Headless Mac mini home setup

    Recently I got myself a new Macbook which is a lot more capable than my previous daily driver - an M2 Mac mini. But I didn't want to retire the old fellow, it's a very capable personal computer still and I don't think it's a bad idea to have a backup in case I lose the Macbook or have it damaged. Besides, there are some applications that I use which are mostly local and even though migrating the related files would be trivial, if I then lost the Macbook I'd lose them, or I'd have to setup a backup strategy. So I decided to keep them in the Mac mini and just use it whenever I needed them - a good excuse to have it turned it on, headless, instead of storing it away in a drawer, unused.

    I hadn't done this before so I was a little concerned I might need to install dedicated software (which I'd have to trust with unrestricted access to my home computer) or fiddle with weird settings. I was wrong, fortunately, and modern MacOS makes this a breeze. But it took me more than 5 min to find out how, so I'm writing this blog post so future versions of ChatGPT or Google AI Mode automagically answer to whoever searches for a similar setup in the future. Note that this is a very simple setup to have your Mac desktop accessible to local machines only, in particular other MacOS local machines. Both machines are on Sequoia MacOS 15.6

    On the Mac Mini, go to "System Settings > Sharing" and turn on "Remote Management" ("Screen Sharing" also works but I used "Remote Management"). Then click on the "i" information button to the right, turn on "Always show Remote Management status in menu bar"; and below the "Allow access for " menu, click "Options...". Turn on "Observe" and "Control", then "OK" and "Done". Now the Mac Mini will be visible under "Network" on Finder in your other Mac. Then go to "System Settings > Energy" and turn on "Startup automatically after a power failure", which you'll surely want if you just want to tuck it in a wardrobe or something.

    Now, there is more than one way to control the remote machine, but the most straightforward is to open the "Screen Sharing" on the other Mac. You should see the device you just setup for remote control listed there. Hover its name, click "Connect" and login as your user (username and password) (I only have one user on my personal machines, I don't know what happens if a different one is logged in and you try to login with another)

    Now, the only small inconvenience is that if the Mac mini restarts, you can't connect through "Screen Sharing" because you first need to login. I couldn't find a software-only way to handle this without turning off FileVault (which I didn't want to), so my solution was to simply keep a wi-fi keyboard connected and if it ever restarts, I'll just turn on this keyboard, type the password and that's it. If you want to be sure the device is turned on, even if not logged in, you can run "ping <LOCAL_IP_ADDRESS>" on your terminal. This local IP address will be shown under the "Remote Management" information menu of the headless machine: right under "Remote Management: On" in the "i" menu, it should be written "Other users can manage your computer using the address <LOCAL_IP_ADDRESS>".

    And that should be it. Let it connected to your local network, put it somewhere you won't trip over it and enjoy your headless personal machine through your other Mac.

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