How do I share files between Windows 7 and Snow Leopard?

[Ramius]

I just installed Windows 7 on my PC.
Before I had XP, and sharing between my PC and my MacBook was FLAWLESS.

Now it's the complete oposite. I'm totally unable to share a fold with my Mac. Before it just popped up in the sidebar of Finder. "Shared Files". And I could take files from my PC to my Mac with ease, or drop files from my Mac onto my PC with this folder.

This is what I want now.

I've looked through the huge array of sharing possibilites, and I don't feel any smarter. It all feels more diffcult now. I just want one ****ing folder shared between two machines! For crying out loud!!!

And it doesnt seem Windows 7 is able to find my MacBook on the network at all.

 

[jigizen]

MAke sure they are on the same Network

See if windows 7 machine & SL are on WORKGROUP network. That would be a start.

 

[Ramius]

Tried that and it did not make a difference. They are in a homegroup now.

 

[Cyberiko]

Snow & Seven

Yes you a right - each upgrade from anyone of two Dip Thoughts almost leads to misbehaving ;-)

Thirst of all I recommend you to install Bonjoure for Windows it makes lots easier to find Mac shares from Win.
Second ...
go to Control Panel -> Network & Haring Center -> Advanced Sharing Settings
and switch on following options:
- Turn on network discovery
- Turn on file & printer sharing
- Enable file sharing for devices that use 40- or 56-bit encryption;

Third...
Go to Administration Tools -> Local Security Policies
click on Local Policies -> Security Options then select Network Security: LAN Manager Authentication Level
Change the setting "Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session if negotiated"

Fourth...
Check if both Mac & Win in the same workgroup
In Win go Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings

in Mac go System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced -> WINS

In addition I can say what at the end it still remains unclear for me why some time windows machine appears in Finder -> Shared but some time does not. It that case I need to go Find -> Go -> Connect to Server and provide it with SMB path to the share like "smb://dumb_windows" click connect and it becomes accessible. Really funny hah?

 

[Wie Gehts]

i like to know this too. i just got a windows 7 pc laptop and would like to access the content i have saved on backup drives instead of having to burn dvds to bring stuff into the pc.

speaking of which.....i know mac will read pc formatted hd's, but does windows read macs format? and once you connect the machines....and lets say i have an external drive connected to the mac (which is obviously mac formatted), will the pc also be able to retrieve files from that?

thanks

 

[Cyberiko]

does windows read macs format? and once you connect the machines....and lets say i have an external drive connected to the mac (which is obviously mac formatted), will the pc also be able to retrieve files from that?

Of course it will (only if you access it via network), because it is not a direct access to the disc but a network interoperability so on the other end it is actually the hosting OS that reading/writing data from/to the disk and it definitely knows how to deal with formats of the data on that disk.

 

[crazzyeddie]

How To: Make Your PC and Mac Share Stuff Like Best Friends

 

[Wie Gehts]

groovy. thanks and thanks!

 

[Ramius]

I've tried several tips here. And still I'm not able to see my PC in Finder.

However, I can access my Macbooks shared files from my PC. But the speed is very very slow. It's only 2mbps - which is ineffecient when I must transfer more than 50gb back to my PC.

Why is the speed so slow?

And how can I use the Mac to access the PC in Finder? Thats still impossible. Even after following several tips here.

I've also installed bonjour on my W7, which did nothing.

 

[Daveoc64]

I've tried several tips here. And still I'm not able to see my PC in Finder.

However, I can access my Macbooks shared files from my PC. But the speed is very very slow. It's only 2mbps - which is ineffecient when I must transfer more than 50gb back to my PC.

Why is the speed so slow?

And how can I use the Mac to access the PC in Finder? Thats still impossible. Even after following several tips here.

I've also installed bonjour on my W7, which did nothing.

If you don't see your PC in the Finder, can you connect to it directly?

In Finder, press Command + K on the keyboard.

This should open up the connect to server dialog.

In the box that asks for a "Server Address", type:

smb://computername


Where "computername" refers to the name of the Windows Computer.

 

[Ramius]

But I'm asking why transfer is slow!!!!!
It's barely 2mbps. Thats not LAN-speed.

 

[snaky69]

But I'm asking why transfer is slow!!!!!
It's barely 2mbps. Thats not LAN-speed.

Actually it is LAN speed. You are reading from a hard drive, putting it up wirelessly or wire a network cable, then writing on another hard drive. File transfers in my house never go faster than that and everything is wireless-N or gigabit ethernet.

 

[angelneo]

Is it 2 Mbps or 2 MBps? as display in most computers?

 

[Ramius]

Actually it is LAN speed. You are reading from a hard drive, putting it up wirelessly or wire a network cable, then writing on another hard drive. File transfers in my house never go faster than that and everything is wireless-N or gigabit ethernet.

No it's not. You are pulling this out of your ass.
When I had windows xp, it went much much MUCH faster.

 

[mkelly]

No it's not. You are pulling this out of your ass.
When I had windows xp, it went much much MUCH faster.

1. Ramius: you're right, 2 Mbps isn't typical for a 100 Mbps LAN transfer, but:

2. Snaky69 said that transfers in their house never went faster. So no, they obviously weren't "pulling it out of their ass". If that's their personal experience, then how could they tell you anything different?

Generally, one doesn't toss insults at people who are trying to help and offering them what they think are solutions (or at least confirmations of similar results). Even if they guy is wrong, from his point of view he's getting exactly the same results as you are.

I have an idea as to what the problem might be, but I'm afraid that if the solution doesn't work for you, you're going to tell me that I pulled it out of my ass.

Take a look at the following - the problem may be related to Microsoft making Windows 7 use NTLMv2 (NT LAN Manager authentication). XP used the earlier version of NTLM, which was compatible with the Samba SMB file sharing service in OS X.

In Vista and Windows 7, Microsoft changed things so that they default to the new NTLMv2 only - they don't fall back to the earlier version. So you run into trouble when you connect with Samba.

You can change this behaviour, so they will use the older authentication method. Unfortunately, this apparently isn't supported in *all* versions of Windows 7 (sigh) - but it's definitely worth a try. Note that if your version of Windows 7 supports the NTLM tweak, it'll fix the visibility problem. It may not fix the speed issue. You may want to try setting the network speed on your PC ethernet card manually (ie: disable autonegotiation) to see if that might be part of the problem. I remember a Windows update that once broke autonegotiation on my Realtek ethernet card and sent my network speeds into the basement.

Enabling OS X / Win 7 file sharing

 

[NewbieAngel]

File Share Windows 7 Computer Instructions

To find the name of your computer go to the Windows 7 computer, click on the start button. Left hand side has the name of your computer listed in the second row. To find your I.P. Address, go to the start button on the Windows 7 computer and type cmd in the search bar. Be sure to write both the name of the computer and the IP address. Make sure on the Windows 7 computer that you have the file sharing turned on and selected what files you wish to share.

Click on the “Apple” in upper left hand corner of your screen.
2. Open System Preferences.
3. Click on Sharing Click on File Sharing and Print Sharing.
4. Click on Options, click Share Files and Folders using AFP and click Share Files and Folders using SMB.
5. Make sure you check the name in the lower box: Example: Nancy

1. Make sure you have internet service prior to the next step.
2. Click on the Apple (top left hand corner of screen)
3. Click on System Preferences
4. Click on “Network”
5. Is Airport on? If it is, you have already setup the password to gain entrance the to the Internet. (The name of the network should be listed in “Network Name”. If not, it will ask you what network you are interested in contacting to.

1. Open “Finder”
2. On the top tool bar, look for “Go”
3. Click on “Go to Server” or “Command Q”
4. A screen will pop up asking you to enter the IP Address you saved from you Windows 7 computer! Enter it exactly as you saw it on the Windows 7 computer! Example: smb://197.168.200 (only thing different is adding the smb://)
5. Click the + sign to add it to your servers you will use.
6. If you did everything correctly, a screen will pop up asking you for the “Network Name and Password”

1. After you have entered it: (See your notes on Computer Name:…Example: Nancy and Password: …Nancy12349
2. Hit Enter (If you did it right, you will connect to the Windows Based Computer!)

Enjoy from one newbie to another.

 

[klazer]

Any one know if Apple did some secret update?

Ever since apple did the last update for SL, I haven't been able to communicate with either a Vista or Windows 7 OS. I used to always share my Macbook Pro's internet as well as files with my Mac Pro (I run Windows on it), and just in the last two days it started to magically work, and I ran no updates for either OS, and changed nothing in the Configuration. Anyone else get this?

 

[HiMike12]

speaking of which.....i know mac will read pc formatted hd's, but does windows read macs format? and once you connect the machines....and lets say i have an external drive connected to the mac (which is obviously mac formatted), will the pc also be able to retrieve files from that?

thanks

PCs can read Mac HDDs if you install a program called MacDrive. The latest version is MacDrive 8

Cheers

 

[Ramius]

I have tried changing the security registry settings. It doesnt work.

Sharing is pretty okay. It works now by just connecting to smb://NAME -of my PC.

But speed still sucks. And its 2 megabytes per second. I need 54mbit from my wirelessly connected Macbook to my wire connected PC.

 

[Wie Gehts]

PCs can read Mac HDDs if you install a program called MacDrive. The latest version is MacDrive 8

Cheers

Thanks man. I just happened to google sharing again and found this old thread.
I did not know such a thing existed. It'd be perfect for me as I have loads of stuff stored on mac formatted external drives that I'd like to access on my pc laptop. With this macdrive all I need to do is hook the drive to the pc without figuring out this whole file sharing business. Thanks!!

 

[thunderboltspro]

Could i possible use this setup for time machine backups if one of the hard drives in the win 7 comp were formatted for mac?