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GUIDE: Networking Windows with OS X

share a Mac hard drive with WiinXP

I want to be able to access my Mac Hard drive on my PC, through my network, but I can't see any volumes, just folders, How can I achieve this?

thanks all

Lane
 
EWTHeckman said:
Like many people here, I was also getting the message, "The alias "<shared folder>" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found." And like many people here, messing with the digital signature setting did not resolve the problem.

Fortunately, I stumbled around long enough to find an answer.

The problem is not with the Mac's configuration, it's in Windows. (Why am I not surprised?) The following (Windows XP) registry value needs to be increased:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters --> LPRStackSize

It's easy to check if your problem accessing Windows can be fixed by making this change. On your Windows machine, go to Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Event Viewer and look at the System Log. You're looking for an error message with a source of "Srv" which occurred when you tried to access the Windows machine from your Mac. The description will read:



Then it gives a link you can click to get Microsoft's instructions on how to increase this value.

Here are brief instructions to how to apply this fix in Windows XP:

1. Launch the Registry Editor. (Select Start --> Run... and type in "regedit".)

2. Navigate through the list of folders to find this one:

Code: 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters

3. Look for an entry named "IRPStackSize" in the right pane. If it doesn't exist you will have to create it. To create the entry, right-click in the right hand pane and select New --> DWORD Value. Then enter "IRPStackSize". (I had to create this entry on my machine.)

4. Double-Click the "IRPStackSize" entry to change the value.

5. Click the "Decimal" radio button in the Base group.

6. If there's already an entry, increase the value by a small amount. If it's set to zero, then Microsoft recommends starting at 15. (On my machine, a setting of 18 resolved the problem.)

7. Save your changes by clicking the OK button.

8. Close the Registry Editor and reboot the computer.

9. Test your access from the Mac. If you're still getting the error message, repeat the process to increase the setting a little more.

Of course, the usual caveats about how dangerous registry editing is still apply. You can completely hose Windows if you delete or change the wrong things in the registry, so be very, very careful that you do not make a mistake.

I hope this helps someone avoid all the hair pulling I just went through. :cool:


-----
Ed "What the" Heckman
Click to expand...

Thank you. Thank you. I used to connect my MacBook Pro to XP all the time and suddenly one day I couldn't anymore. Figured I did something but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what. This was the solution. I am back in business and can give my USB flash drive a breather. Much, much thanks.

A.
 
MacBook not connecting to WinXP

Specs:
Macbook
Mac OS X (10.4.9)
2 GHz Intel
1 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Windows XP (Home)
2.60GHz Intel Pent 4

BelKin Wireless G+ Mimo Modem Router

Wondering if you could help!

I have gotten my WinXP to connect OK with my MacBook with no probs, but when I try to get my MacBook to connect to my WinXP I keep getting “Could not connect to the server because the name or password is not correct.”

I have think I have got the Workgroup/Name/Password correct from right clicking on my Computer > Properties > Computer Name and getting all the info. I use the password that I log into the WinXP with. So I haven’t got a clue what the problem is…can you help?
 
sorry, i couldn't read the whole topic and i wonder a lot if there's a way to connect a pc and my macbook via airport? the wireless modem is connected to the pc.
 
connecting to servers

hey! im using a mac running Mac OS X 10.1.5
i am only able to connect to servers when im logged in as root...
when i am logged in as another user i get the message back saying:
__
no file services are available at the URL smb://___________/_________
try again later or try a different url (server returned error 71)
__

can someone help me?
 
I have Windows XP and OSX 10.4 (or whatever the latest version is).

I set up everything like in the first post.

I am trying to access my window's folders from the mac, but when I try to connect to the server it says (after several minutes):

The finder cannnot complete the operation because some data in "smb://192.168.0.45/Incoming" could not be read or written. (Error code - 36)

Any ideas? I am connected through ethernet.

I think maybe it might have something to do with me having two network cards in the PC, one is connected to a router (for internet) and the other port is connected to the mac (which gets it's internet off the router's wireless connection).

I am making sure I am putting in the correct IP for the network card that is plugged into the mac though so I am unsure what is wrong.
 
fine, but...

Our environment:

Server: Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition R2

Macs: 2 G5s running 10.4.8, one MacBook Pro running the same.

Only issue is that the Macs lose their connection to the server after a few minutes of inactivity...how would I fix this?

Thanks...
 
I no longer want the pc i was sharing with my mac to be able to access my files. I've disabled file sharing and yet i can still access my mac from my pc. What gives?
 
ok i have a pc with xp pro n i was wonderin how do i network it to my mac os x (10.2) to play a game (starcraft) with a friend if anyone could help me out i thank u
 
Hey there,

I'm not sure if I'm tripping or not but I think I have just inadvertently found a fix for logging onto a Windows 2003 server without disabling Digitally sign client communication (always). All of my sypmtoms seemed to match. I was struggling for hours until I found this thread and had resigned myself to not being able to avoid dropping this measure. I knew that the owner of the newwork I was joining wouldn't be happy about it so I spent more time trying to find another solution for encryption.

I am using Hamachi and hooking up with the network at work. In looking for other alternative I looked at IPsec and went to set up VPN in the OSX 'Internet Connect' application. It asked me whether I wanted to use PPTP or IPsec and I chose PPTP and filled in the login details for the network. Now my work doesn't have VPN set up on the Windows 2003 box so obviously this didn't work. However...

When I tried logging in again it went through like a charm. I even deleted the VPN settings I'd entered and it still works. Not sure if it's possible but I think just setting up PPTP allowed me to get through.

I'd be interested to see if anyone else has any success.

Regards,

Raavin
 
EWTHeckman said:
Like many people here, I was also getting the message, "The alias "<shared folder>" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found." And like many people here, messing with the digital signature setting did not resolve the problem.
I hope this helps someone avoid all the hair pulling I just went through. :cool:


-----
Ed "What the" Heckman
Click to expand...

Ed, you the heckMAN! :D

That fix did the trick at my end! Many thanks!

It took me long enough to get it so that my XP Pro SP2 laptop could access files on the Mac consistently, but the access from my iMac to the laptop was squirrelly at best. But, until I tried accessing that system today, I'd never had the consistent issues with the "alias could not be opened" and "error -41" messages.

I noticed that the "irpstacksize" error message on the XP's System Log had started before my latest attempt to connect my iMac to my PC, so it very well might have originated due to either one of two changes that I'd made this week:

On the XP Pro SP2 laptop - I'd switched out my antivirus from Norton AV2005 to BitDefender Plus v.10 (deactivated the firewall since I use a NAT router)

On the iMac - I'd installed the "Security Update 2007-004"

Either way though, I'm glad that it was a common enough error that more knowledgeable posters could come up with a solution that fit my particular issue! (Prior to that, the Apple help and forums were minimally informative, and the XP Help and Support barely even acknowledge that Macs exist, so they were below useless and more like a waste of time.)
 
can't connect to XP Pro from Macbook

Hello friends:

thx for your help. My Windows XP Pro is able to access my Mac no problem, but not the other way around. I kept on getting "Could not connect to the server because the name or password is not correct", My mac can succefully ping my XP pro, both firewall are off, workgroup are the same, I put XP pro's name in the workgroup or domain, name and pw are correct. I would go to finder-->go-->connect to server-->smb://IPadd or smb://IPadd/foldname, all to the same result.

anyone can advice me on this?

thank you

Chuck
 
Hey there, thanks for the nice guide but I can't seem to connect to my Windows PC on my Mac. Instead I'm just copying the files through my computer. I can't seem to use the proper password and keep getting error messages (number 46?). Its odd since it works flawlessly on Windows.

Computers:
Dell Dimmension 8400 Pentium 4
1GB Ram/250 GB HD
Windows Media Center 2004?

Macbook Pro 15". Core Duo
1GB Ram
Linksys WRT54G

thanks
 
smbclient works in console, doesn't work in Finder

Hi guys,

I have followed each and every recommendation, but still no luck in getting my MacBook Pro to see the shares on my W2K3 R2 SP2 server.
IRPStackSize has been increased, Directory Access has been set correctly and the macbook has been succesfully registered in the AD on the server (I am connecting to a domain).

When i connect using smbclient through the console everything works fine:

macosx-sven-dens:~ desv$ smbclient //10.1.5.11/boulevart -W BGW -U desv
Password:
Domain=[BGW] OS=[Windows Server 2003 3790 Service Pack 2] Server=[Windows Server 2003 5.2]
smb: \> quit

But when I try to do the same via Finder -> go to server -> smb://ip/share , am prompted for my login information, enter EXACTLY the same as in the command line, it doesn't work.
I then get a message telling me that "my username or password is incorrect". Crazy...

Have been struggling with this for hours by now and still didn't get it working.
Hope one of you geniuses here can help me out.

Many thanks in advance!
 
I'm having an issue you might know more about than I.

Heres the scenario:
I have a Windows 2003 Server that my Macs can see any shares on the Local Disk (C), however, they can't see any shares I create on the other 2 drives. These two other drives are RAID storage systems, and the other 7 shares (from other servers) can be seen on the network by PC or MAC. Is there something these RAID systems are doing to prevent visibility on the network for the MACs? All the PC's can see them fine, and as I said its not the server itself, because any share I create on the C drive works fine.

I appreciate your input.

Thanks,
Clayton A. Lee
 
I did everything but I can get it to work I keep getting an error. I have a Windows Vista machine that has a lot of my files on. I can connect to my xp machine fine but the Vista I keep getting an error. I keep getting: The Alias "computers user name" could not be opened because the original item cannot be found. I enabled everything on my vista machine and mac machine but nothing. Oddly enough I had no problem getting my Vista machine to connect to my OS X machine. So any ideas?
 
one of my friend was also having the same problem with his mac and his sisters Windows vista..

i guess there must be some bug in vista..
 
paranoid87 said:
one of my friend was also having the same problem with his mac and his sisters Windows vista..

i guess there must be some bug in vista..
Click to expand...

Oh I know there is a bug in vista but it also sort of a bug with OSX you could say. The reason this is occuring is Vista uses some new newtorking standards(something to do with the new TCP/IP I think?).
 
Does writing from XP NTFS to Mac HPF via networking corrupt?

Hi, I understand that XP machines can not read or write to HPF formatted drives on Mac and that Mac can read but not write to XP NTFS drives.

The workaround has been to use a FAT32 shared drive or install MacDrive on XP machines.

I've now networked my XP (all drives are NTFS) and Mac (drive is HPF) machines.

I mentioned this to a couple of Apple Genius support staff and they said that writing from a XP NTFS drive VIA NETWORKING to a Mac HPF drive (without MacDrive) can cause file/directory corruption. Now, I've moved a number of files from my XP machine to my Mac and ran Disk Utility but can not find corruption.

Can anyone confirm this? Thank you.
 
maestrokev said:
I mentioned this to a couple of Apple Genius support staff and they said that writing from a XP NTFS drive VIA NETWORKING to a Mac HPF drive (without MacDrive) can cause file/directory corruption. Now, I've moved a number of files from my XP machine to my Mac and ran Disk Utility but can not find corruption.

Can anyone confirm this? Thank you.
Click to expand...

I have NEVER heard that before its not a problem. As the PC does all the writing to the PC formated disk.
 
trainguy77 said:
I have NEVER heard that before its not a problem. As the PC does all the writing to the PC formated disk.
Click to expand...

Sorry, newbie here, maybe I wasn't clear, I'm copying a file from within my Windows PC and pasting across network share to Mac so in essence my Windows PC will be writing the file to my HPF formatted Mac hard drive.
 
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