Hello all
I have installed Roon Server on a Mac mini. It doesn’t open when I click it. I have run the terminal sentence advised here : https://kb.roonlabs.com/Installing_Roon
With no success.
Any advice will be welcomed.
Thanks!
Albert
Is it Roon or Roon server?
Hello
Roon Server on Mac OS Mojave 10.14.6
It doesn’t even start
It isn’t clear but if you are expecting a display, there won’t be one. If you do know that then I have got it wrong.
Yes, I was expecting Roon interface
Did I understand something wrong?
Should I install Roon?
The setup that I want to put in place is my Mac mini as core and other devices as bridge
Roon Server runs in the background and the only access is by remote. Full Roon is what you need.
BTW - You don’t need both.
It’s either the full Roon, which contains RoonServer, or just RoonServer.
Thanks , I go in the advised direction right away and revert to you
Actually Slim, I kind of disagree. Imho, you should install RoonServer, and then if you want a GUI on the server pc, install Roon as a CLIENT to the RoonServer on the same box.
That way you get the benefits of using server and having a GUI if you want/need it on the same box.
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Hi
I want to use the Mac mini both as server and as client. Should I install both then?
Hi Albert,
Yes, I would have both installed. I run my Mac Mini with Roon Server. The machine is always on and Roon Server is always running with the screen off.
I normally connect with my iPad or other device. If I want to run Roon on the Mini, I launch Roon, which is installed as a remote.
Since you installed Roon Server, just launch it and you will see the Roon logo in the Menu bar at the top right of the screen. Now install Roon and connect to Roon Server (you don’t want this Roon install to be your Core, you want to be a remote).
Hope that helps.
Cheers, Greg
Never understood the need for this, seems like over-engineering, but OK.
The problem is that most of the people who install both do so out of confusion and not with a particular use case in mind.
RoonServer has output capability, i.e can be a client. The only thing missing is an interface.
Sorry to butt in…but why are you guys recommending having both installed on a Mini? What are the advantages of this set-up. And can I do this even if currently have Roon only.
Hello
My guess has been that you could have server running on the Mac mini without the client actually being executed there. Your system would be available to the rest of your Roon devices saving resources on your Mac mini. This is my only guess. Probably some more experienced community member could give a better explanation.
Best regards
I have Roon Server on a headless Mac Mini (although I no longer use it, usually, for my Roon Core). To turn it on/off I use screen-sharing from a MacBook Pro. Within the screen sharing window, the Roon Server application appears in the Dock; once it’s turned on it also appears in the Menu bar.
Roon is installed on my MacBook Pro and on my iPhone (my “controllers”). A Roon client can be brought up on either device. One also could configure the Mini as a Roon endpoint, with a direct USB connection from the Mini to an amp/receiver. If my memory serves, to set this up, you could either run a Roon client on the Mini itself (with a display connected or using Screen Sharing) or on a separate controller (in my case, the MBP or iPhone). You’d go into Roon Settings/Audio and “enable” the Mini as an endpoint. In AudioMidi (or Sound preferences) on the Mini, select the USB receiver/amp as the audio output device. Then you should be good to go, with Roon outputting music from the Mini to your amp/receiver and control either from the Mini directly (using a client installed on it) or from a separate controller.
There are advantages to physically separating the Core, endpoint(s) and controller(s). However, Roon is flexible enough that, at least to get started, you can make one computer serve double or triple duty.
Thank you very much for your detailed and useful explanations.
Best regards
I simply installed full version of roon on my mini and set it as the core. Both core and interface function perfectly
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Can’t speak for @Rugby or @Greg, but my impression is that people do this so that they can control Roon from the machine the Core is on and then, if they want to limit who can control Core at some later time, can then bring down Roon but leave RoonServer running.
Apart from that, people who unknowingly install both are usually noobs who don’t understand Roon topology. A few times, I have read posts on this forum from people who have gotten into trouble simply because they have both running on the same machine.
There are bigger things to worry about. 
FWIW
This is due to having Roon Installed as a server and then having RoonServer installed; so that 2 server instances are running.
That is why the correct sequence if you want to run both, is RoonServer THEN Roon installed as client only.
Once Roon has been installed with the server portion it will always be there and running, even if you then use the GUI to connect to a different machine.
This also goes for if you had Roon setup on a machine and then built a ROCK NUC. You should remove Roon from the old PC and re-install Roon as a Client only to get rid of the server portion. Otherwise every time you load Roon on that PC, it will also be starting up a server on that PC as well.
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I was running the full Roon until I saw this post. So, I went ahead and installed RoonServer. How do I get RoonServer to pick up my existing Roon configuration? Seems like it wants me to setup from scratch.
EDIT: do I just take a backup from Roon and restore it in RoonServer?
EDIT2: You’ll probably frown upon this, but I got it work by: shutting down both Roon and RoonServer, deleting ~/Library/RoonServer and renaming ~/Library/Roon to ~/Library/RoonServer 