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Networking between PC and Mac - Help needed!

G

Gigantism

Gawd
Joined
Mar 3, 2008
Messages
585
I need help with an iMac I just got.
I’m at work so I can’t verify for sure, but I think I have OSX (10.5.8).

So here’s the story:
My sister owns a Mac (2008) and just moved out to another city.
She bought herself a Mac Book, and gave me her iMac.

I took it home, and plugged it to my network which already has 3 PCs connected to it.

I looked around the interweb for networking solutions between Mac and PC.

This is what is happening to me:

My Mac shows that “windows file sharing” is enabled.
The SMB sharing thing on my Mac is on.
I can see the Mac shared folders from my PCs.

I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME SEE MY PC SHARED FOLDERS FROM MY MAC!!!

I need help please!!

Thanks!
 
In a Finder window, hit Command+K then enter smb:// followed by the IP address of the machine you're trying to access.

My Mac can't see my PC without manually specifying the address and vice versa. Windows and OS X just don't (usually) play nicely together and neither appear to work 100% correctly with respect to cross-platform file sharing in different ways.
 
Thanks...

However, I know that my sister had it working at some point in time, but she doesn't remember how to do it, and I can't seem to figure it out.

I'll try to access it manually for the time being, but a real resolution would be appreciated (if there is one hehehe).
 
If it is a windows XP machine just turn off the windows firewall. If it is a windows 7 or Vista machine you are not going to see it show up in the network sidebar. There are issues with the way OS X handles communicating with new versions of windows, there are also issues with the way that macs work with DNS suffixes that end in *.local which is what most home routers append their local domains with.The best way around it is to run your own DNS server at home and set your domain to *.lan or *.home
 
I run a mixed os x and xp network at home with few issues (the one windows box likes to drop off now and again though).

I use:

- the same network name
- static ip address

I've not had to manually point to the xp machines through finder using the SMB setting.

I'll try and remember to take a look at home for any specific settings and post later today.
 
C7J0yc3 said:
If it is a windows XP machine just turn off the windows firewall. If it is a windows 7 or Vista machine you are not going to see it show up in the network sidebar. There are issues with the way OS X handles communicating with new versions of windows, there are also issues with the way that macs work with DNS suffixes that end in *.local which is what most home routers append their local domains with.The best way around it is to run your own DNS server at home and set your domain to *.lan or *.home
Click to expand...

I am running Win 7 only.

I wish I knew what you are talking about in the bolded part :p
 
You would need a device setup as a DNS server. This can be a router running DD-WRT and DNSMASQ, or a Windows / Linux / Mac server with the DNS server role installed. Once you have a DNS server role installed on a device in the local domain setup it will ask you what the domain name is and you would type in something like "home.lan." Once the setup has finished you would go to your DHCP server (usually your router) and tell it where the new DNS server is and what the new domain name is (for arguments sake, the new DNS server would be 10.1.1.2 and the domain name would be home.lan). After DHCP has been updated you would restart all your clients and make sure they have the new DNS suffix as part of their name (so your netbios name would change from pc.old.local to pc.home.lan). Once the windows and the mac machines have all gotten updated on the new domain structure you should be able to see the windows PCs again.
 
I have no idea if this would work or not, but would installing Bonjour on the Windows machine help with seeing it on the Mac?
 
Uhm . . . have we missed the obvious here perhaps? Is the workgroup name the same between the two machines?
 
Wrathh said:
Uhm . . . have we missed the obvious here perhaps? Is the workgroup name the same between the two machines?
Click to expand...

That actually doesn't matter that much as OS X is smart enough to see windows workgroups and Microsoft Domains. Adding your mac to the workgroup will help, but isn't a requirement.
 
phide said:
In a Finder window, hit Command+K then enter smb:// followed by the IP address of the machine you're trying to access.

My Mac can't see my PC without manually specifying the address and vice versa. Windows and OS X just don't (usually) play nicely together and neither appear to work 100% correctly with respect to cross-platform file sharing in different ways.
Click to expand...

Easy-peasy. Once you have the file server connected in the finder, create an alias on the desktop... the alias will allow you to click back into the connection. You may also need to ensure that FINDER is configured to display network shortcuts on the desktop.. do this by opening a FINDER window and then going to the top menu bar and select finder PREFERENCES.. that will get you to an option to display connected servers on the desktop.
 
1000 said:
Easy-peasy. Once you have the file server connected in the finder, create an alias on the desktop... the alias will allow you to click back into the connection. You may also need to ensure that FINDER is configured to display network shortcuts on the desktop.. do this by opening a FINDER window and then going to the top menu bar and select finder PREFERENCES.. that will get you to an option to display connected servers on the desktop.
Click to expand...

It doesn't let me create an "alias" (I'm guessing it is the Mac term for shortcut) as it is greyed out (unclickable).

I did do the bolded part though, and an icon on the desktop for the network computer appeared until I restarted the machine.

I'd like to be able to create the alias to have that icon on my desktop permanently.
 
That's very strange that it's grayed out. I just tried it on my MBP, and it made the alias just fine. Then again I'm running 10.6.4, but I'd be really surprised if this functionality is that different between Leopard and Snow Leopard...
:confused:
 
Is that panel by chance locked? Check to see if there is a locked padlock in the lower right or left corner.
 
You should definitely be able to create an Alias on your desktop, I have no idea why this option would be greyed out. Try creating the Alias in a finder window first and then dragging it over to the desktop once it's created.

And yes, an Alias works similarly to a Windows shortcut for most intents and purposes.

1000
 
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