How do I connect to a shared folder on another Mac?

Question

Level 1

62 points

How do I connect to a shared folder on another Mac?

I have a shared folder from another mac (let's call it Mac 01). It's been mounted on the desktop of Mac 02 for so long that I've forgotten how I got it there!

We had a brief power cut the other day & now I need to re-mount the shared folder from Mac 1 onto Mac 2, I just cannot remember for the life of me how I did it last time.

When I open a new window & click on Mac 2 (under "locations" on the left of the window) the hard drive & a "Network" icon appears. I would have expected to click on the Network icon & for Mac 1 to appear as an option, but nothing's happening.

Can anyone help me troubleshoot this?

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on Dec 11, 2025 7:32 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 11, 2025 7:53 AM in response to del.frost

from the second link above:

Connect to a computer or server by browsing

On your Mac, click in the Dock to open a Finder window, then click Network in the Locations section of the sidebar.
If no items appear in the Locations section of the sidebar, hold the pointer over the word Locations, then click .

if no joy, perhaps the source computer has lost its sharing settings.

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Answer 2

Dec 11, 2025 7:38 AM in response to del.frost

"Sharing" in this context means 'make available for others to use'.

Then you just connect to them and they mount as a virtual drive on your Mac.

Login credentials are very important here. You will need the same credentials to connect (to view and manipulate those files) as you would to log in and see them on the remote Mac.

Set up file sharing on Mac - Apple Support

Connect your Mac to shared computers and servers - Apple Support

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Answer 3

del.frost Author

Level 1

62 points

Dec 11, 2025 7:48 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for your reply.

I mean, it only unmounted due to a power cut so no credentials have changed.

""Sharing" in this context means 'make available for others to use'."

I've done that, it's available for others to use.

"Then you just connect to them"

That's the part that keeps getting glossed over. What are the actual steps I should take to connect to them?

As outlined above, when I click on the Network icon that appears under Locations, nothing appears, so I'm kinda stuck.

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Answer 4

Dec 11, 2025 8:13 AM in response to del.frost

The "full drill" involves a dialog box and entering login credentials for the remote computer. When re-connecting using saved credentials, all that stuff still happens, but it goes on 'behind your back'. That takes a palpable amount of time.

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Answer 5

del.frost Author

Level 1

62 points

Dec 11, 2025 7:57 AM in response to del.frost

Ah, the folder's just appeared out of nowhere. Thanks!

(I mean, it worked exactly how I thought it should work & exactly how your links confirmed it should work, it just took ages to arrive!)

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