Networking between Macs and PCs

Networking your Mac with PCs

There are several things to check when attempting to network a Mac with PCs.
In addition to the usual firewall settings and Leopard sharing settings, there are a few other items that are important to setup properly.
I will not consider Domains. This is a separate topic.
For home systems, a Workgroup is all that is necessary.

While this has been tested on my Leopard computers and two Windows XP computers, it should apply to other Mac OSs and other PC OSs as well. This is basic Workgroup home networking.

The very first thing to do is make sure all the computers are in the same workgroup. On my PCs for some reason, the workgroup name "workgroup" is toxic. By that, I mean that assigning either of my PCs workgroup to "workgroup" and then attempt to browse the network on that same PC, when I click on the workgroup "workgroup", I get an error. So don't use the name workgroup. Use another name. Homenet for this example.
A search of the internet shows that this a a very common issue with PCs.

Setting the PC workgroup name:
In the PC control panel under system, computer name, set the workgroup to Homenet. You will see a "welcome to Homenet" message. Click OK, be sure to also click OK in the system window and you will see a restart requirement. Click restart and when the system reboots, check that the workgroup name is the new one. Homenet in our example.

Now, open a Windows desktop explorer and click the + sign under My Network Places. DO NOT click the actual link. There is a MS bug involved.
After clicking the + sign, click Entire Network and then select Microsoft Windows Network and then the workgroup itself - in our case - Homenet, the one you just created. You should see the PC you are using.

If you get this far, the PC is properly setup to network with any other computer in the Homenet workgroup. You may have to change other PCs to this same workgroup to make them all compatible.
Note that Windows capitalized the name. However, it is case-insensitive, and HOMENET and Homenet are identical to it.

Setting the Mac workgroup name:
The next step is to put your Mac into the new workgroup. This is often difficult because of some strange Mac bug, but there is a very easy workaround. No need to trash .plist files.

On your Mac, open System Preferences and select Network. Click the Advanced button and select the WINS tab. You want to enter the new workgroup name in Workgroup. Enter the name, in this case Homenet and check to see if it "sticks." Click OK and then Apply and then click the Advanced button and WINS again. If the old workgroup is back or if the space is blank, you have just experienced the previously mentioned bug so proceed as follows:

Many have noticed that the new Workgroup name will not "stick" as have I. The simplest way to fix this is to create a new Location in the main Network panel as follows:
Before proceeding, write down the WINS NetBIOS name.

If the Location name is home, for example, pick home1 or some new name. Do not use the same name as the workgroup.

To create a new Location, click the arrows on the right of the Location: tab and select "Edit Locations" Click the + on the bottom of the window and then enter the new Location name in the box. Click "Done then click Apply"

Wait for the DHCP and other system functions to recognize the new location. Normally you do not have to do anything but wait.

Once the computer is back online under the new location, click the Advanced button and WINS again. If the NetBIOS name is blank, enter the old name, which you copied down. Under Workgroup: enter the new workgroup name, in our case, Homenet. Click OK and then Apply. Now click Advanced again and WINS and you should see that the new workgroup name has stuck.

That's it:
That should be all that is necessary for having all the PCs and Macs see each other. The PCs should pop up in the Finder under Places, and on the PCs, the Macs should show up when you access the workgroup Homenet.
You will have to login to each Mac from the PC, using an existing account and password. The PC will store the login info if you so desire. I do not recommend it, since PCs are not as secure as are Macs.
When connected to a PC from the Mac, you normally connect as a guest. Click "Connect As" on the Finder window and a PC login screen will pop up. Login to the PC using an existing account. You have the option to connect as Guest of Registered User. No matter, you will still only be able to access shared files.
For this login, you can safely store the login data in the Mac keychain.

I don't know if I have covered all the details but over the last few days I have managed to iron out all the networking problems I occasionally had. The biggest problem, as I noted, was using the workgroup name "workgroup" which sometimes works and sometimes does not. Don't use it.


Edit
New additional text is in blue:

If the Location name is home, for example, pick home1 or some new name. Do not use the same name as the workgroup.

To create a new Location, click the arrows on the right of the Location: tab and select "Edit Locations" Click the + on the bottom of the window and then enter the new Location name in the box. Click "Done then click Apply"



Wait for the DHCP and other system functions to recognize the new location. Normally you do not have to do anything but wait.
Hi nerowolfe,

While this has been tested on my Leopard computers and two Windows XP computers, it should apply to other Mac OSs and other PC OSs as well. This is basic Workgroup home networking.

I think with Tiger, the Windows Workgroup name is setup using Directory Access, Changing the workgroup for your Mac

Can anyone tell how this would work under Vista? Or should we confine this tip to Leopard and XP?

Thanks,
Nubz N.
I didn't see this article mentioned, though it may be worthwhile:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2959?viewlocale=en_US