I have a Mac mini M4 Pro running Sequoia 15.6.1 and an old iPad (9th generation) running iPadOS 26.0.1. When traveling, I would like to use the iPad via Sidecar as the only display. The Mac would have an HDMI dummy plug or a software virtual display as the “main” display, which would be mirrored to the iPad.
I can set this up using a separate monitor, then disconnect it and Sidecar continues to work fine. Unfortunately, after shut down and restart, the iPad won’t automatically reconnect, even though the advanced settings “Push through the edge of a display to connect a nearby Mac or iPad” and “Automatically reconnect to any nearby Mac or iPad” are both on (and still show on after restart).
Now, to reconnect I must go to System Settings → Displays, click the blue down-arrow and select “Mirror or extend to (my iPad)”. How do I do this without seeing the screen? Try as I might, I can’t find a keyboard sequence or shortcut for that down-arrow. VoiceOver works, but is quite tedious and error prone.
How can I set up a script to enable the Mirror function?
Thanks.