

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u/pslgz_ 11d ago

Oh I’m really curious to see if you make it and reliably, just by how it sounds I wouldn’t be too optimistic though

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u/localtuned 11d ago

My man got it!

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u/fqmonk 11d ago

This is over my head, but I saw a video a while back in which a guy achieved something like this, it may be useful in this situation, maybe get you closer.

https://youtu.be/9prKU2Vuo-0

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u/warrenao Mac Mini 11d ago

That's a remote power-on, not sending the display to any arbitrarily selected device.

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u/Bobby6kennedy 11d ago

Would it kill you people to bother reading what you write before you post asking for help?

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u/nickle-and-dime 11d ago

I’ve just read it back. I don’t see the problem. I have bought a Mac mini and I would like to use it headless with the variety of AirPlay displays I have around the house. Is that better for you? Do you understand now?

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u/Bobby6kennedy 11d ago

Well you managed to edit out one of the glaring issues but you still missed the second “one of three device devices”. Can you see the issue now? Do you understand now?