Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Macbook Pro Cannot see other PCs on the network

B

bladeharvest

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 29, 2008
9
0
Arizona
Hi,
I have an MBP running OSX 10.5.6.
I have 2 vista machines running on the same home network. They can see me and open the files I have allowed to be opened from the network.
I cannot see the vista machines from the finder window. I have tried everything including changing the Network security settings on both vista machines to the lowest value.
Before I got serious about file sharing, I would occasionally see one or both of the machines in the finder window. However, when I set up file sharing, including the work group, I cannot see either machine.
The sad part is both machines can see my mac and access the files with no problems.
I have spent hours googling this and have no satisfactory answer.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Are you sure that it's your mac problem but not other PCs? Perhaps they didn't share it properly?

I have 3 PCs and 1 Mac at home, but Mac could see all 3 without any change on its end.
 
Sharing Problem

It must not be the PCs since they share with each other and can actually open the allowed files on my mac.
It's odd. They used to show up in the finder side bar on their own until I set up the sharing on the network. Last night I was able to access them from my mac using them as servers in the go menu. At first I had to use the IP address and then the computer short name worked. While I was doing this the second computer popped on the finder sidebar and allowed me to mount the public folder.
I hadn't even tried to find this one yet.
There must be an easier way to see if a PC is on the network.
Thanks for your reply.
 
Seeing shared computers in Finder has been really unpredictable and frankly, unreliable for me since I bought my MacBook. Most of the time, they show without problems, but there have been times where they just wouldn't appear, even after a reboot. When that happened, I had to use the "Connect to Server" menu option to get them to appear.
 
Sharing Problem

I guess that is the problem. It has been unpredictable. After setting up the file sharing it does not want to see the other computers unless they are accessed as servers. They used to pop up on their own. I am going to see if any 3rd party software might be interfering.
Thanks for your reply.
 
i also had this problem but i figured it out. when the other computers are sleep they wont show up in the shared colum. so make sure the comp is awake and connected to the network before trying to share files and folders with it.
 
10.5 inherently can't see Windows PC's on the network. It's either a bug that's persisted since 10.5,0, or the most advanced OS isn't so advanced... :p

There is a way to fix it though. On the Windows machines, turn on NetBIOS. It's different for each version of Windows, so I'll leave it up to Google and you to do it, or just post back with your Windows operating system version, and I'll google for you :)
 
Make sure the Workgroup is set properly on the Mac.

I share files and a printer between a mac, a Vista, and a WinXP machine all the time. works fine.
 
sharing Problem

This is the odd thing. When I had no work group set, I could occasionally see the vista pcs in finder. The default for windows is WORKGROUP. This is set on all of the machines including the mac.
One machine is running Vista Home and the other is running Vista Ultimate.
I have also made sure none are asleep and yet they do not show up in finder.
The pcs see each other and the mac. I can access the files from pc to pc and pc to mac but not from mac to pc without treating each pc as a server. I am still trying to work this problem.
I really appreciate the response to this issue from the forum.
Thank you all!
 
Yeah same here. Out of the blue all my Windows PCs is gone from Finder Sidebar. :confused: But yet I can connect to all of them using smb. Go figure... Reminds me of the the old Win95 Win98 and XP days. :eek:
 
Mac and Pc networking

I am new to mac. I have been trying to see my pc's that are on a network with my macbook pro. The pc sees the mac and can transfer files, but not the other way around. Also, I do not see any shared printers on the pc. There must be a solution. Please help
 
I have found a solution that works most of the time.
Be sure that all of your computers are set up to file share including your mac.
You may have to reset your router.
Close your finder window.
Click on the apple icon on the upper left corner of the screen.
Click on force quit.
Click on Finder. Relaunch.
Open your finder window again.
This usually solves the problem.
Be sure your PCs are not sleeping.
You may have to do every this time you file share.
Hope this helps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back