Conect to a windows PC

[Gwardys]

I'm looking for a way to connect my 15'' MBP with my Windows tower sitting on my desk.

Basically I have an ethernet cord strung between the two of them right now, but neither of them will see one another. I tried fuxing with the configuarion on both of the machines, but to no avail.

My Macbook Pro is wirelessly connected to the internet while the pee-cee desktop has no internet connection at all.

Could someone basically walk me through what I would have to do to let my mac see my tower? I'm not sure what to input for settings on my desktop, or my laptop.

Am I doing this wrong? Is there an easier way?

 

[ChrisA]

Basically I have an ethernet cord strung between the two of them right now, but neither of them will see one another.

You need to run an Ethernet cable from each computer to a "switch" or "hub", not directly between the two computers. You need one more cable and a hub or switch.


One other option...
Eithernet ports come in to "flavours" hub-ports and computer-ports. cables always connect different flavours of ports. UNLESS you have a "crossover cable" which can connect two of the same flavour ports. It's simple really. the cable uses two pair of wires one called "transmit" and the other "recieve" your setup does not work because each computer is transmiting in the same pair and attempting to recieve on the same pair. so you either neet a crossed over cable or a switch is act as a relay not rocket science once you know how it works

 

[CanadaRAM]

Nope, ChrisA, that's not the issue. The MBP has an autosensing Ethernet port and will use either a crossover or a straight cable. Your advice is good, but for Macs prior to 2001 or thereabouts.

To "see" another machine, the target machine has to have File Sharing of some description turned on. If there are firewalls installed, they also have to permit the traffic.

Please try a search in the forums, this has been covered before, or have a look in the Guides section
http://guides.macrumors.com/Networking_Windows_with_Mac_OS_X

www.macwindows.com is another resource.

 

[meaniebee]

shairing

when PC connected to MAC .
can i just select one folder to share instead of all folders on my mac???

 

[thewhitehart]

when PC connected to MAC .
can i just select one folder to share instead of all folders on my mac???

The mac will not share all of its folders. It will share an entire home folder.

1. As an admin user, Go to System Preferences -> Sharing
2. The first pane will have a set of checkboxes. Highlight 'Windows Sharing' and press the 'Start' button.
3. Choose an account to make available to Windows users. If you haven't created another account besides your own on the mac, you can do that first. Remember, if you choose to make your account available to Windows users, they will have access to your whole Home folder.
4. Once you do this, a message will appear at the bottom of the pane telling you what address to use to connect from Windows. It will follow the "smb://" format.
5. Fire up windows, open an explorer window, and type in the address that the mac gave you. Windows will prompt you for the mac's account name and password that you authorized to share. It will then open up that account's home folder.

Remember, both the mac and windows machine must be connected through TCP/IP. They can either be connected by an ethernet cable to eachother, or running off the same router. Firewalls on both machines must be open to sharing. By choosing windows sharing on the mac, the mac's firewall will automatically be open. Configure Windows Firewall to your needs, or your 3rd party firewall. To see your mac in Windows' Network Neighborhood, make sure both the mac and pc are in the same workgroup. You can change Windows' workgroup by right clicking on 'My Computer' as an admin and choosing 'Properties', then finding the field where you can change the computer's workgroup. The mac's workgroup can be changed by going into the Utilities folder as an admin and using the app called 'Directory Access'. Change the SMB CIFS attribute to your pc's workgroup name.

That should cover everything!

 

[jimma]

The mac will not share all of its folders. It The mac's workgroup can be changed by going into the Utilities folder as an admin and using the app called 'Directory Access'. Change the SMB CIFS attribute to your pc's workgroup name.

That should cover everything!

I'd been battling for 24 hours to make my MacBook connect to PC - that little gem above was what finally allowed me to do it.
Many thanks.

For anyone else trying to do this who was a clueless as me these steps might help (I was using XP, OSX Tiger, and a cross-over cable although I hear a standard ethernet cable will work fine on MB and MBPs) :

1 Findout what your PC workgroup is (right-click "my computer"
-> "properties" -> "computer name" tab will reveal the workgroup name. If one is not specified you need to "set up a small home or office network" in "My network places" - during this you will be able to make a workgroup name (keep it simple)

2 Findout your PC IP adress - "Start" -> "All Programs" -> "accessories" -> "command prompt" -> in the command prompt type "ipconfig" - your IP address is one of the first things that will be listed.

3 In XP - now go to "show all my connections" - right click that LAN (ethernet) connection that your bastard computers are connected through. Select "properties" - select "Internet Protocol...." in the box then click "properties." In the new window select "use the following IP address." Enter the IP address you got in step 2. Subnet mask will automotacilly fill in - if not 255.255.255.0 should do the trick. Apply the changes.

4 You may want to consider taking down your firewall at this stage and making sure you have a shared folder.

5 On OSX Tiger - Do the usual steps of turning on windows sharing/personal fiole sharing and making sure that an account is selscted to do this (see above... and google) - you'll get your mac IP address this way as well.

5 Do what it says in the quote at top of this post using the workgroup name you created/found earlier.

6 Still on Mac - Finder -> "Go" -> "Connect to server" -> in the "server address" box that appears type "smb://your pc IP. You'll be asked for a password - your mac password will do it. Start sharing! Go to yor XP and click "view workgroup computers" in "my network computers" -> your mac should appear.

If the above doesn't work try the other various methods that the net has to offer and eventually something will happen.

 

[MikeTheCat]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I can't seem to figure out the password in the last step. I've tried my admin account in XP, along with enabling the guest account or creating a new account with a password, and nothing. Anyone have a universal username and password or have any idea what my problem is?