As some people may know I’ve always been a Windows user and never really had any interest in Mac’s or OSX. But I needed a new project so I decided to replace my aging Windows Home Server with a Hackintosh running OSX 10.9.3. Great stuff, so I’ve built the Hackintosh and installed OSX 10.9.3 and everything works perfectly, first time as well 
Now the problems start…
My old WHS ran headless and I remote desktoped into it from any of my other Windows machines and I could control it perfectly just as if I had a monitor and mouse/keyboard connected directly to the server. So no problem OSX has screen sharing… What they don’t tell you is it’s crap, and has 2 major problems.
1. If you boot the OSX machine without a monitor attached ie headless, you can no longer select the resolution when you vnc into the Mac leaving you stuck at a resolution of 800x600.
2. Vncing into a Mac to screen share is so slow… I mean painfully slow with major graphical glitches (I’ve tried about 6 different vnc clients)
This is kind of a downer as I was expecting screen sharing on OSX to be at least as good, if not better, than Microsofts remote desktop.
So do any of you Mac guru’s have any ideas about getting good screen sharing/remote desktop control of a headless Mac. Sorry that this is off topic but I really need help, this is my first Mac/OSX outing and to tell you the truth I’m a bit disappointed 
Pocket cloud. iOS app. Did you use multibeast to setup your build?
Umm… Thanks, but I want to access OSX from my Windows machines not an iOS device.
Ah, ya good luck w that. Teamviewer maybe but I can’t be sure haven’t tested it.
Lol… I’m shocked Microsoft have something that works better than the Apple equivalent. Reading around the internet it seems OSX screen sharing use to work fine but then went down hill after OSX Lion
Do you need to to work locally or remotely?
Only locally.
What I did at one time was airplay mirror to my aTV then use a apple branded Bluetooth adapter on my mac to boost my Bluetooth signal then just used my aTV to control my mac. As well as a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. You could probably get a hi gain USB rf keyboard remote combo to get the same effect control/range wise. All in 1080p.
Teamviewer is the way to go!!!
Can’t even mirror it to my aTV, just get a black screen Oh well looks like it’s back to good old WHS.
When using a hackintosh you need to keep your primary gpu as integrated intel hd graphics in bios. Otherwise mirroring in is a no go.
Teamviewer is the way to go!!!!
Umm... just tried it and it's looking promising, still not perfect but much better than Apple's screen sharing, thanks.
When using a hackintosh you need to keep your primary gpu as integrated intel hd graphics in bios. Otherwise mirroring in is a no go.
Yep Intel HD4000 is the only graphics card in the machine :)
I had the same issue you had with Screen Sharing on a Hackintosh. It wouldn't work at all for the most part, and when it did, it would be crap.
I had to use Teamviewer to get halfway decent results. And this was on an i7 loaded-to-the-gills machine.
I never did solve that issue. One Mac Mini later and turns out some hackintoshes aren't perfect representations of Apple OSes running on Apple hardware. Using Screens from my laptop to my Mac Mini definitely outperforms Teamviewer.
I know doesn't help your issue, but I thought I'd throw in some feedback.
For what it's worth, I ended upinstalling FreeNAS on that machine, and using it as a server running Plex, PlexConnect and all the other goodies in separate jails.
I have such a thing plugged in my headless macmini: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/fit-headless-4k/
The one I have is only 1080p, but works perfectly. So does the standard screensharing utility provided with Mac OS X.
Remotix is the only Windows VNC client that works with apple’s special VNC. It’s really fast… The others work, but are slow.
For what it's worth, I ended upinstalling FreeNAS on that machine, and using it as a server running Plex, PlexConnect and all the other goodies in separate jails.
This isn't a bad option either, especially if you simply want to run a headless home media server, though you may want to look at NAS4Free (a continuation of FreeNAS 7) instead of FreeNAS depending on your needs. A Hackintosh seems overkill for a headless media server, but to each his own. NAS4Free has headless terminal or web GUI access for all of your configuration needs. It is also compatible w/PLEX, though there can be a learning curve.
I have such a thing plugged in my headless macmini: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/fit-headless-4k/
The one I have is only 1080p, but works perfectly. So does the standard screensharing utility provided with Mac OS X.
Yep, I've got one on order after I figured out that screen sharing is even worse when no monitor is attached :) Thanks.
Remotix is the only Windows VNC client that works with apple's special VNC. It's really fast.. The others work, but are slow.
You my friend are a star... That works perfectly :) I can't believe what a difference that made, thank you.
A Hackintosh seems overkill for a headless media server, but to each his own. NAS4Free has headless terminal or web GUI access for all of your configuration needs. It is also compatible w/PLEX, though there can be a learning curve.
While it is a media server there are a couple of OSX apps I use on a regular basis like iFlicks, hence the reason for building a hackintosh. Up until now I've been running OSX in VMware under Windows in order to use iFlicks so this seemed like the perfect time to build a new server and a real OSX machine.
You my friend are a star... That works perfectly :) I can't believe what a difference that made, thank you.
Yes, I used to have a hackintosh vm just to use Mac VNC from windows until I discovered remotix. That company must have reverse engineered apple's funky VNC implementation, and it's lightning quick compared to all other mac Remote Desktop software.
