How to share files between Mac and Vista?

[richard13]

Ok, I'm a completely new to the Mac world and I can't get this seemingly simple thing done. I have my new MacBook Pro on the same wireless network as my Vista based computer. However, neither computer can "see" each other as far as sharing is concerned.

On the Vista machine I created a folder called "Public" and gave "Everyone" read permissions. However, on the Mac, in Finder, there's nothing listed under "Network"

On the Mac in System Preferences > Sharing, I have File Sharing checked and my "Public Folder" shared and have checked "Share files and folders using SMB", my account is checked and the password is set. Back on the Vista machine I double-click the icon for the Mac and I'm prompted for user name and password but no matter what combination I use it comes back as incorrect.

Is there something obvious I'm overlooking here? Is there some "official" tutorial that someone can point me to? All of the stuff I have found via Google is either incorrect or old.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[Sky Blue]

Is there some "official" tutorial that someone can point me to?

Yup:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Networking_Windows_with_Mac_OS_X

 

[richard13]

Thanks for the quick reply. This guide seems just as outdated as the other stuff I've found online. I'm guessing that it was written before Leopard because a lot of stuff it talks about doesn't exist or is somewhere else on my MBP.

The good news is that one part of it helped. On my MBP I went to Finder > Go > Connect to Server. Replaced afp with smb in the connect string and was asked for credentials. Once I entered those I was able to see my shared folder on my Vista PC.

On Vista I was able to connect to my MBP share by using the IP address in place of my MBP's name.

While this did work for me, I'm quite surprised that something like this would be so user unfriendly. In the Windows world you can browse PCs without any dark magic. I wonder if this has something to do with Vista vs. XP. If I wasn't a "computer person" I would have never gotten this to work (or at least struggled quite a bit more).

 

[gitarzysta]

Thanks for the quick reply. This guide seems just as outdated as the other stuff I've found online. I'm guessing that it was written before Leopard because a lot of stuff it talks about doesn't exist or is somewhere else on my MBP.

The good news is that one part of it helped. On my MBP I went to Finder > Go > Connect to Server. Replaced afp with smb in the connect string and was asked for credentials. Once I entered those I was able to see my shared folder on my Vista PC.

On Vista I was able to connect to my MBP share by using the IP address in place of my MBP's name.

While this did work for me, I'm quite surprised that something like this would be so user unfriendly. In the Windows world you can browse PCs without any dark magic. I wonder if this has something to do with Vista vs. XP. If I wasn't a "computer person" I would have never gotten this to work (or at least struggled quite a bit more).

The guide below is Leopard specific - and I agree that compared to all Mac friendliness this is a chore to configure:

http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3022.html