Unable to access MacMini from my Win7PC!

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Level 2

158 points

Unable to access MacMini from my Win7PC!

Setup:

MacMini running OSX 10.6.8

Windows PC running System7 64-bit - WORKGROUP

I can easily access my Win7 PC from my Mac, but I have never been able to figure out how to make my Win7PC able to see the Mac on my home network (WORKGROUP). All my cross-platform network file operations have to be initiated from the Mac...this sad, inconvenient state of affairs has plagued me for years despite many periodic teeth-clenching attempts that always end in failure.

I tried following the instructions in this great article that I found recently:

http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/08/share-files-from-mac-to-windows-pc/

...but after I set both computers up as the article recommends, and then do Windows Start\Run\ and enter my Mac's address "192.168.0.8". as shown in my Mac's File Sharing control panel in System Preferences, Windows just reports, "Windows cannot find "192.168.0.8".

I assume this is because in my Mac's System Prefs\File Sharing\Options, the number of users connected under "Share files and folders using AFP", is zero, whereas the article's screenshots show that his says the number of users connected under "Share files and folders using AFP", is 1.

Why is that number zero, on my Mac?

Posted on Sep 20, 2019 12:21 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

autochthon Author

Level 2

158 points

Sep 21, 2019 6:30 AM in response to Tesserax

Tesserax, that did it! I had both AFP and SMB boxes checked. Turning off AFP did the trick.

Furthermore after successfully accessing the Mac via 192.168.0.8, and creating shortcuts to the resulting Mac shared folder icons, and putting those shortcuts on my Windows desktop, I was very pleased to see that restarting Win7 did not 'kill' the connections; the shortcuts still work.

This original, fast, easy tutorial that I found, showing how to access a Mac from Win7, was spot on! I hope the link never breaks - it will surely help thousands of others with a similar problem:

http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/08/share-files-from-mac-to-windows-pc/

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Answer 2

Tesserax

Level 10

148,763 points

Sep 20, 2019 12:50 PM in response to autochthon

AFP is an Apple propriety file sharing protocol that is not native to Windows 7 (or any version of Windows). In order for your Win7 PC to access files on your Mac mini, they need to be shared out via SMB. To so so, on your Mac go to System Preferences > Sharing > File Sharing > Options > Share files and folders using SMB

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

56,000 points

Sep 20, 2019 4:56 PM in response to autochthon

If you used SMB sharing as described in your linked article, then Is your Windows PC and Mac on the same subnet? That is do both systems have the 192.168.0.X IP address?

Do you have any security software on Win7 that might be blocking or interfering?

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Answer 4

autochthon Author

Level 2

158 points

Sep 21, 2019 6:44 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you HWTech, for your suggestions. Yes, both systems are on the same subnet, and apparently no security software was part of the problem: Tesserax had the solution! SMB sharing needed to be turned off.

Since there are other Macs on my network, it would seem logical that the MacMini could/should have both AFP and SMB turned "on" so that the other macs (using AFP) plus the Win7 PC (using SMB) could all access the MacMini's shared folders, so that's how I had the MacMini's sharing options configured. But since I really don't have any major need to access the MacMini from those other Macs, I'm gonna count my blessings for now and just enjoy being able to access the MacMini from the Win7 PC, for the first time in a very long time.

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

148,763 points

Sep 21, 2019 9:35 AM in response to autochthon

Great! I'm glad you got it worked out.

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Unable to access MacMini from my Win7PC!

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