Connecting 2 Macs on same network?

[zqbobs]

I have for years had an 2017 iMac (last running Ventura) and a 2018 Mac mini (running Mojave) on the same Ethernet network and have been able to transfer files from the Mini to the iMac over the network. Now, I've replaced the iMac with a closed-lid MacBook Air M3 (running Sonoma) *without an Ethernet connection*, but on WiFi. I can't login to the MBA from the Mini as admin:

Note the "?" icon for the laptop. When I try to connect as admin, I'm rejected.

Any tips or ideas on this problem? Could the WiFi-only connection be an issue? Are there system settings on the MBA that I should look at?

 

[hobowankenobi]

Don't think I have seen the ? before. Stuff to troubleshoot:

Apple rolled out their own flavor of SMB a few years ago, and AFP is on the way out...so the newer Mac you are connecting to may has some limitations keeping it from playing nice with older Macs.

Unless you have a problem or some protected VLANs or subnets setup, Ethernet or Wifi should make no difference...all the same network (typically).

You might try connecting to the new laptop using a direct IP address, and use SMB for the connection, so:

smb://[IP address]

You could also verify firewall settings on new Mac as well as the network are not blocking access.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Overview here.

 

[zqbobs]

Overview here.

Thanks, but did not work using SMB://IP address. Also don't see any obvious issues with firewall.

Interestingly, the 2017 iMac running Ventura (which is still here) has no problem connecting to the MBA on WiFi. So, I'm wondering if it's a conflict between Mojave (on the 2018 Mini) and Sonoma. I can't upgrade Mojave because of a needed app, but maybe a downgrade of Sonoma to Ventura on the MBA would fix?

 

[Bigwaff]

but maybe a downgrade of Sonoma to Ventura on the MBA would fix?

M3 MBA only support Sonoma or Sequoia. :-(

 

[waw74]

is the MacBook awake?

You might be seeing sleep proxy, where other devices on the network will continue to advertise services like shared folders for devices that have gone to sleep. When another device on the network is looking for that service, the one advertising the sleep proxy will send a WOL packet to the sleeping machine.

I'm not sure of the current state of network wake over wifi on Macs. And I don't think a USB ethernet will allow WOL, so you'll need to make sure that Mac stays awake.

These should all be shared samba (smb, or windows sharing) and should work on any OS for the last 20 years.

For a test, take file sharing out of the equation entirely. you can ping from one device to another, just open terminal and type "ping 192.168.0.1" using the IP of the air. If that works, you know it's a file sharing issue, if it doesn't it's a sleep or network issues.

 

[zqbobs]

Not positive if MBA is asleep or not; attached monitor goes into screen saver mode, and requires login to activate. Looks like sleep to me.

I did a ping x.x.x.x in Terminal from the Mini to the MBA, with the response:

PING x.x.x.x (x.x.x.x): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from x.x.x.x: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=4.4648ms
….repeating ping response

So, I'm not sure what this says, but appears to be communication between the two machines, so maybe it's a file sharing issue? Which might, again, point to a Mojave/Sonoma conflict because I think I have file sharing set correctly, AND the iMac is able to connect as I said earlier.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Have you reviewed the File sharing access and permissions on the MBA (via the Sharing pane of System Settings)?

As you can see and attempt to connect to the MBA, it seems like it could be an access or credentials issue. You are using the MBA admin credentials when connecting, correct (not the admin account for the Mini...assuming they are different)?