Cannot see my other Mac in Finder window, under Locations

[Piddy12]

I have 2 iMacs, one ruins High Sierra, the other one runs Catalina.
About 2 months ago, suddenly, I could no longer see each Mac from the other Mac's finder window. This is on the left pane under Locations.
This facility allowed me to transfer files between the two Macs as I wanted. But I cannot do this anymore.
I have checked all the settings, restarted, shut down and rebooted, all more than once, all to no avail.
I have been using a flash drive to move files around.
Does anyone know what the problem is and how to fix this?

 

[satcomer]

Yes the newest Catalina has much more paranoid security much more than the chatty older versions!

The only way is connect them first with and mount the distant Macs drive! Then disconnect and the other Mac and your Mac will see it now!

 

[Piddy12]

Thanks. But what do you mean by "connect them first with"? With what please?

 

[YatBob]

I have 2 iMacs, one ruins High Sierra, the other one runs Catalina.
About 2 months ago, suddenly, I could no longer see each Mac from the other Mac's finder window. This is on the left pane under Locations.
This facility allowed me to transfer files between the two Macs as I wanted. But I cannot do this anymore.
I have checked all the settings, restarted, shut down and rebooted, all more than once, all to no avail.
I have been using a flash drive to move files around.
Does anyone know what the problem is and how to fix this?

Go to System Preference/Sharing and see if File Sharing is turned on, on all machines, if they are look in finder click on network an see if they are listed there

 

[StumpyBloke]

Yes the newest Catalina has much more paranoid security much more than the chatty older versions!

The only way is connect them first with and mount the distant Macs drive! Then disconnect and the other Mac and your Mac will see it now!

Errr, say what now?

 

[Piddy12]

Go to System Preference/Sharing and see if File Sharing is turned on, on all machines, if they are look in finder click on network an see if they are listed there

File sharing is on on both machines. Network is shown in the finder on the Catalina Mac but not on the HS Mac. On the Catalina Mac, if I click on the name of the other Mac, is starts to connect. Then I see "Connection failed" below the computer name. When I click on "Connect Us", it tries to connect and then a pop up message appears - "There was a problem connecting to the server (HS computer name) and an explanation below that.

 

[YatBob]

Hopefully someone else can chime in, I had the issue you were having when I got my new 16"MBpro, I could not find my iMac in the finder listing, (MBPro showed on iMac but iMac would not show on MBPro) but realized I could fine it in Network, after connecting a a few time thru Network, it suddenly appears in the finder listing.
Hope you get this resolved, for me it was ahead scratcher

 

[Piddy12]

I'm hoping someone can provide a solution asap, as working as I am is highly frustrating & time consuming.

 

[StumpyBloke]

I'm hoping someone can provide a solution asap, as working as I am is highly frustrating & time consuming.

Apple support?

 

[Piddy12]

I don't have an Apple support plan. I have tried the support forums but they seem to have become a tumbleweed ghost town.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Have you rang them? I don’t have support plans but I still ring technical support. That might depend on your country perhaps.

 

[YatBob]

In system preference/sharing/options is "Share files and folders using SMB" turned on.

 

[Piddy12]

YatBob: In system preference/sharing/options is "Share files and folders using SMB" turned on.

Yes
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I just remembered that I bought Applecare a couple years ago, so I called apple support.
They checked if file sharing was on on both Macs (it was) and then they told me to reboot both Macs.
Upon rebooting, I could then see each Mac from the other one, as before and I could login to each. Problem solved.
But I had rebooted both Macs before without any change, so I am mystified how it suddenly did solve the problem.

Thank you to all who offered their help.

 

[jeyf]

for mission critical work bypass some of the Finder; create a mount:
clicky anywhere on the deskTop and type command K
this directly pulls up the "Connect to Server" screen
4example type smb://myMBP
this establish a mount of your computer "myMBP" and put an icon on the desktop

i just feel better seeing the icon

un-mount:
control click on the icon pulls up a menu, select Eject myMBP

 

[YatBob]

Glad you got it worked out

 

[Piddy12]

Jeyf: I have no idea about what you wrote.
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Unfortunately, the "solution" lasted about 15 mins and then I saw the popups that the server connection was interrupted.
I changed the ethernet cable and this also resolved the problem, but again, only for a few minutes.
I called Applecare again and they had no answer, after trying several things. They advised the only outside chance is to switch off the router and then on after a minute or so. This did not change anything.

The adviser suggested that the most likely cause of the problem is the age of the High Sierra Mac, which is from 2011.

 

[jeyf]

a "mount" establishes network file sharing path between computers
in macOS "command K" pulls up a dialog box to do this
like http: the internet protocol for files is smb:

"lasted about 15 mins"...
sounds like you have a bad cable or the router connector is bad.

best of luck

 

[Piddy12]

I changed the ethernet cable and this also resulted in a temporary solving of the problem. The problem came back though after a few mins.
I tried the command K suggestion and I got a pop up message "There was a problem connecting to the server "....".
When you say router connector, what do you mean? The place where the ethernet cable connects into on the router?

 

[jeyf]

all this is a grey area 4me. If a real network adiministrator chimes in all good.
so dont shoot the messenger (me)!

odd that the situation works for a short period of time, than times out. Thats why i figured it might be a ethernet cable or the corresponding device or router commector.

... When you say router connector, what do you mean? The place where the ethernet cable connects into on the router?

yes

fyi:
-most home installs have one box given to them from their internet providor, lets call it an All In One box. All good; and it will do firewall, routing and wifi.
just making an attemp to give common terms here.
-a router will define a home network or LAN in an address range 192.168.X.1/Y through some range Y
i have my X start at 01 which is the most common
i have my Y=26 range accomidates up to 64 devices (small home network is me)
reference:

What is CIDR notation?

Classless inter-domain routing (CIDR, pronounced like “cider”) notation is a compact way to represent an IP address along with its associated...

community.spiceworks.com

i asssume
one of your computers has a ethernet cable
the other computer uses wifi
You need to have only one level of routing so all devices both hardwire & ethnernet can talk to eachother.
If the ethernet is 192.168.1.1/26 and the wifi does 192.168.2.1/26 something on the wifi will not find something on the hard wire ethernet. Verify your wifi is in "access point" / "mode pass through" mode. That is the LAN of the ethernet ports is the same as the LAN of the wifi.

Typically the All In One box has a built in setup page located 192.168.X.1
access this setup page with caution, use Safari. Lilely you will need to know the admin password.

 

[Piddy12]

jeyf: Both Macs are connected to the router via an ethernet cable and I don't use WiFi on my Macs.
I don't understand what you wrote after "If the ethernet is...". I am not technically minded and so I need step by step instructions if I am to understand and follow anything that could be regarded as "technical".

 

[jeyf]

jeyf: Both Macs are connected to the router via an ethernet cable and I don't use WiFi... /QUOTE]
i re read your initial post, tks for the reminder.
-goto the use the top left apple icon. pull up the Force Quit App and click on Finder and assert Relaunch. Takes less time than re booting both computers
-on both computers; goto Sys Preferences, Sharing. Verify you have any directory enabled for read write. Verify file sharing is ON and enabled for SMB. High Sierra is 2017 vintage and the selection of SMB/AFP may not be possible. I can not remember if High Sierra was one of those dorky macOS versions that had lots of internal bugs. Did apple have SMB support back then? SMB is the preference but AFP will legacy work, whatever is available on both computers, have that enabled. While the Sys Preferences Sharing screen is open verify the Computer Name top of this screen. Verify each computer has a unique name.
-click anywhere on the desk top of the first computer. Type command K and see the connect to server screen to setup a file mount. Type smb://name2 on the first computer and see if it can find the second. If it finds the 2nd computer you will be prompted to log in so you will need user id & pw for the 2nd computer. a file mount icon will appear on the first computer. the icon should be stable for the work session. I dont know if your computer goes to sleep say if the icon will remain. If smb://name2 dosnt work try afp://name2. By the way afp, smb, http or https are common internet protocols.
-once you have a file mount icon on the 1st computer you can double click on it and a Finder screen will populate. you can drag files to the directory(s) in computer 2 (those enabled for Sharing) from computer 1.
-do the same reverse mirror on the other computer
-files should transfer fast

 

[Piddy12]

Everything is OK upto when I enter command K on the 1st computer. It already had smb://name2 showing and also, the same server under favorite servers. But when I press the Connect button, it tries to connect and then I get a pop saying "there was a problem connecting to the server "name 2". So I was not promoted to enter a user id & pw for name 2 computer.