Possible to share an iMac screen with a Mac Mini?
I bought a Mac Mini for my mother-in-law. All I have is an iMac. I want to set up her accounts and move some of my pictures/music/contacts over before I give it to her this Sunday.
Is it feasible to use the screen from the iMac as the monitor for the Mac Mini? Apple Support says "no", but I still have some doubts that it is not feasible.
Is it feasible to use the screen from the iMac as the monitor for the Mac Mini? Apple Support says "no", but I still have some doubts that it is not feasible.
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All I have is an iMac. I want to set up her accounts and move some of my pictures/music/contacts over before I give it to her this Sunday.
For what you want to do, you should be able to start up the mini with a keyboard connected to it and hold t on the keyboard. This will put it in firewire target mode. Then get a firewire cable and hook it from the Mini to the iMac. Then reboot the iMac holding alt and choose the mini drive. You should be able to setup accounts and your iMac drive will mount so you can transfer files.
For what you want to do, you should be able to start up the mini with a keyboard connected to it and hold t on the keyboard. This will put it in firewire target mode. Then get a firewire cable and hook it from the Mini to the iMac. Then reboot the iMac holding alt and choose the mini drive. You should be able to setup accounts and your iMac drive will mount so you can transfer files.
But the firewire won't allow me to share the screen from the iMac, correct? I wanted to do this to resize the dock, set up the desktop, etc.
But the firewire won't allow me to share the screen from the iMac, correct? I wanted to do this to resize the dock, set up the desktop, etc.
Unfortunately, you are right, Firewire Target mode won't do that. There is no video input for the iMac so you can't hook it directly. Are you trying to avoid buying/borrowing a screen? I don't know of any easy way to set up a new machine without one. Once the basics are set up, there are a couple of tricks. The easiest is to turn on Screen Sharing in your System Preferences, Sharing. If you are going to be doing long distance support for your mother in law then look at Log Me In.
Unfortunately, you are right, Firewire Target mode won't do that. There is no video input for the iMac so you can't hook it directly. Are you trying to avoid buying/borrowing a screen? I don't know of any easy way to set up a new machine without one. Once the basics are set up, there are a couple of tricks. The easiest is to turn on Screen Sharing in your System Preferences, Sharing. If you are going to be doing long distance support for your mother in law then look at Log Me In.
Yeah, I was trying to avoid borrowing a screen since I have one. But since you point out that there is no video input for the iMac, it sounds like I need to borrow a monitor from work so I can set it up.
Thanks for replying to the post!
But the firewire won't allow me to share the screen from the iMac, correct? I wanted to do this to resize the dock, set up the desktop, etc.
You will be booting from it so it's just like booting a system from an external hard drive. You can then set whatever preferences you like as the mini's operating system is running on your iMac.
As long as the mini and iMac are the same architecture, it should work. You wouldn't be able to boot an Intel iMac from a G4 mini drive for example.