Airport Extreme Setup Question

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Level 2

188 points

Airport Extreme Setup Question

I just set up an Airport Extreme, and everything is working fine, except for one thing. The Airport Extreme has two computers and a printer connected to the ethernet ports and an external hard disk connected to the USB port. The computer that I used to set up the Airport Extreme to establish my wireless network can see the external hard disk, but the second computer cannot see the hard disk. The second computer can see the Airport Extreme on the local network, but when I click on the triangle next to the Airport Extreme in the “Network” window (which appears when I select “Go: Network” in the Finder), the hard disk connected to the Airport Extreme does not show up. Is there a setting somewhere that I need to change to allow the second computer to access the external hard disk?

MacBook Pro 2.8 GHz (OS 10.6.4), MacBook Pro 2.2GHz (OS 10.6.4), iPhone 4

Posted on Jan 22, 2011 12:23 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Bob Timmons

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Level 10

159,272 points

Jan 22, 2011 8:25 AM in response to ldamario

Is there a setting somewhere that I need to change to allow the second computer to access the external hard disk?

I assume that you have restarted the complete network, correct?

Open Macintosh HD and look under the SHARED heading on the left of the window to see if the icon for your AirPort Extreme appears there.

Yes? Click the AirPort Extreme icon and a folder representing the hard drive will appear to the right. You may need to click "Connect As" in the upper right corner of the window. You can drag/drop or copy/paste to this folder. If you double click the folder, the drive will mount on the desktop.

No? Click anywhere on the open desktop so that the Finder menus appear at the top of the screen.
Click Finder, then click Preferences
Click the General tab
Under the heading of Show These Items on the Desktop, make sure there is a check mark next to "Connected Servers"

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Answer 2

ldamario Author

Level 2

188 points

Jan 22, 2011 2:59 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Using your directions, I believe my problem has been solved. What I was missing was that I had click on “Connect As” and then enter the Airport Extreme password to get the external hard disk to show up. Then, double clicking on the volumes (i.e., partitions) of the external hard disk causes them to mount on the desktop.

Strangely, I don’t have to do the “Connect As” thing on the computer I used to set up the Airport Extreme. The external hard shows up automatically.

Thanks.

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Answer 3

Jan 22, 2011 3:27 PM in response to ldamario

Strangely, I don’t have to do the “Connect As” thing on the computer I used to set up the Airport Extreme. The external hard shows up automatically.

Not so strange since you probably clicked the "remember this password in my keychain" when you set up the AirPort Extreme. Under the Disks icon, the default is to "Secure Shared Disks with AirPort Extreme Password". So, your computer already had the information in place to access the disk. So, you did not see the "Connect As" on this computer.

The second computer had not stored this information, so you had to enter the disk password (same as the AirPort Extreme password) in order to access the disk. That info is now stored so you won't have to "Connect As" in the future.

In any case, glad things appear to be working!

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Answer 4

ldamario Author

Level 2

188 points

Jan 22, 2011 5:36 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Bob Timmons wrote:

The second computer had not stored this information, so you had to enter the disk password (same as the AirPort Extreme password) in order to access the disk. That info is now stored so you won't have to "Connect As" in the future.

This part is not working quite as you described for the second computer. Even though I have checked the box for "Remember this password in my keychain", every time I want to mount the hard disk, I have to type in the password.

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Answer 5

Feb 20, 2011 4:06 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Can you help me set the second computer up...on Windows 7? It looks like I should be able to get thru in this same manner. I just don't know where to start. My base station does not appear when attempting to set up on my second computer.

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Answer 6

Feb 20, 2011 4:19 PM in response to hayburner

Sorry, I cannot help at all on PC related stuff. You might want to try posting in the AirPort for Windows Forum since the PC guys hang out over there.

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