Sharing a keyboard between PC and MacBook using win2vnc

I'm writing this blog post on my MacBook, but I'm typing on a keyboard attached to my Wintel PC. How did I do this? Simple. The open-source (but donations accepted) program Win2VNC.

Win2VNC works like this

On the Mac side:

1. Go to System Preferences. You will set up the Mac's built-in VNC server.

2. In System Preferences, you want to go to Sharing. Open it up.

3. Click on Remote Management to activate it. But you're not done yet!

4. Click once on Remote Management. You will now see a panel that says that Remote Management is ON. You will see the IP address at which other computers can access it. Write this down! And finally Computer Settings.

5. A dialog sheet will slide down with several settings. You want the one that says "VNC Viewers may control screen with password"

6. Click on the button to the left of that phrase to activate password control.

7. Now enter a password and click on "OK". You're good to go on the Mac end.

On the PC side:

1. Go to http://win2vnc.sourceforge.net to download the installer for win2vnc. It's less than a megabyte in size.

2. Go to where you downloaded it and launch the program.

3. Installation will be done in a moment.

4. Go to your Windows Start menu and start up win2vnc.

5. It will ask you for the IP address of the Mac, which is the server.

6. It will then ask you for the password.

7. You can now move your mouse from screen to screen.

8. Where you have the mouse pointer is the active screen. You can type using the Windows keyboard on your Mac!

Tom Briant typing on a shared keyboard