Mac to Windows File Sharing

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Level 1

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Mac to Windows File Sharing

Hey guys,
Recently I put a spare hard drive in a pc on my network. The pc is running windows XP Home Sp2. My network is wireless, so the PC is connected via wifi to the router. My imac is configure to use the PC to connect to the internet. In order for me to connect to a shared anything on a pc, I should use smb://servername/sharname . However, I always get the error "Could not connect to the server because the user name or password is not correct." But it never asks me for a password, and I've deleted any past entries related to it from the Keychain. Does anyone know of any solutions to this, besides getting rid of the Windows machine?

iMac G4 - PowerPC, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 1Ghz Cpu - 1.25 gb ram

Posted on Aug 28, 2009 11:22 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

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Aug 28, 2009 11:32 AM in response to T3chn0logic

Hi T3chn0logic, and a warm welcome to the forums! 🙂

Tiger has a tough time doing Internet Sharing AND File Sharing at the same time, not quite sure how it interacts with Windows® that way though.

Find IP on computers...

http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/communication/ethernet/office/winxp/2882/

Are the first three numbers the same on both?

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Answer 2

T3chn0logic Author

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Aug 28, 2009 11:56 AM in response to BDAqua

PC Ip Address(shared) - 192.168.0.1
PC IP Address(Wifi Network) - 192.168.1.65
Mac IP - 192.168.0.83

I think I'm confusing the network, because I'm trying to connect to a PC, which is acting as my iMacs default gateway thru the WiFi network that the PC is connected to. But in my opinion, that shouldn't matter, because they are connected via Ethernet ports.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

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Aug 28, 2009 12:45 PM in response to T3chn0logic

I don't have a PC handy at the moment, but either it's just passing right through the PC to the Internet, not even really seeing the PC, or...

Did you make a new Mac user on the PC? I assume you set up that Drive for Sharing in Windows?

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Answer 4

T3chn0logic Author

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Aug 28, 2009 12:58 PM in response to BDAqua

Yes, the PC is set up for sharing. The extra HD is set to Shared. Im going to try and see if I can connect to that HD via a laptop I have which is running windows as well. I'll post back with the results. And what do you mean by "made a new mac user"?

Message was edited by: T3chn0logic

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Answer 5

BDAqua

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Aug 28, 2009 1:15 PM in response to T3chn0logic

PCs seem to share with other PCs without this, but often Macs require...

"On a stand-alone computer or a computer that is a member of a workgroup, a user account establishes the privileges assigned to each user. On a computer that is part of a network domain, a user must be a member of at least one group. The permissions and rights granted to a group are assigned to its members."...

http://www.microsoft.com.nsatc.net/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddo cs/en-us/usercpl_overview.mspx?mfr=true

http://www.microsoft.com.nsatc.net/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddo cs/en-us/usercpladduser.mspx?mfr=true

http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2006/12/05/create-a-new-user-account-in-vista /

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Answer 6

T3chn0logic Author

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Aug 28, 2009 6:00 PM in response to BDAqua

Well I think i've narrowed it down to a problem with the PC. I have an XP Pro laptop, and i set my mac to share the laptops internet, and i can still connect to any share on the laptop. So either its an XP Home Edition specific issue, or its something specific to that computer. I am thinking its specific to that computer, because it does not show its self under 'My Network Places', as does my laptop. But this isn't a windows forum, so I'll have to ask elsewhere for the solution i suppose. Unless you can offer another solution?

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Answer 7

BDAqua

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Aug 28, 2009 6:12 PM in response to T3chn0logic

IIRC XP Home does have some Networking crippled, but Might try Bonjour for Windows...

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/windows/bonjourforwindows.html

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Answer 8

SteveBMe

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Aug 28, 2009 6:15 PM in response to BDAqua

Hi BDA,
I'm going to chime in here because this appears to be similar to what I'm trying.
I turned off my firewall as recommended in the other discussion I was having with you, and I keep getting the no network set up error message I'd told you about.
I've now set the portable drive to share and allow users to change files. I'm waiting for the last partition to finish setting its permissions.

Now, looking at this discussion, I'm thinking there's something more to my issue.
According to the article link, I'm to set my exceptions-- did that-- also to set the udp, and tcp ports-- did that too.
Now, I'm starting to wonder if I need to set a user account with a password-- a couple of other articles mentioned this-- to do the access.

I don't see anyway to add a server to the Mac.

What more could I be missing here?

Thanks for allowing me to join the discussion here....

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Answer 9

BDAqua

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Aug 28, 2009 6:36 PM in response to SteveBMe

Glad to see you here Steve! 🙂

Now, I'm starting to wonder if I need to set a user account with a password-- a couple of other articles mentioned this-- to do the access.

On the PC side I find I need to... depending on which Windows® updates you have.

On the Mac side, you generally can just sign in from the PC with any Mac Username & PW, or Guest to the Shared folder.

I don't see anyway to add a server to the Mac.

Do you mean add a User?

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Answer 10

SteveBMe

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Aug 28, 2009 7:20 PM in response to BDAqua

well, I'm not up to sp3 on the win side-- system's 9 yrs old last month.
I do have everything else though-- update-wise. Oh, running xp-pro, sp2.

I can get into the mac from the pc. It's the other way that's the issue.
So, I guess the question would go to-- do I set up a secondary user account to do this, or is this just barking up an unnecessary tree stump?

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Answer 11

SteveBMe

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Aug 28, 2009 7:31 PM in response to SteveBMe

ok, found one more article... it says explicitly that I need to set up p/w protected user account.
http://guides.macrumors.com/NetworkingWindows_with_Mac_OSX

"It is important that the account you log in with on your XP system has a password set, if it does not you will not be able to login to your Windows share from OS X. "
I guess I'll start there....
will let you know.

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Answer 12

BDAqua

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Aug 28, 2009 7:54 PM in response to SteveBMe

Yes, that's what I was trying to say, but that's a lot clearer.

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Answer 13

SteveBMe

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Aug 28, 2009 9:05 PM in response to BDAqua

ok.... I'm in business now.
It appears that we do in fact need to do a password protected account on the xp system to gain access to the pc from mac.
Also, it'll help if the sharing permissions are set for the drives you want to move files from.

Thanks for the help, and providing links to review.

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Answer 14

BDAqua

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Aug 28, 2009 9:09 PM in response to SteveBMe

Great to hear, hope it helps T3chn0logic, thanks for stopping in here! 🙂

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Answer 15

SteveBMe

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Aug 29, 2009 4:34 PM in response to BDAqua

Well, after moving, and attempting to move numerous files, I've found that there are some files that it will not allow me to move.
I get the same error message-- not having sufficient privileges to move the files.
I'd set my access permissions to allow the users to change the files. Which I'm assuming means they can edit the files, and save an updated version at the source, as well as moving/copying the files.

So, I'm curious about two things.
1- is there a level of "depth into a directory" that Mac cannot access a networked drive through a PC?
2-Are there certain directory sizes that Mac just can't copy from?

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