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Connecting to Windows Server

I've used PC's since 1984 and just bought our first two Mac's. (MacBook Air 11 & 13). I also purchased MS Office with Outlook. I need to connect them to our office LAN. Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003. (I know they are old, but that is why I bought the Mac's because I am considering changing the office to a Mac environment.) I have connected hundreds of PC to a Windows network environment over the years so I have a general understanding of the process.


I assume I am running Lion or Mountain Lion (don't know what the difference is or how to tell yet.) I was able to put the Domain information into the Mac and can see other computers on the network, but when I try to connect to any of them, I get a connection failed message. Don't even know where to start to address this problem. Don't know whether the problem is in the Mac settings or on the Server or both.


Please help.

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Sep 4, 2012 11:08 AM

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Posted on Sep 6, 2012 4:34 AM

Hi,


I've done the same process a year ago, moving from a windows 7 to Mac running Lion (10.7)


Start by reading this:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1568


osx version is found by clicking on the apple icon and selecting "About This Mac"

10.7.x is Lion and 10.8.x is Mountain Lion


I'm sure you're aware that you need to download Remote Desktop Connection for Mac seperately.


So far I'm very happy with my migration to Mac and using it for work.


Good luck

3 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Sep 6, 2012 4:34 AM in response to Old Dog - New Tricks

Hi,


I've done the same process a year ago, moving from a windows 7 to Mac running Lion (10.7)


Start by reading this:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1568


osx version is found by clicking on the apple icon and selecting "About This Mac"

10.7.x is Lion and 10.8.x is Mountain Lion


I'm sure you're aware that you need to download Remote Desktop Connection for Mac seperately.


So far I'm very happy with my migration to Mac and using it for work.


Good luck

Sep 6, 2012 7:41 AM in response to halmac

Thank you for your reply.


I believe that I have Lion (not sure what the difference is, but that is a topic for another day). I read the article you pointed to and if I understand it correctly, Mac's are pretty worthless in a corporate environment!!! On my PC, I would log into my PC using my domain user name and password (or any PC in the office), and have access to all of the domain resources that I am authorized to access . . . the Exchange Server, domain controllers, file servers, networked printers, etc. Once logged on, the entire network was a click away, searchable, etc. If I didn't know exactly where a file had been saved, I could usually find it by searching the entire network or individual subdirectories/servers.


As I understand the article, to connect to any domain resource, I have to know the IP address (or full name discriptor) of that resource, then connect to it and it alone. I was able to connect that way to our main domain controller, but boy . . . what a pain!!! I have no idea how I could set up Mac Outlook to work with our Exchange Server in that environment.


If each local area network resource must be connected to individually, then my experiement with MAC's for business use will be short lived. I will have to leave the toys to the kids and return to a PC in order to do real work.


Again, thank you for the reply and it was helpful. If anyone else has other ideas, I would love to hear them.

Dec 11, 2012 2:57 PM in response to Old Dog - New Tricks

Are you using a Windows Active Directory domain? Mac OS X can connect to a windows domain and use network resources like a Windows client can.


  • Go to System Preferences, then click Accounts.
  • Click the gold lock button to edit the options and input Administrator credentials.
  • Click Login Options at the bottom of the left pane of the window.
  • You'll see an option at the bottom of the window that says "Network Account Server" and a button that says "Join."
  • Type in your Windows ADDS information and a user account with permission to add computers to the domain.
  • Disable Automatic Login
  • You might be prompted to restart. If not, I'd restart anyway to test it out.
  • The computer will go through some processes and will be part of the domain, allowing users to log in with Windows Active Directory Domain Services account credentials.


Unfortunately, group policy doesn't work, so you'll have to use scripts and some clever thinking to automatically link users' redirected folders and network resources, but the computer shouldn't have any problems allowing network users to connect and use network resources just like on Windows clients, and Exchange should work nicely.


I'm a Network Administrator and I've been in several environments with Macs on a Windows Server network. This also works with Linux domains.


Let me know if you have any questions. 🙂

-Jameson

Connecting to Windows Server

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