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megawarp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
6
0
Hello everyone!

In January I bought an iMac 27 "(OS version: OS X 10.6.2) and a week ago a Time Capsule 1TB.
I connected the iMac and a laptop with Windows XP SP3 both via ethernet to the TC, and to the USB port of the TC a USB hub to which I connected a Canon iP4200 and a LACIE 500GB HARD DISK.
I reformatted the hard disk file system to Lacie Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and installed MacDrive 8 in the laptop.
Now (after formatting the HD), with the iMac everything works: internet connection via ethernet or wireless, printing via ethernet or wireless as well as hard disk connection via ethernet or wireless.
Laptop, instead, is only able to connect to the internet via ethernet or wireless while it isn't able to see and use printer and external hard drive, even though I installed AirPort Utility for Windows!
The laptop also detects the AirPort disk of the TC but if I enter the (correct) password I get an error message!..

Please, somebody help me, I do not know what to do!
Thanks
 

skorpien

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
2,339
0
It seems to me like you've done everything correctly (although just as a sidenote, you don't need MacDrive as the TC allows Windows computers to connect via SMB to the hard drive, rendering the HFS+ issue moot). Have you tried adding your router's IP address to the list of trusted networks in your Windows machine's firewall settings? I vaguely (it's been a while) remember having issues with my setup until I added 10.0.1.1 (default Time Capsule IP address) to my software firewall as a trusted network. Also, which version of AirPort Utility did you install? I doubt it makes a difference, but the version that's on the install discs that came with your TC is newer than the latest version online and may be worth installing instead.
 

megawarp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
6
0
Thank you very much skorpien!
First of all, I didn't know that thing of SMB... please, can you explain me how I have to proceed to do so?

Then.. I must preface that finally I was able to see my external HD and the AirPort disk of the TC, and print on my Canon iP4200 both via ethernet and wireless! :):):D I must say, however, that I did it not in the way Apple told me, but "manually searching" the printer and the HD!..
In fact, I didn't add the printer from Bonjour (how I would have to do?? There isn't any Bonjour window!...), but entering Control Panel - My Network and so on until "Workgroup", where I found the iMac network link (in which I found the shared printer) as well as the TC one (in which I found the external HD and the AirPort disk).
But why am I not able to access at least at the AirPort disk using AirPort Utility, that is, to me, the most logical way to do it?
To better explain, in the following I answer to your question:
The AirPort Utility's version is 5.5.0.17, and is that installed from the disc.
I use Windows Firewall, and it seems to me that there isn't a way to add my router's IP address to the list of trusted networks.. can you tell me how should I do that? But, since I can connect to the internet, firewall's settings shouldn't be correct?
However I tried to disable the firewall but nothing changed. What happens is always that I enter my TC's password in the AirPort window (this window informs me that the AirPort disk is available and asks to me:"What do you want to do?", and the possible choices are: ignore, connect as a guest, connect with password - and I choose the third) but after a few seconds I get this error:"Unknown user, incorrect password or login is disabled. Enter the information again or contact the administrator of the disk (1203)".

In the end, however, there is still one more thing I'm not able to achieve, that is to print via wireless using the wifi guest account I created in addition to the personal one. Is there a way to do it? Maybe with the port mapping in Advanced Settings of the TC in AirPort Utility (on the iMac)?

Meanwhile, forgive me for the poem and many many thanks for the willingness and patience!!:)
 

skorpien

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
2,339
0
SMB is the protocol by which Windows connects and communicates to hard drives attached to the Time Capsule. Aside from setting up Windows to detect and connect to the hard drive, nothing is required of you to make SMB work.

Since you are only using the Windows firewall, I do not believe there is such a list of trusted networks to which you can add your Time Capsule (just ignore that part of my previous post).

There is a Bonjour for Windows that you can either install from the install disc or download from Apple's support site (just search the downloads page). However, the AirPort Utility that you installed from the disc should be sufficient. It includes a program called AirPort Base Station Agent which loads into your taskbar and allows you to connect to the printer and hard drive of the TC using whichever method was set up in AirPort Utility. Under the disks tab in AirPort Utility, if you select the hard drive and click on the File Sharing tab, you'll see a checkbox entitled "Enable file sharing." Immediately underneath, you'll see "Secure Shared Disks:" and an option. This is the password you will need to connect. Lastly, make sure to enter the workgroup of which your Windows machine is a member in the appropriate field on that page. The default is MSHOME, but yours may differ.

Another trick that I remember from getting my setup working; you may need to rename your Time Capsule and the hard drive as something shorter, not containing spaces or special characters, and preferably only 8 characters long. There have been issues reported with the default names that the Time Capsule assigns itself and its hard drive, but this may have been resolved in recent revisions (I purchased my Time Capsule when it was first released).

Here is a link that may help you in setting things up. Just ignore the comment on the last page that says that the hard drive is formatted as FAT32. It is in fact formatted HFS+, but as I stated earlier, Windows uses SMB to connect to the Time Capsule which allows it to see the drive (although it is mistakenly reported as FAT32 in the Windows properties):
http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=7CA02

And another great guide with Windows troubleshooting tips:
http://techsupport.foreverwarm.com/time-capsule-windows
 

megawarp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
6
0
Ok, thanks for the explanation!

There is a Bonjour for Windows that you can either install from the install disc or download from Apple's support site (just search the downloads page). However, the AirPort Utility that you installed from the disc should be sufficient. It includes a program called AirPort Base Station Agent which loads into your taskbar and allows you to connect to the printer and hard drive of the TC using whichever method was set up in AirPort Utility. Under the disks tab in AirPort Utility, if you select the hard drive and click on the File Sharing tab, you'll see a checkbox entitled "Enable file sharing." Immediately underneath, you'll see "Secure Shared Disks:" and an option. This is the password you will need to connect. Lastly, make sure to enter the workgroup of which your Windows machine is a member in the appropriate field on that page. The default is MSHOME, but yours may differ.
I already knew these things, and I had already set the "Secured Shared Disks" with "with Time Capsule's password", nevertheless the AirPort Base Station Agent doesn't let me access the disk.
But from the AirPort Base Station Agent should I be able to see only the AirPort disk (that internal to the TC) or also my external HD?

Another trick that I remember from getting my setup working; you may need to rename your Time Capsule and the hard drive as something shorter, not containing spaces or special characters, and preferably only 8 characters long. There have been issues reported with the default names that the Time Capsule assigns itself and its hard drive, but this may have been resolved in recent revisions (I purchased my Time Capsule when it was first released).
Thanks, now I have renamed my TC as "TimeCaps", but even before I could see it from the laptop (but with the method that I wrote in my previous post, not via Airport Utility).

Here is a link that may help you in setting things up. Just ignore the comment on the last page that says that the hard drive is formatted as FAT32. It is in fact formatted HFS+, but as I stated earlier, Windows uses SMB to connect to the Time Capsule which allows it to see the drive (although it is mistakenly reported as FAT32 in the Windows properties):
http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=7CA02

And another great guide with Windows troubleshooting tips:
http://techsupport.foreverwarm.com/time-capsule-windows
Ok, thanks a lot, they seem very useful! I'll have a glance at them as soon as possible. :)
 

skorpien

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
2,339
0
I already knew these things, and I had already set the "Secured Shared Disks" with "with Time Capsule's password", nevertheless the AirPort Base Station Agent doesn't let me access the disk.
But from the AirPort Base Station Agent should I be able to see only the AirPort disk (that internal to the TC) or also my external HD?[...]

I am honestly at a loss of what to say. If you have file sharing enabled on both the internal disk as well as the external disk, which by the sounds of it you do, then you should be able to see and access both from your Windows machine. Do you have a second Windows machine that you can test to see if you can get it to work? I'd suggest restarting the Time Capsule but something tells me you've already done that.

The best advice I can give is to try calling AppleCare. You're still within your warranty period for your Time Capsule to receive free phone support. They'll hopefully be able to work through the issue with you. As for myself, I really do wish I knew how to solve your dilemma but unfortunately I do not :(
 

megawarp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
6
0
I finally managed to solve, even though partially, the problem of the printer! And obviously the solution wasn't so hard as it seemed, but enough to make me spend so much time on it :mad:
The thing that seemed so strange to me was that the Apple guide said that I had to use the Bonjour Printer Installer but, even though I had already installed Bonjour before installing AirPort Utility, I could not find the program! I also tried to install Bonjour again after downloading the last version from the website, but nothing changed... Well, the trick was uninstall both Bonjour and AirPort Utility and reinstall them from the TC disk! It was so "simple"... evidently Bonjour has not been overwritten when I installed it from the disc, so the link didn't appear.

Now I can print from my laptop with XP, but only if I use my personal WLAN, while if I use the guest one I cannot.. Do you know the reason why?

Changing the subject, under XP I also use my HP Scanjet 2200c scanner, but MAC OS X doesn't even recognize it... On the internet I've read that there are no drivers for this scanner.. :( There is really no way to solve this problem?
 

skorpien

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
2,339
0
It's odd that they were not overwritten by the newest version on the disc, but it's good to hear that you solved the problem.

The guest network, by nature, has no access to your main network. That is the purpose of the guest network; to provide an Internet connection, whether secured or not, to guests at your house/office without giving them access to any resources on your main network. There is no way for computers connected to your guest network to be able to see or print to the printer connected to your Time Capsule.

The printer itself would have to be networked on your guest network and the option to isolate clients would need to be turned off. But if you were to do this, computers on your main network would not be able to access the printer. Also, the USB and Ethernet ports on the Time Capsule can only share printers on your main network, so the guest network printer would need to be networked via Wi-Fi.

As for your scanner issues, a quick google search provided a couple of suggestions. According to one particular thread, a user had success with VueScan and his HP 2200c. There was also reported success with TWAIN SANE and HP 4470c according to the original poster of the thread.
 

megawarp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
6
0
Ok, thanks for the explanation! However it does not matter, what matters is being able to use the printer at least from the main network!

I tried VueScan and actually support my scanner, but when I try to scan something emits very strange sounds... it seems it breaks! But the real problem is that this method only works if the scanner is connected directly to the Mac via USB, if I connect it to the hub connected to the TC I cannot see it from the mac. Is there a way to make it work from the TC?

Moreover, when my mac and my laptop (with XP) are on and connected via TC, I can see them and also read/write in my HD or TC. But how can I pass a file from one to another directly, ie without using an intermediate hard disk? How do I set both the Mac and PC?
Thanks!
 

skorpien

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
2,339
0
The print server on the TC and any Apple AirPort Base Station does not support multifunction printers, meaning that while you'll be able to print to a printer/scanner connected to the USB port of the TC, you will not be able to scan/fax/etc. You will need to network it using Ethernet or Wi-Fi, or connect it to a networked computer and share it through that. You can also buy a USB multifunction print server (make sure to get a Mac compatible one) and connect that to the TC through Ethernet or Wi-Fi.

For your sharing issues, you'll need to enable file sharing between your Mac and PC:
http://www.google.ca/search?&rls=en...oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=OwiyS8P4G4WssgPQ2Y3mAQ
http://www.mac-connect.com/win_mac_samba.php
 

megawarp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
6
0
The print server on the TC and any Apple AirPort Base Station does not support multifunction printers, meaning that while you'll be able to print to a printer/scanner connected to the USB port of the TC, you will not be able to scan/fax/etc.
Ok, but is this true even if I don't have a multifunction printer (printer, scanner, fax etc all in one)? I mean, if I had a TC compatible printer and a TC compatible scanner both connected to the TC hub, would them work properly?

However, if I don't want to spend other money there is no solution, I have to connect my scanner directly to the mac every time I need to use it... :(

Thanks for the link, it has been very useful!

Another more question: I have measured that my TC absorbs about 10W constantly.. I am considering to connect both the mac and the TC to the same power strip, so that when I don't use them I can switch the power strip off and save energy.. do you think that I could damage the TC if I did that?
 

skorpien

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
2,339
0
No, a scanner won't work. The USB is for printers and hard drives only.

It should not harm your Time Capsule I believe, but I have not done any research on the issue. I can only assume that since Apple hasn't included a power switch or any way to systematically shut the Time Capsule down, it will be fine with cutting the power off at the power strip.
 
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