Difficulty finding ways to access my headless M4 Mac mini.

I purchased a base model m4 mini to replace my home media server and with macOS Sequoia I can't get ANYTHING to access it. In the past I've used Screens 4 & 5 and neither work on the new mini it keeps telling me the local Mac credentials are wrong and I can confirm, they are not.

Apple local network screen sharing does the same thing. I've tested with multiple test accounts that I'm sure I know the password for.

HDMI out of the Mac mini to an HDMI capture card to an iPad didn't work with any of the apps including Orion, Dongled, Genki Studio, HDMI, Monicon, and Vidzik. All of them work with all other HDMI devices to my iPad Pro just fine.

Just tried Splashtop Desktop also does not work.

I am able to access it via Mac Virtual Display via Apple Vision Pro but that is it. Has anyone found out a way to get the device to be a bit more streamlined access without a plugged in display? The 2012 Mac mini this unit replaced worked great with Screens 4, 5, Splashtop, APD. I'm really just lost.

I've gone through the settings on the Mac a dozen times to make sure all sharing preferences are the same as all of my others Macs which I'm able to access without an issue. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

EDIT: I've also tried accessing the Mac mini via Mac virtual display and AVP and then selecting mirror to iPad Pro, or Apple TV, or my others Macs, and it times out and crashes the Mac and the AVP.