My daughter and I want to share files between her MBP and my iMac. We're on the same network in our home. Is there a way to do this? I thought it was in system preferences un der sharing and select file sharing. But it seems that is for different accounts (users) on the same machine to share files. So how can I share between two macs?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)
This is what I read but it's for different users on onw machine. It says users on a network but as you read on it refers to one machine. Unless I'm missing something here, I still don't see how to get this to work. My daughter and I both have set up our preferences to do this, but we're alerted by a message that says we don't have permission to do this.
You need to have the same users on both machines. They don't need to have the same set of files. They just need to exist so that both users can log onto both machines. Then, setup sharing on one or more folders and give both users Read & Write access.
So we can't share files from two computers unless I become a user on her MBP and she on my iMac? Even though we're on the same network? She can't just drop a Pages file in the public folder for me to grab?
You can create sharing-only users in the Accounts preference pane. You can also allow guests to access shared folders, which is probably all you need to do. Just connect to the server as a guest and access the Public folder. In that case, be sure to disable File Sharing or activate the firewall when you leave your home network -- for example, when you're on a public WiFi hotspot.
Well, you can enable the Guest account in "sharing only" mode. That will allow either user to connect to the other machine and drop files in the other user's public folder's Drop Box. That is a write only location. It may be more of a hassle in the long run.
Lion has a new Airdrop file sharing mode, but I haven't tried it yet because my computer is too old.
Thanks everyone. I don't get it, but it's OK. We'll just use a flash drive to exchange files.
I've tried to understand this whole concept. Official Apple docs and manuals (as well as online tutorials -- they just copy&paste Apple docs) were completely useless. It took me an hour to finally figure it out on my own.
Here's what you do:
1. Go to System Preferences and click on Users & Groups;
2. Select the Guest User.
You might need to click on the lock icon at the bottom and enter admin password to make it selectable;
3. Check the "Allow guests to connect to shared folders". Do not touch the first checkbox that says "Allow guests to log in to this computer" because it has nothing to do with network access;
4. Head back to the System Preferences and click on Sharing.
5. Enable File Sharing by clicking on the checkbox left of it.
6. By default, there's gonna be only one folder enabled for sharing — your Public folder. Select that folder and change the access rights for Everyone to whichever you need (Read Only, Read & Write or Write Only). If you need to share additional folders, just drag-n-drop them to the Shared Folders list and change the rights the same way.
Repeat those steps on all your Macs if needed.
That's it. We've just enabled folder sharing over local network without creating any users.
If you need to further specify which folders get access over network
Awesome. Thank you.
I am having an issue with files becoming "read only" when another user who has "read and write" privileges opens them. did you run into this problem? When we open our own public folder documents, they are NOT "read only".
Trying to understand File Sharing
