Windows Disk Sharing

Leave the drive formatted as HFS+. When it's connected to the base station, your PC will be able to read/write to it without the use of any third party software - the base station takes care of converting the data.

Assuming that your Windows PC can see the Airport, you just need to enable sharing and set the Workgroup name.
Run Airport Utility > Manual Setup > Disks. Make sure that Sharing is enabled, and set the Workgroup name to be the same as the one that's set in your Windows PC. The default for XP is "Mshome".

The drive should now be accessible from Explorer, under "My Network Places".

Can you see the drive if you connect the PC to the base station with an ethernet cable?

Can the PC see the Mac, via the base station?

I assume that both computers can access the internet?
It does sound like a setup problem.

What network hardware are you using (modem, router, base station), and how is it all connected?

And is the Extreme connected to a modem via the WAN port, or do you have another router?

I think that you need to get the Mac and the PC talking to each other first - probably the same setup problem is why the PC can't see the HDD. Possibly they are setup on, effectively, different networks.

What "wireless mode" are you using for the Extreme?
Are you using DHCP?

What are the IP addresses of the computers? Look in System Preferences > Network for the Mac.
Type "ipconfig" at the command prompt for the PC.

Both computers are on the same network, both can see the internet, so it should work!

What happens if you run Airport Utility on the PC? Does Airport Utility see the base station and the HDD?
Can the Mac see the Windows PC in Finder > (your Mac's name) > Network?

Seems like this problem may be Vista-related, rather than a setup problem with the base station. There's another poster here with the same problem.

I've no experience with Vista, so I can't think what they may have changed.
Maybe it's a security/firewall problem?

With XP, what you've done would work! I've got XP as dual-boot on my iMac, and 2 XP PCs. They can all access the TC and it's USB HDD no problem. I didn't have to configure the ethernet ports at all. Default DHCP just worked.

I wonder - can you disable Vista's security and try connecting? Might be worth disconnecting the base station from your modem before you try it.

I've got the same setup, but am using XP Pro and I still cannot see the disk. I have tried all the settings.

I have an AirPort Extreme Base Station, with the WAN connected to my high speed modem. I have a 1TB Maxtor OneTouch drive connected to the USB port. I also have an HP printer connected to a LAN port that is shared wirelessly. And an Airport Express downstairs bridging the network with speakers attached. I just can't get the disk to show up in Windows.

Both have the same workgroup. I used the disk previously when directly attached via USB to my laptop. I have tried disabling my firewall.
I can see the disk in the Airport Setup Utility.

Hi Guys,

I am having the same issue with my windows XP based laptop. I can see the USB mounted hard drive in the airport utility but can see it on my laptop. Applecare suggested I map the drive using the IP address of the airport extreme and the drive name but I can't get it to work. I have spent hours on this and still can't get it working.

any ideas would be fantastic