From my iMac, the Document Folder's content on my network connected MacBook not shown

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Level 1

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From my iMac, the Document Folder's content on my network connected MacBook not shown

My iMac and MacBook Pro are both connected to my local network. Both have Catalina OS. From my iMac Finder window I see my MBP on the Locations side pane window. I connect to my MBP as a Registered user (user exist on the MBP), which by the way is also the same user on my iMac

I do all the following from a Finder window on my iMac

From the iMac Finder window, I see all my folders on my MBP (Applications, Desktop, Documents, etc..) . However when opening the Documents Folder for my MBP (via the iMac Finder window) I get a message that I do not have permissions. The same goes when trying to access the Downloads Folder.

I do a Get Info on the Documents Folder and I see that my user (Me) has Read Write access and everyone has No Access. I do a Get Info on a Folder that I can see its content and the permissions are the same (my user (Me) has Read & Write access, everyone has No Access)

Looking for ideas to check as to all the permissions seem to be fine and the same across all folders, but for these two folders there is something else going on. Any help or guidance is appreciated!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on Feb 15, 2020 12:37 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

D.I. Johnson

Level 7

22,355 points

Feb 15, 2020 1:58 PM in response to Ciao Amico

You may need to include the Documents folder as a shared folder on the MacBook Pro.

Click System Preferences > Sharing

Here's some light reading on the subject:

Set up file sharing on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Ciao Amico Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 15, 2020 4:53 PM in response to Ciao Amico

For the sake of closure, I came across this post in the community regarding Catalina/File Sharing:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250716547

So, I turned off File Sharing on my MBP, turned it back on, then relaunched the Finder on my iMac. I can now see the contents of the Documents Folder on my MBP from my iMac.

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Answer 3

Ciao Amico Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 15, 2020 4:24 PM in response to D.I. Johnson

Thanks for the prompt response.

I did add the Documents folder as a shared folder (on MacBook Pro) under System Preferences/File Sharing and provided the same user access, but still not working.

I also tried the reverse of this. Access the Documents Folder on my iMac from my MBP and same issue. I know I am logged in as a the right user since I can access other folders and documents within that same User folder, it just seems to be both Download and Documents that are giving me this issue. On my iMac under System Preferences/File Sharing I am sharing the whole User folder. So this is really weird. I did not have this issue before but it has been a while since I did something of the sort, and I recently upgraded both systems to Catalina.

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Answer 4

Ciao Amico Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 15, 2020 4:45 PM in response to Ciao Amico

Just to add another data point, I have another iMac (older version) on the my local network but running OS High Sierra. I was able to access the MBP/User/Documents folder without issue!

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