Here we will see how to access Raspberry Pi’s GUI with headless connection using MacBook.

We will use VNC for full remote desktop.

Download VNC Viewer from this page and install it.

Login Raspberry Pi via SSH ssh pi@raspberrypi.local, enter password.

Lets configure our Raspberry Pi to allow VNC connection.

So at the command promt in Raspberry Pi, run command sudo raspi-config

Select 5 Interfacing Options

Raspberry Pi Interfacing Options

Select P3 VNC to Enable GUI remote access to your Pi using RealVNC

Raspberry Pi VNC

Select Yes and hit Enter when it asks Would you like the VNC Server to be enabled?

Raspberry Pi VNC

Now reboot the pi with command sudo reboot

Give a few minutes for the Raspberry Pi to fully reboot.

Now lets use VNC Viewer to remote desktop:

  • Open the VNC Viewer
  • Find the Raspberry Pi’s ip address, by running ping raspberrypi.local
  • Enter that ip address into the VNC Viewer’s search box
  • Click Connect to address
  • Enter username: pi, password: raspberry

It should login and we should see the Raspberry Pi’s desktop:

Raspberry Pi Desktop

Improve the resolution:

  • ssh into pi ssh pi@raspberrypi.local
  • on pi, run sudo nano /boot/config.txt
  • add below lines in the HDMI mode section
hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=85
  • reboot pi with sudo reboot
  • Open VNC viewer to remote desktop and the screen resolution should be much better