Q: Lion can't connect to Windows Server 2003 shares

Maybe this will help:

Authentication issues when connecting to a Lion SMB server

or this one:

Mac OS X: Mounting shared folders using an smb:// URL or the mount_smbfs command

OS X Lion: Connecting to legacy AFP services

Sadly I tried this without success also. We can connect via SMB but we'd really like to get AFP access back.

Can someone from Apple chime in here please on AFP to Windows 2003.

The com.apple.AppleShareClient.plist articles seem to be the only fix posted.

Obviously this is not working for many people. I too have tried this fix to connect my 10.7 Mac to Windows 2003 shares with no success. They worked fine in 10.6.8 and below but no AFP since 10.7 to Windows 2003 servers. SMB works fine. Also AFP/Time Machine to FreeNAS servers works fine.

Can someone from Apple definitively tell us whether AFP to Windows 2003 servers should work, if so how do we fix it or tell us it does not work. I am on 10.7.4 now and it still is not working. I am getting tired of feeling like I am banging up against a brick wall.

George Gunzelma-

Can someone from Apple chime in here please on AFP to Windows 2003.

These are User-to-User forums. Apple makes no promise of reading items posted here, and NEVER responds here.

If you want an offical opinion from Apple Inc, please call AppleCare.

I am also having problems with Lion 10.7.4 connecting to a Windows 2003 Server using AFP. Like other people have said, SMB works fine, but we do not like SMB. We want AFP back. All our pre-Lion machines connect to the Windows Server just fine.

I did call Apple and talked to Enterprise Support and absolutely got no where. The guy I talked to (PJ) suggested I update the Windows 2003 server after I told him the famous message everyone has been getting (that the server is not supported by Lion). Well, in my situation, I do not have access to the Windows Server, and now I have Lion machines that are useless. If Apple is going to make a dramatic move like this, shouldn't there be a preference setting in case the user wanted to enable the UAM's to get the AFP server connection back. Disabled UAM's are discussed in a kb Apple support article HT4700 (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4700).

The steps in the article do not work in Lion 10.7.4, and I tried them over and over with no success. The main point of the article is to enable the UAM's (that Lion disabled), so client-server connections once again will work when connecting to Windows 2003 servers.

I there is no solution, that's fine, but it would be nice to know if there is because I hate using the SMB protocol.

I am having the same problem. HT4700 does not fix the problem for AFP. I can connect using SMB, but that causes horrible side effects.

After connecting with SMB the Macs file system no longer displays newly created files (no kidding!). To repeat: If I go to TextEdit (or any other program) and save a file to the Desktop or to a folder, that file does not appear in the Finder or in an Open dialog box. The only way to find the newly created file is to search for it by name. If I click on the file in the list of found files and move it a tiny bit, the file will suddenly appear in the Finder. I can clear this problem by starting in safe mode. Then everything works normally until I access the Windows 2003 Server using SMB. Then the problem returns. This happens on several Macs just upgraded to Lion 10.7.4. Our other Macs running Lion 10.7.3 are fine.

I have went into the properties for File Server for Macintosh.  I am also running server 2003 and am having the same issues as well as problems with products of CS5 saving back onto the server.  I am attempting to update the File Associations and also made a security change to Apple Clear Text or Microsoft in authentification. This is the spot I decided to start working in first.....

To see the smb shares on a window 2003 server you need to make sure the hidden option is turned off on the server for the macs to see the share.  If you are only using a afp share you need to setup a new share on the 2003 server using smb.