Missing desktop on remote Lion machine [ Edited ]

[scotty321]

Hi there,

I am trying to remotely control a Mac running Lion Server (Mac OS X Server 10.7.2). That remote Mac is running the latest version of LogMeIn, version 4.0.0.1940. It has no monitor attached to it... it is a headless Mac.

I can successfully connect to that machine remotely, BUT I can't see anything that's on the desktop. All the desktop icons (hard drives, servers, folders, etc.) are missing, and if I try to bring up any Finder windows, I don't see any Finder windows at all.

All other applications act normally on the remote machine... it's just the Finder and the Desktop that are acting invisible.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks,
Scott

[osborner]

I had the same problem a while ago - then I did get rid of it - sorry can't remember how I did it! - poss a restart was involved - tonight I've got the problem back - so you're not alone! Hope someone else has cracked it...

[tnrandy]

I just experienced the same problem.

[scotty321]

This is definitely a bug in LogMeIn. However, through trial & error, I've found a workaround that seems to work for now.

When you can't see your desktop on the remote machine, try force-relaunching the Finder. You can do this by holding down the option key while you click on the Finder icon in the Dock, and choose "Relaunch".

Another way to relaunch the Finder is to use the Terminal. Keep the Terminal in your Dock, then type in this Terminal command to restart the Finder:

sudo killall Finder

After that, if Finder doesn't come back, you may need to manually start the Finder:

open /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

If you are forced to reboot your machine (because the above doesn't work), you can type in the following to reboot your machine:

sudo reboot 

[moof]

you are remoting in as the logged-in user on the mac?

I found from about Lion onwards that if USER A is the desktop on the machine and you login as USER B, then you see USER B's desktops (by default all the desktop icons are hidden in prefs of the Mac  Finder/Prefs/General tick the boxes

I have a number of Lion remotes that I dont expereience issue with, if you wanna supply more details I maybe able to simulate

[scotty321]

The problem only occurs when the remote machine is a headless Mac running Lion Server... meaning that there is no monitor attached.

[moof]

Scott re reading your initial post, you can logon, see a desktop, can open finder windows?

(how are you doing this without seeing anything on screen?) 

can you see the dock?

I have experienced BLACK screen headless logins (which I know how to cure)

but never a blank desktop (menu bar and dock visible)

regards

[scotty321]

It sounds like your situation is slightly different than mine. I can see the dock and the menu bar at the top of the screen, but I cannot see any Finder windows at all. Force-quitting the Finder from the Dock fixes the problem for me.

If we're both doing headless logins, I wonder why you are having a different experience than me?

In any case, it seems like LogMeIn simply can't handle headless logins on the Mac like it should be able to.

[moof]

hmmm ok Scott not seen your experience on any of the remotes I manage.

In its defence I dont get the black screen problem with ALL headless.

Its just something I have come across.  My experience doesnt just effect LogMeIn, it effects local Screen Sharing, GoToAssist....pretty much anything that has to redraw the screen remotley.

Having logged onto the effected black screen Mac via SSH and performed a  

ps auxwww|grep loginwindow 

and then 

sudo kill -9 <root process>

the login window will then immediatley appear!

I briefly test drove GoToAssist with the intention of swapping my remote tool (for its ad hoc support distribution Vs. LMI) but it had more glitches than I could put up with and the headless thing could NOT be solved on ANY of the Mac Minis I was connecting to.

I'll keep a look out for your glitch and see if I can replicate it.