TeamViewer 15 installed on Mac -- can't connect after reboot

badeekea

If it's set up to auto-launch, I should be able to connect and log in to my Mac, correct?

Or does it not work that way?

I have it enabled in Login Items->Allow in the Background. But when I reboot, I can only connect once I've physically logged into the computer.

MoreCoffee

@badeekea Does your Mac use FileVault disk encryption?

When FileVault is turned on, the login screen that first appears when you restart your Mac is not the actual macOS login screen, but the FileVault unlock screen. At that point, macOS is not yet booted. There is no network connectivity. And no apps or services, such as TeamViewer, can run yet. So you will also not be able to connect remotely.

Once you enter macOS user account password, the disk will be unlocked, macOS will boot, and then TeamViewer will also be able to start.

Modern Macs (Apple Silicon or Intel Macs with a T2 chip) do provide some basic level of disk encryption, even with FileVault turned off. In that case, TeamViewer is able to run even at the login screen after a restart of the Mac. This guide on Apple's website might help you determine if that's a sufficient level of security for your use case: https://support.apple.com/guide/security/volume-encryption-with-filevault-sec4c6dc1b6e/web

If turning off FileVault is not an option, you will need to unlock FileVault first (by logging in to your macOS user account) when your Mac restarts. The good news is that it is still possible to restart your Mac remotely if necessary, without losing access, by using the fdesetup authrestart command in Terminal. Also, most macOS updates are able to restart your Mac without locking FileVault.