OS X El Capitan: Ways to share your Mac with others on your network

Ways to share your Mac with others on your network

You can set up your Mac to share files, folders, and other services with users on your network. You can also share your screen, or share a printer connected to your Mac.

Use the information on this page to help you choose which services to share, and whom to share with.

DVD or CD sharing

If you install the DVD or CD Sharing Setup software, users of other computers should be able to access your DVD or CD drive. This can be helpful if the other computer doesn’t have an optical drive, or if you want to provide access to your optical drive to other computers on your Ethernet or wireless network. For more information see Share your DVD drive.

Screen sharing

You can let others see what’s on your screen; open, move, and close files and windows; open apps; and even restart your Mac. For more information, see Share your screen.

File sharing

You can share files with other Mac computers:

Printer sharing

If you have a printer connected to your Mac, you can let others on your network use it. For more information, see Share your printer.

Remote login

If you allow remote login, you can use Secure Shell (SSH) to log in to your Mac from another location. For more information, see Allow a remote computer to access your Mac.

Remote management

If your Mac is remotely managed using Apple Remote Desktop, turn on remote management in Sharing preferences. For more information, see Allow access using Remote Desktop.

Remote Apple events

Set your Mac to respond to events sent from other computers on a network. For more information, see Allow remote Apple events.

Internet sharing

Share your Internet connection with other computers on your local network. For more information, see Share your Internet connection.

Bluetooth sharing

If your Mac is Bluetooth enabled or you have a Bluetooth USB adapter connected to your Mac, you can share files with other Bluetooth enabled computers and devices. For more information, see Share files using Bluetooth.

Last Modified: Apr 13, 2016
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