How to connect to a Mac mini
This page shows how to connect to your Mac mini via VNC and SSH.
You may need certain IAM permissions to carry out some actions described on this page. This means:
- you are the Owner of the Scaleway Organization in which the actions will be carried out, or
- you are an IAM user of the Organization, with a policy granting you the necessary permission sets
- You have an account and are logged into the Scaleway console
- You have created your SSH key and added it to your account
- You have created a Mac mini
How to connect via VNC
VNC is a remote desktop-sharing protocol. It allows you to visualize the graphical screen output of a remote computer and transfer local keyboard and mouse events to the remote computer using a network connection. The protocol is platform-independent which means that various clients exist for Linux, Windows, and macOS based computers. The VNC server used on the M1 is directly integrated in the macOS system without any restriction from our side.
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Click Apple silicon in the Bare Metal section of the side menu. A list of your Mac minis displays.
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Click the Mac mini you want to connect to. Your Mac mini Overview displays.
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Click the VNC button to launch a VNC session on your Mac mini.
Your VNC client opens, and you can log in to the graphical environment of macOS using the default user “m1” and your password.
Note:macOS may ask you for your password once logged into the VNC session. Change the keyboard layout of macOS to your computer’s local keyboard layout before entering the password. Click “U.S. keyboard” in the top right corner to display a list of all available keyboard layouts.
You are now logged in and can launch applications as if you were using your Mac mini locally.
How to connect with Remmina on Linux OS
If you are using Linux and experience problems using the VNC button to connect to your Mac mini, you can connect directly from a VNC client. In the example below, we use Remmina.
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Download and install Remmina, if necessary. Note that Remmina is included in most Linux distributions as standard, however.
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Open Remmina and click the square + icon in the top left of the screen to create a new quick connection.
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Enter the following parameters:
- Protocol: Remmina VNC Plugin
- Server: The Public IP address of your Mac mini, displayed on its Overview page in the Scaleway console.
- Username:
m1 - User password: The VNC password of your Mac mini, displayed on its Overview page in the Scaleway console.
- Color depth: High color (16 bpp) or better, otherwise the connection will fail.
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Click Save and connect to save these settings for the future, and launch a connection to your Mac mini.
You can now log in the graphical environment of macOS using the default user m1 and the VNC password.
macOS may ask you for your password once logged into the VNC session. Change the keyboard layout of macOS to your computer’s local keyboard layout before entering the password. Click on U.S. keyboard in the top right corner to display a list of all available keyboard layouts.
How to connect via SSH
You can also connect directly to the terminal of your Mac mini using the SSH protocol and your SSH key.
- Click Apple silicon in the Bare Metal section of the side menu. A list of your Mac minis displays.
- Click the Mac mini you want to connect to. Your Mac mini Overview displays. You can find your SSH connection information here, under SSH command.
Check out our documentation on how to connect to an Instance for more help with connecting via SSH.
The default user to connect to your Mac mini is m1. The SSH command to connect is ssh m1@<your_mac_mini_m1_ip>.
Mac mini, macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions. IOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco in the U.S. and other countries and is used by Apple under license. Scaleway is not affiliated with Apple Inc.