I'm wanting to be able to login in to the OS X GUI remotely, in the background, i.e. without interrupting anyone that is currently sitting in front of the machine.
Apple Remote Desktop or VNC don't cut it — they only permit management of the machine from the console session. I realize I can get a remote ssh login, but I need to be able to get a full, standard GUI login.
Is this possible?
Best Answer
Multiple simultaneous GUI sessions are possible using a third-party VNC server. This page describes the procedure for Vine Server (OSXvnc). Although it mentions Tiger, these steps work on Leopard as well. As for the clients, Leopard's built in "Screen Sharing" is based on VNC, but it cannot connect to third-party servers. You will need separate client software as well (e.g. Chicken of the VNC)
Using this method, new secondary sessions cannot be created in the background. You have to create them using the Finder's normal "fast user switching". This just allows you to access the GUI sessions that you've switched away from, without interfering with the foreground GUI session.