FileVault and screen sharing

[Sheridan]

Personal Mac question here - my Mac mini is running my Plex server so its headless and tucked away next to the router (as it has to be hardwired to the router because free Plex can't handle MLO wifi - devices that switch frequency confuse it and it assumes your on a different network!)

 

Since the introduction of FileVault I've noticed screen sharing doesn't work after a reboot - I gather this is because the Mac starts in a kind of pre-boot state so when you enter your password it actually unlocks and finishes the boot. This is a nuisance for me as its in an awkward spot to have to lug a monitor/keyboard etc to connect, so is there a more elegant way to do this, or is switching off FileVault just the most effective approach?

[Arthur]

Depending on which Mac mini and macOS version you have, you could try one of the following methods...

 

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/you-can-finally-manage-macs-filevault-remotely-tahoe/

 

https://klass.wiki/reference/macintosh/reboot-your-mac-skip-filevault-2-login.html

[Sheridan]

Cheers - will have a poke around with those and see if thats easier than just switching off filevault

[Sheridan]

Remote Management and ssh after boots works and so does disabling filevault! As my main data is on external NAS anyway I might just leave filevault off