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Question :

Is it possible to set a mac running MacOS Big Sur as a RDP (remote desktop protocol) host / server ? To be clear im looking for a Mac to Mac RDP solution not a Mac to Windows RDP, or Mac to Mac VNC / ARD solution. Any suggestions ?

Background :

RDP behaves quite differently to VNC (Virtual network computing) / ARD (Apple Remote Desktop), mainly in that RDP sends the information to be rendered into a graphical interface to the client, where as a VNC / ARD client views the host / servers pre rendered graphical output.

In practice this means that RDP can render a remote session to suit the client devices screen, where as VNC / ARD serve a pre rendered version of the host / servers screen to the client.

With RDP if you have a 15" laptop screen and connect to a host computer with a 32" screen, RDP will render a 15" wide GUI to suit your screen.

With VNC / ARD if you 15" laptop screen and connect to a host computer with a 32" screen, VNC / ARD will provide you with a scaled 32" interface on a 15" screen. Eg. it just zooms out to fit everything in, but this means everything is tiny and not really usable.

sam
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1 Answers1

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You don't need a 'server' as such. macOS has no limitation on the number of concurrently-connected users, nor the number of accounts they connect to.

Login as a different user [ie connect to a virtual display] rather than share the screen with the current user. You can then set up your own display resolution.

This is remoting to a Mac set to 1280x720 whilst the user sitting at it is still seeing it at 2560x1440

enter image description here

If your initial view is too small to see, you can temporarily change View mode to "Show Full Size" which will give you scroll bars [&/or scroll as the cursor reaches the edge] to navigate.

Tetsujin
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  • There's also the protocol though - VNC can be a bit crap , so its possible OP wants to run RDP specifically to connect to an RDP client – Journeyman Geek Jan 04 '23 at 09:43
  • @JourneymanGeek - but there is no macOS RDP host. Other than this specific rescaling requirement, I can see no advantage to using RDP at all. ARP has far more admin-capable protocols than RDP [which is really only a screen-share, little more] – Tetsujin Jan 04 '23 at 09:47
  • Slightly better client flexibility one would guess. And OP's explicitly said why they don't want ARP(ARD?) and VNC – Journeyman Geek Jan 04 '23 at 10:06
  • @JourneymanGeek - well, the OP is asking for a software rec, which I've neatly skirted ;) Their requirement seems only to avoid the oversized display issue, there seems to be no other requirement except one leading from the false conclusion that ARD cannot resize the screen. I think we're probably best to wait for the OP to come back on this… – Tetsujin Jan 04 '23 at 10:17