I've done it before when it was connected to the router with Command + K, however now when I connect my windows PC directly to my ethernet port in my iMac I can't connect, even though I'm using the IP address of the ethernet port I found in Network settings.
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How to share files with a computer connected directly to ethernet?
- Thread starter Dabisu
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Mmm, it doesn't show up in your network neighborhood? I'm not sure what the right way is to reference the computer on the other end of a crossover (direct) ethernet connection.
All Macs of any recent vintage and most any other newer computer should automatically detect and switch -- there shouldn't be any need for crossover cables anymore. Definitely not with Macs.
I tried it yesterday. Connecting my iBook to the iMac over the airport was way to slow, so I plugged in the ethernet cable (the non-crossed one 
).
After I switched "Appletalk" on, it worked instantly. So for Windows, I guess you have to switch on the "Window sharing".
).After I switched "Appletalk" on, it worked instantly. So for Windows, I guess you have to switch on the "Window sharing".
Sort of... again, the serving computer must have the service turned on / port open. The client doesn't need to. So, if the drive is physically on the Windows computer, all you need to do is enable sharing in Windows. If the drive is on the Mac, you only need to make changes (enable Windows sharing) on the Mac.
I think you can also install Bonjour in Windows if you really want, to simplify it...
I'm not entirely sure this is true. From my experience I thought that ever since 10.4.10 update was released, discovery of networked PC's by clicking on the "network" view would not work unless windows file-sharing was enabled. I admit I could be wrong since I have not performed thorough testing of this.
Really? I guess I'm not sure I've done this since 10.4.10 either... but that would be very strange to need an incoming port open on the firewall to access a server share. Unless OS X tries to avoid joining the windows workgroup (or whatever it's called now) by default?
This isn't working for me directly connecting my powerbook to my Mac Pro. I've got gigabit on both computers, and I'd like to transfer about 90 gigs of stuff, but I don't have a gigabit router, only direct connections.