Network browser not showing any network computers

Check System Preferences> Sharing> Firewall and make sure Windows File Sharing in checked. Also click the advanced button and uncheck the Stealth Mode and Block UDP Traffic options, and see if that helps. You can also review the Mac-Windows networking and printer sharing tips at iFelix Tech Notes.

Hello I have been struggling with this issue for 2 weeks now. I have been able to connect to my XP Box as described in Felix notes, but this is laborious! I want to be able to just see the shared servers when I click "network" icon. I have searched everywhere for an answer, but no one has been able to tell me with certainty whether or not I should just see the shared folders. Everywhere i go it describes how to connect by typing in the IP address. This is fine but I don't want to do that, I want to see them!! This shouldn't be this difficult. Is anyone aware of an Apple problem with this? Are they talking?

G5 ambient Mac OS X (10.4.7) connected to wireless router via airport

Same thing here... I had to get some files off of my sister's G5 imac, and no matter what I tried, it would ]not show up when I clicked on browse. I tried hooking these two computers up via straight-through ethernet, ad-hoc wireless network between the two, and via a wireless router. Nothing I did would get her computer to just "show up" in the network browser (like it's actually supposed to, ala Bonjour).
Her computer had sharing and appletalk activated. I couldn't even get it to come up by typing in the ip address.

I finally had to turn on sharing on my macbook. my macbook showed up immediately in her network browser, in the "My Network" section. What the heck??!

In addition, when I tried to connect to her computer from mine, I would click on "connect to server" then on Browse. Nothing showed up in the resulting window. I mean not "Library", not "Servers", not "My Network", etc. Just an empty finder window. Yet later, back at home, I opened finder Prefs, set it to show "network" on the sidebar by default. Now, if I click on Network in the sidebar, I see "Library" and "servers" but nothing about "my network", like on my sister's computer. At the same time, if I click on Connect to Server, and then Browse, I still get an empty nothing in the column to the right of "Network". Can someone explain this behaviour?

brucious

I had this problem today too. I see it from time to time. Don't know why.

Sometimes the "Network" item in the left column of the Finder's browser window has a tiny eject-icon beside it. When it does, you select "Network" and you'll see your network neighbors. Sometimes the icon is missing, though, and all you get is those three folders. And mine are always empty, so what are they for?

I searched all through my preferences trying to make it work right.

This is what I finally did: I connected manually to a computer I know is on the network. When it connected, things seemed to work again.

Step by step:

Get the other computer's name from its Sharing panel. Say it's
My Other Computer

Then, on YOUR computer, select
Go --> Connect to Server (apple-K)

In the panel that pops up, type the other computer's name for "Server Name", replacing any spaces with a dash, so...
My Other Computer
would be
My-Other-Computer

When I did that, I connected, and the "Network" item in the Finder window functioned properly again.

I'm hoping this works for you, too, since that means that maybe it'll work for me the next time it happens.