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jasonb-mbp Author

Level 1

11 points

Universal control cannot link keyboard and mouse

So this is puzzling. MBP 2019, Mac Mini 2018. OS 12.3.1 and OS 12.4 respectively.

I can AirDrop, but I cannot link a keyboard and mouse on either Mac. I can also extend the Mini display to the MBP. I cannot do the reverse. (Control Panel > Displays shows MBP 2019 w/ extend display option only, no "Link keyboard and Mouse" appears in "Add Display" drop down menu.)

The 2019 MBP is managed by SimpleMDM, so my suspicion is that some key functionality is blocked by this, and that's why this doesn't work. I don't have a second personal Mac to test this with, however. I've completed the various prerequisites, including same WiFi, Bluetooth enabled, same Apple ID with 2FA, both devices on and next to each other. I can Airdrop between systems and with an iPhone, so Bluetooth/WiFi are setup correctly.

As far as I can tell, this should "just work" like Airdrop does. I suspect an MDM profile setting is blocking something here. I also cannot extend my MBP 2019 display across the Mac Mini display, but maybe this isn't possible anyway. (Add display... does not appear at all on the MBP 2019.)

Thanks.

Mac mini, macOS 12.4

Posted on Jul 2, 2022 11:26 AM

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

67,594 points

Posted on Jul 2, 2022 1:59 PM

You cannot use Universal Control when one mac is in 12.3.1 and the other in 12.4.

Update the MBP to 12.4 and all will be fine.

When Apple released 124, it brought Universal Control out of beta status and as stated in the release notes it requires at least macOS 12.4 or iPadOS 15.5, and is not compatible with the previous betas. Thus what you experienced is normal.

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Universal control cannot link keyboard and mouse

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