Connecting a Mac to a Windows Home Network

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Connecting a Mac to a Windows Home Network

I know this must have been asked before, but all the posts I keep seeing give links to either Sharing the internet connection with another computer, or connecting 2 computers together, which is not really what I am looking for...

I have a Home Network, that is both Ethernet and WiFi compatible (via my Modem/Router) and there are several windows computers connected to this network, as well as a NAS (Network Attached Storage) and another USB External Hard Drive connected to the NAS which is our main "hub" for storage and our backups. This NAS (from Buffalo Tech) lets us enable it to have a "share to all computers" area/section, a "windows only" section, a "mac only" section" and only certain computers/users section if we wanted... It doesn't partition the NAS hard drive, just give you "folders" that only computers with correct permissions can view, and it was formatted with the NAS software to be compatible with Windows and Macs at the same time, with the same files etc.

I managed last night to finally connect one desktop to my MacBook laptop under the Network Connections (which is where windows lets you add other computers and their shared folders to view), but I could not figure out how to be able to view/see the desktop's shared folder from the MacBook, and I have no idea how to set it up so that I can access the NAS from my MacBook.

In Windows a person can "mount" or "map" a network drive and then "disconnect it" (instead of deleting it), when you don't want to have that folder there anymore... How do you do something like this in OSX? I have 10.4.8 and all the latest updates available.

Thanks so much for any info, even if it is just telling me I have to use the Shared Internet Connection or Connecting 2 computers to each other (and no way to actually connect to something that has it's own network IP address without it actually being a real computer).

MacBook Black 2.0GHz Core Duo 2GB RAM 80GB HDD SuperDrive Airport Extreme iSight, Mac OS X (10.4.8), iBook 12 in Dual USB - OS 10.2.8 w/OS 9.2.2 for classic items

Posted on Dec 30, 2006 2:56 PM

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Answer 1

ozfish

Level 1

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Dec 31, 2006 12:27 AM in response to poisongirl

I have an almost exact situation and would love to get some feedback.

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Answer 2

mecklists

Level 4

1,795 points

Dec 31, 2006 7:59 AM in response to poisongirl

From the description of your problem I believe you're asking to access the NAS from your Mac. Correct?

Your wireless connection may not allow you to simply browse your network and see everything available to you. You'll specifically need to know its address, which may look something like 192.168.0.xxx.

To connect try:

"afp://IPAddress" or "smb://IPAddress" without quotes.

For example: afp://192.168.0.5

Hope this helps! bill

1 GHz Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 3

poisongirl Author

Level 1

100 points

Dec 31, 2006 10:13 AM in response to mecklists

Oh, see I knew the individual addresses, but I am used to only have to type "192.168.1.xxx" into any web browser to then connect to things like my router or NAS and that would only then connect to the software settings for the device. I would use the (I think) "run" command under the command prompt (or some other command there) to initially run the IP address in a window (view the folders) and then could Map the Network Drive to keep it there for the future without having to do the command prompt thing again.

So now I know that I need to add something extra infront of the Network IP address, where exactly do I do this from and will it keep this connection for future use (create an icon somewhere for it that will always be there if the device/computer is currently connected to the network like it does on Windows)? Or will it be a one time thing that I have to keep doing each time I want to access something?

Thanks a whole lot.

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Answer 4

mecklists

Level 4

1,795 points

Dec 31, 2006 10:34 AM in response to poisongirl

You're close. Keep in mind that your NAS device is acting as a file server for your computers and not acting as a web server. (You may be using some web services on your Windows machines to assist you in connecting to your file server but that's another topic).

You'll want to enter the connection strings I showed you using the Finder's Go --> Connect to Server... menu. You'll enter either "afp://IPAddress" or "smb://IPAddress" in the Server Address field.

AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) is the file sharing protocol most commonly used by Macs to connect to Mac file servers.

SMB (Server Message Block) is a file sharing protocol that your Mac can use to connect to Windows file servers.

Hope this helps! bill

1 GHz Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 5

poisongirl Author

Level 1

100 points

Dec 31, 2006 10:59 AM in response to mecklists

Thanks for the quick reply. I have actually been browsing around for OS X tips and tweaks and found a website that had an "article" post about this but getting into more detail...

This is the link below for any that want to see it and some other suggestions:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20061224140933809

I don't know how different the first solution is from what you said above, but it looks like if I were to not put in the whole username/password/Server IP/share name and just used the computer or devices home network IP address instead, that may work and I can then definitely "mount" it and using the application Sleepwatcher, I can have the script run at every boot/wake up...

Or does this process do what I want, but just in a longer more complicated way than what you said to do (as I do want to try and keep it simple, but something that will run/connect with every boot/wake up on its own).

I am going to stop saying thanks, as I feel really silly repeating it so much, so we'll just assume that each time I reply to you that there is an invisible "Thanks" thrown in there somewhere (unless for some crazy reason I specifically say "what kind of help was that? My cat could troubleshoot this better than you!", which I really don't see myself doing, but who knows?).

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