files app to connect to mac

thank you, i'll give this a try soon. when trying to connect., i'm using the hostname i found in sys prefs > sharing, it's called mcalbook.attlocal.net, which i guess is derived from my mac name, and i have ATT uverse, so that's where the "attlocal" comes from?

welp. when i entered the IP address, after following your directions, i got an error about incorrect user or password, and i know i'm doing that right.

i took MBP to work, entered this new IP address, and got an error there was a problem connecting to the server (but not the user / pass). i went to sys prefs > security & privacy and checked to see SMB was allowed, the only not allowed ones are com.masi.ddpp.serverapp, and vlc.

i appreciate your help, maybe this just won't work with my mac and os.

i googled att blocking those ports and they do, but i think (way out of my league here), they block them from outside traffic, but not w/in a home network. https://about.att.com/sites/broadband/network

i dug around on my router at home, looking in the firewall section, but nothing jumped out. plus there are a million settings in there.

thanks for your help!

thanks for staying with me on this! when i googled "att uverse cable modem configure port forwarding" it pointed me towards this: https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/u-verse-high-speed-internet/KM1010278

and that takes me to a nat/gaming section under firewall, that indicates i open the previously mentioned ports, and not my IP address. this makes me wary that i may do something and mess up something else.

at home (on the att net) i'm getting a user/pass error, but at work i get "problem connecting to the server" error. it may be best for me to not go any further. maybe there's an incompatibility between my MBP's OS, 10.13.6, and iPad os? i tried on my iPhone, 13.1.2 and also got a user/pass error.

ok, i was able to smb connect to my work mac at work from the iPad, so i know it works. i have not taken home mac to work to see if i can connect there. BUT today at home, i created a new user acct on home mac (late 2011 MBP, 10.13.6), *and i _was_ able to connect* to the new user acct -- strange! i still get a user name or password error connecting to my main acct, and i know it's correct. as a test, i changed my password, rebooted the mac, rebooted the iPad and still it would not connect. BUT, i can connect to the new user acct.

at some point, in sys prefs, iCloud was asking me to re-enter my password, both iTunes and MBP ones. i guess maybe because i'd changed my MBP password, and i got excited, thinking maybe all along the iCloud request was waiting on me to re-enter it (that happens every now and then, a request to re-enter it), and maybe that was interfering w/ the iPad smb connecting to home mac.

i also have an old MBP, running 10.7.5, i tried connecting to it, but got a server error. in that system version, there was an option to change my user name in the users and groups section, i do not have that option on the mac i mainly use (late 2011). i have tried variations on my user name, marc.cardwell, or marcc, or marc -- i'm not sure where / how user name gets set.

i looked for some tracerout apps, was confused about which to pick, same for the dummy smb server, so i did not do that. i can connect, but only to the new user acct (guest doesn't work either, oddly).

thanks for sticking through on this, i'll mark it solved and i hope that gives you some credits or points.

Ok, I’ll keep at it. I don’t often take my home Mac to work with me, just my iPad these days. Hope to get back into it tonight.