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How to Solve Unattended Access Issues for macOS Mojave (10.14), Catalina (10.15), and Big Sur (11.0)

MacOS versions starting from Mojave (10.14) and Catalina (10.15) have added security features that require additional permission(s) for using the full feature set of . This poses a challenge to using Unattended Access on affected devices. If Unattended Access is not set up during an attended support session (but mass deployed, pre-deployed, etc.), there is no customer (end-user) present at the computer at the time of setup to provide the required privacy permissions, therefore, the following happens. Although the computer is listed on the Devices list in the Agent Console and the Unattended Access icon shows up in the Application menu of the computer, connection to this computer fails.

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Workaround

For Unattended Access to work, the customer needs to be present at the computer to provide the required Accessibility and/or Screen Recording permission(s). To achieve this, choose either of the following solutions:
  • Start an attended support session (this always requires the customer’s presence and active participation).
  • Start an unattended support session, but make sure the customer is present at the computer for the duration of this first unattended session.
Note: If the customer is using GoToAssist Remote Support v4 on a macOS device, then they need to stay logged in to GoToAssist for the time of the session.

When the macOS permission request flow starts on the customer's device, ask the customer to grant the needed privacy permission(s) as described in the related article: Once the privacy settings are granted, as required by Apple, all future Unattended Access connections are expected to be successful without customer presence.
Article last updated: 27 September, 2022