My mac can't connect to a windows server?

You'll need to provide us more information before any one can offer a suggestion.

How are you trying to connect? What protocol? Are there any error messages? If so, what?

if you switch to the 3-pane view then highlight the server, does it give you a "connect as" box on the far right pane?

click that then enter your windows username and password. this "should" solve your problem or at least let us know its not an authentication problem

Quantic –

I am going to assume that you are connecting to a Windows Domain – if so the easiest way to connect is to join your Mac to the Windows Domain. To do this will need to use ‘Directory Utility’ located as follows:

Click on ‘Finder’ then go to ‘Applications’

Application -> Utilities -> Directory Utility

Unlock the utility (you will need to have admin rights to your Mac)

There you will need to click on Directory Servers (should be the default), click on the ‘+’ select ‘Active Directory’ as the directory type and provide the name of your Windows Domain (you will need to get this from your Network Admin), enter a computer ID (again I would get this from your Network Admin so as to maintain proper network naming conventions), finally you will need an account that has permission to add a workstation to the Domain, normally any authenticated user has that right though I would recommend that you have your Network Admin join you Mac into the Domain using the ‘administrator’ account.

Once you Mac is in your Company’s Domain you should be able to browse the network and connect to any share that you have permissions to.

Now if you trying to connect to a Windows WORKGROUP that will be a bit more challenging as you will need to have an account on each of the systems that you try to access with your Mac assuming some type of user security. To connect to a share on a PC you will need to go to ‘GO’ on the ‘Finder’ tool bar and select ‘Connect to Server’. In the Server Address location enter the name of the PC and share that you are attempting to connect to:

smb://workstation/share

Where Workstation is the name of the PC you are trying to connect to and Share is the name of the shared folder on that PC. If all goes ok you should be prompted to provide a username and password to access the share.

Hope this helps –

BH

Hi guys,

I just don't get it. I found this thread, so I thought someone might be kind enough to try and help me.

This is what I am working with:

Windows 2008 Server 64 bit
MacBook Pro with 10.5.5
Windows XP Professional SP 3

The XP Pro desktop joined my domain, no problem. When I go to my MacBook Pro, I went through the instructions you provided, but when after I enter in the admin account/password in order to join the domain, I get "invalid domain" messages.

If I go to the Finder, I can see both the Windows Server and XP Pro Desktop, and I can even connect to both of them if I sign in with the same account info.

What in the world am I missing here? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Telexx -

Sorry for the delayed response on this – I have not worked much with Server 2008 (it is on my to-do list) so I am not sure how much help I can be of help here. If you are getting ‘invalid domain’ it sounds like your iMac can’t find the domain, give this a try – open a Terminal session on your iMac and try to ping your domain (i.e. domainname.local or domainname.com), if you don’t get a response try:

1. Assigning your iMac a static IP address. Make sure to add your domain controller IP address to the DNS Server list and move it to the top of the search list. Also add your domain to the ‘Search Domains’ list.

and/or

2. Try adding both the Domain Controller and Domain to your host file that is located in the etc DIR.

For example -

dc01 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
domainname.local xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

After you make the first change re-test pinging to your domain – if you get a response try joining the Domain again. If you still don’t get a response from the Ping test try the second option.

Hope this helps and good luck –

BH

Telexx -

Sorry for the delayed response on this – I have not worked much with Server 2008 (it is on my to-do list) so I am not sure how much help I can be of help here. If you are getting ‘invalid domain’ it sounds like your iMac can’t find the domain, give this a try – open a Terminal session on your iMac and try to ping your domain (i.e. domainname.local or domainname.com), if you don’t get a response try:

1. Assigning your iMac a static IP address. Make sure to add your domain controller IP address to the DNS Server list and move it to the top of the search list. Also add your domain to the ‘Search Domains’ list.

and/or

2. Try adding both the Domain Controller and Domain to your host file that is located in the etc DIR.

For example -

dc01 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
domainname.local xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx


After you make the first change re-test pinging to your domain – if you get a response try joining the Domain again. If you still don’t get a response from the Ping test try the second option.

Hope this helps and good luck –

BH

BH, you are my Mac tech savior! The option 1 worked wonders, and it automatically bound the server/AD. I wonder why a static address is necessary for this? Interesting... Thanks SO much for your time. Sorry for the delayed response as well. I almost gave up on trying and forgot to re-check this thread heheh...