How to enable OS X screen sharing (VNC) through SSH?

Solution 1:

Source: http://technotes.twosmallcoins.com/?p=279 (archived)

Putty is a good SSH client for Windows.

1. SSH into your remote OS X machine with an administrator’s log in and password.

2. Enable Remote Desktop (a.k.a. Screen Sharing, a.k.a. VNC) with this command:

   sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart \
   -activate -configure -access -on \
   -clientopts -setvnclegacy -vnclegacy yes \
   -clientopts -setvncpw -vncpw mypasswd \
   -restart -agent -privs -all
   

3. Login using a VNC client. As I mentioned, TightVNC worked for me; for some reason, RealVNC and UltraVNC didn’t. Your password is “mypasswd” (see the -vncpw flag in the above command; you can and should change this).

4. When you are done, turn off screen-sharing using your SSH session:

   sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart \
   -deactivate -configure -access -off
   

Solution 2:

Here is a different way, that enables screen sharing access for all current users, instead of using a single VNC password:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart \
 -activate -configure -access -on \
 -configure -allowAccessFor -allUsers \
 -configure -restart -agent -privs -all

Disable it with this:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -deactivate -configure -access -off

This allows you to connect to the remote computer from a mac using the share screen button in Finder.

Reference: http://ss64.com/osx/kickstart.html