How to Do Screen Sharing Between Two or Multiple Macs?

I was using MacBook Pro models over a decade and recently bought an iMac desktop. Since iMac has 24-inch display, I use that as primary display and connect MacBook Pro whenever needed. The best option I found was to share the MacBook Pro screen on iMac and work with multiple screens in the same big desktop screen. Here, I will explain how simple it is to do screen sharing between Macs when you have them in the same network.

What You Can Do with Screen Sharing?

Though screen sharing between Macs is like remote desktop access (called VNC or Virtual Network Computing), it is not just viewing or controlling one Mac’s screen from another Mac. You can also drag files from the viewing Mac and save to your Mac. Other cool thing is that you can copy and paste items with common clipboard across Macs.

Enable Screen Sharing in Mac

It is sufficient to enable screen sharing option only in the source system and you do not need to enable on the receiving Mac.

• Click Apple logo menu and select “System Settings”.
• When you are in the settings app, go to “General > Sharing” section.
• Turn the switch on against “Screen Sharing” option and enable it.

• Click the information icon and you will see the instruction to use screen sharing along with the vnc_ip_address. You can also set which user role should access the system. For example, you can allow only administrators to view the screen.

• Similarly, click “Computer Settings” button and select if anyone can request permission for accessing the screen. There is also an option for VNC viewers to control the screen with password.

• If you are the owner (administrator) of both Macs, then you need not to worry about these access and permission related settings.

The above settings are from macOS Ventura. If you are using older macOS versions like Monterey, then go to “Apple logo > System Preferences… > Sharing” and enable screen sharing option.

Accessing the Shared Screen

There are three ways to access the shared screen. First option is to use the remote VNC address in Safari, second is to access from Finder and the last option is access from Screen Sharing app.

• From Safari – type the vnc://ip_address showing in the source Mac’s screen sharing settings in your Safari and press enter. This will prompt you to allow the access and open screen sharing session.

• From Finder – open Finder in your Mac and click on the “Network” folder from the sidebar. You will see the name of the shared Mac and click on “Share Screen” button to start the session.

• From Screen Sharing App – press “Command + Space” to open Spotlight Search. Type “screen sharing” and open the app. It will prompt you to enter the hostname or Apple ID. Type the vnc://ip_address as hostname or use the source Mac’s .local name which you can find from “Sharing” section. For example, if the source Mac’s name is MacBook Pro, then the hostname will be MacBook-Pro.local.

Controlling the Shared Session

When you access the shared screen, sometimes you will be prompted to enter the source Mac’s admin name and password. Enter the details and start the session.

You can adjust the screen size by using the zoom options and use either control mode to do actions or only use it as an observer to view. Any time, click on the screen sharing icon and select “Disconnect” to end the sharing session. You can do this either from receiver side or from the source system.

Screen Sharing Settings

Though you can’t find Screen Sharing app in “Finder > Applications”, you can still open it by searching with Spotlight Search. After opening, go to “Screen Sharing > Settings” menu.

From there you can adjust the display, quality and blocked users for managing your screen sharing sessions.

Other Sharing Options

You can see large number of sharing options between Macs under “Sharing” section. For example, it is possible to share internet connection by enabling “Internet Sharing” option. There are also additional options you can use like AirDrop and Continuity Clipboard for quick file transfer.

Final Words

Screen sharing is useful feature to connect two or more Macs and do data transfer seamlessly. For example, you can browse through the external hard drive connected to MacBook from your iMac without any additional converter. Similarly, you can share apps with single device license on multiple devices with screen sharing. The only problem is that you can fit 24-inch screen to 14-inch easily with screen sharing. However, the other way is not possible and you can’t maximize 14-inch display to use 24-inch (though it looks bigger than 14-inch).