Connect to a mac from windows 2000

Question

Connect to a mac from windows 2000

I can connect from the mac, but am just extremely lost on how to connect to the mac from my pc. I go to My Network Places and search the entire network and get no results. When I try to Add Network Place, I don't know what to do at the prompt "Type the location of the Network Place". Everything I try to put in there comes back "the folder you entered does not appear to be valid." When I browse, it also won't let me create a new folder, telling me "Unable to create a path to FLDR. The specified path is invalid." I'm missing something very simple. I am able to manage the pc from my mac so easily, but my absolute lack of knowledge in windows is preventing me from getting past these network basics on that machine. Help. By the way, i'm using 10.3.9 on the mac

Posted on Aug 30, 2005 1:16 PM

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Answer 1

iFelix

Level 8

35,167 points

Aug 30, 2005 3:20 PM in response to Jon Van Leuven

Type in \\IP Address of Mac\Mac Username

example

\\192.168.0.10\felix

Though for XP should also work for Windows 2000
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3001.html

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Answer 2

Aug 30, 2005 10:49 PM in response to iFelix

I get a little further now. When I type in my ip and username, it takes me to the next step where it asks for me to "Enter a Name For This Network Place". I have tried both to leave it as is and put a simple name in there, but both times when I clicked next, it told me "The account is not authorized to log in from this station". SO that's where I'm stuck now.
By the way, the machines are on the same subnet and the mac still connects to the pc just peachy, so I have strong convictions that the network is good.

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Answer 3

Aug 30, 2005 10:56 PM in response to Jon Van Leuven

also windows sharing is enabled on the mac and it tells me at the bottom that "windows users can access your computer at \\ip address\username. It seems like it should work, but something is still missing

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Answer 4

iFelix

Level 8

35,167 points

Aug 31, 2005 12:37 AM in response to Jon Van Leuven

] "The account is not authorized to log in from this station"

You need to create a matching account so that an account on the PC and the Mac are the same, with the same username (shortname) and password.

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Answer 5

Aug 31, 2005 11:24 AM in response to iFelix

matched username (shortname) and password and still got the same error. On the positive side, it looked like the computer thought about it a little longer before rejecting it this time.
mac still connects to pc

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Answer 6

Aug 31, 2005 1:43 PM in response to Jon Van Leuven

Make sure you have Windows File Sharing turned on.

System Preferences -> Sharing -> Add checkbox

Access from PC with \\ip.addy.of.pc\sharedfoldername

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Answer 7

Aug 31, 2005 1:44 PM in response to William Davis

Whoops, your thread saying you did that was hidden.

Make sure your Mac isn't using IPSec of some other form of IP address-based access filtering.

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Answer 8

iFelix

Level 8

35,167 points

Aug 31, 2005 2:26 PM in response to Jon Van Leuven

] matched username (shortname) and password and still got the same error. On the positive side, it looked like the computer thought about it a little longer before rejecting it this time.

Is the account on the PC an administrative account with admin privileges?

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Answer 9

Aug 31, 2005 3:10 PM in response to iFelix

the account created on the pc was administrative. I created the account, then logged out and back in as that account with administrative privileges, but no connection to the mac.
As far as I can tell, my VPN option in the Internet Connect application shows that the status of the "L2TP over IPSec" configuration is idle.
I do appreciate your help, but I am beginning to despair. I do feel that the problem might be in something that I overlooked in accounts control panel either on the mac or pc, but I don't know what it could be. They both seem to mirror each other in access privileges.

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Answer 10

Aug 31, 2005 3:21 PM in response to Jon Van Leuven

You're not trying to use VPN to connect to a remote mac, are you?

I'm pretty sure that doesn't work unless there's a VPN server using the same transport (L2TP in this case) on the Mac. None of the native services act as vpn, as of Tiger.

The advice given up to this point was based on the assumption that you were on a local Lan using either Ethernet or wifi. If we were mistaken, please accept my apology.

If you actually are using ethernet or wifi and not VPN, and I confused you with my reference to IPSec, I also apologize.

The last thing I know to check is to make sure you actually have a real shared resource (not an administrative-only share) on the windows box. You can't access any admin-only resource whose sharename ends in $ remotely on a Mac.

If you need access to such a share, you'll have to assign it an additional name under the Sharing tab of the resource's properties pane. (Right-click, properties; alt-enter while highlighted; alt-doubleclick) Windows will get annoyed when you do this, but if you click yes/ok, it'll do it.

Note: Sharing an entire volume presents a SUBSTANTIAL SECURITY RISK on any public-facing PC. Exercise caution when doing this and make sure your firewall is blocking incoming SMBs from the internet unless you're absolutely sure you need to allow this access over the internet.

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Answer 11

Aug 31, 2005 3:33 PM in response to Jon Van Leuven

Are you using the Netbios name of the Computer or the IP Address?

Try this:
Make sure you are logged into your Windoze computer as the shortname/password that you have on your Mac. They need to be identical. ( Captialization or lack there of included )

Click Start, Run \\Ip.address.of.mac

You should get straight into it. You may get a Username and password field. If so use, the admin shortname and password of the Mac.

Once connected and you can see the share you want, Right Click it, Go to Map Network Drive, assign it the drive letter of your choice and bango there you go.

If none of this works, then I have some other questions.

When you connect from your Mac to Windoze are you using SMB or Appletalk?

Is your firewall on, on your Mac?

Is your Windoze box in a DMZ or PSN ( Private Services Network )?

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Answer 12

Aug 31, 2005 9:38 PM in response to Ryan Haller

Still Nothing
the c drive on my windows machine is fully shared. I can get to the c drive on the windows machine from the mac without any problems. I am using SMB. The firewall on my mac is off. It is not a Private network. DMZ is disabled on my linksys router. Firewall is disabled on the router. This is just a simple home network.

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Answer 13

Sep 1, 2005 2:19 AM in response to Ryan Haller

odd. The other mac on my network has the same user info and OS as my powerbook. It also seems to have the same network configuration. It's my old G4 tower that I use for storage. The pc sees it and can access my user on that mac. I'll have to run through both machines and see where the variance is.
Thanks for your help

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Answer 14

Sep 1, 2005 12:15 PM in response to Jon Van Leuven

When you attempt to connect what exactly is the error that you get?

It is possible windoze is attempting to connect to the mac using cached credentials, which are wrong, so you can never connect.

Try changing the IP address of the mac and see what happens.

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Answer 15

Sep 1, 2005 2:05 PM in response to Jon Van Leuven

The most common issue that can cause this is a permissions issue. Specifically, the user accessing the share has read, but not write priviliges.

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