Written by I’ve had problems connecting to my Ubuntu 9.10 server via Mac OS’ built-in VNC client, “Screen Sharing”. Frequently when I connect, I get a white screen with no indication that the connection is working. If I type characters or click the mouse, it does actually send those events to the remote side. My only option was to use Chicken of the VNC (which sucks) to connect to my server. Finally, I did some digging and found the solution/workaround.
- Open a new Finder window.
- Click “Go” and then “Go to Folder” (or hit Command-Shift-G).
- Type in “/System/Library/CoreServices” and hit enter.
- Find the “Screen Sharing” application, click once to highlight.
- Click “File” and then “Get Info” (or hit Command-I).
- Find the checkbox labeled “Open in 32-bit mode” and check it.
- Close the Info window and Finder folder window.
That’s it! Apparently there is a bug in the application only when running in 64-bit mode. I don’t really care why it fixes it, I’m just glad its fixed and I thought I’d share.
Thanks to the anonymous user on Mac OS X Hints!
Worked great thanks!
Thank you! It would be good to know why did it stopped working in the first place as it worked fine before.
Hint:
This might have something to do with Darwin Ports, until I installed them it worked fine. I could be wrong on this.
Thanks for this info, the solution worked for me.
I had no problem connecting to Ubuntu 32-bit. But a Ubuntu 64-bit no luck, this solved it!
You sir are a GOD!!!! Thanks! This problem has plagued me for a year, the only thing i could do was log in 20 times till it finally worked. This worked first time out – thank you so much!
Textbook. Thanks for posting this.
AWESOME! This was driving me crazy. Many thanks.
Thanks! Worked like magic
This saved me. Thank you.
Sweet – this had been annoying me for quite some time. Occasionally quitting and reconnecting would fix it but this has fixed it for good.
Thanksssss. Vnc is full of bug
saved my day, man. thanks!
Thank you very much it worked perfect
Works. Thanks!
Thanks a lot!
Worked great! Thanks.
Thanks Worked like a charm with my hackinstosh 10.6.7.
Thank you very much! This post has helped me a lot.
This white-screen problem was baffling me for weeks until I finally took the time to Google it and your blog came up, thanks!
Talk about dropping the ball on Apple’s part, a persistent reproducible bug in Apple’s interoperability software that’s persisted for more than a year? WTF?
Thank you!
THANK YOU! Worked like a charm for me. I was pulling my hair out on this one, until I found this post. Again, thank you!
Dude, I just spent most of the day troubleshooting my LINUX box! It never occurred to me that this was a MAC issue.
Works perfectly now.
Thanks for the tip!
You the man Aaron! It fixed my problem.
i have the same problem ( but actually i have it with any VNC viewer, and the screen is black,) and i did what you said and didn’t work =/ …
You are a hero.. This problem has been nagging at me for the last few days..
Thanks again for sharing..
Rgds,
Erick from Holland
Wow, thanks for this, worked perfectly.
Uh-huh, that did the trick. Amazing!