File sharing between OSX10.3.9 Panther and Windows 7 Pro

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Level 2

159 points

File sharing between OSX10.3.9 Panther and Windows 7 Pro

Hi,

I'm trying to file share between my G4 Mac running OSX 10.3.9 Panther and my PC running Windows 7 Pro.

Initially I was gonna run an ethernet cable directly between the two computers but before I started to clear access to actually get behind them to start unplugging cables, a friend suggested that since they are both wired into a Virgin Media Super Hub 2, they could probably already 'see' each other and could file share without the need to change cables around.

I think he's right...upto a point.

With both computers running and both windows and personal file sharing activated on the Mac, if I open up the Finder and click on Network just above where my HDD's are listed on the left, I can see the name of the PC. If I click once on the PC name, I get the connect button, if I click connect, it prompts me for a username and password (I'd never created one on the PC before, so I set one up), if I put in this new username and password and click OK I keep getting the message 'The alias <pc name> could not be opened because the original item cannot be found'.

I never knowingly created this alias.

If I go onto the PC, under control panel/Network and Internet/Network Status and Tasks, if I click on 'See full map', I can see <pc name> - gateway - internet at the top of the window but at the bottom, under the heading 'The following discovered devices cannot be placed in the map', is the name of my Mac.

Still on the PC, if I then go to control panel/Network and Internet/ View Network Computers and Devices, on the right hand side of the window it shows 'Computers (2)' and lists both the Mac and the PC. If I double click the Mac, I'm prompted to 'enter my password to connect to <mac name>'. There's only one account on there, so I put those details in and I then get a second prompt box, this prompt box again says 'enter my password to connect to <mac name>' but it appears to be prompting me to select the account on the PC since it has the avatar that displays next to my PC login when the PC screen is locked. As it happens, both passwords are the same, so I enter that but it never accepts it.

So I'm a little stumped, not to mention confused - both computers appear to be able to see each other in some way but I cannot connect to one from the other.

Any ideas ?

Many thanks.

Nick

466mhz G4 PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.3.x), 895Mb RAM

Posted on Jul 16, 2018 7:06 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

a brody

Level 10

82,853 points

Jul 31, 2018 5:01 PM in response to Nick Taylor

Make sure in your Mac File Sharing to select Options and enable SMB for the username in question, and check the username in question. At least that's how it works on newer Mac OS X versions.

If that doesn't work, probably the easiest way to get the Mac to be recognized is to use FTP.

NCSA Telnet has a function to enable FTP Server on the Mac.

Then you can use WS-FTP on the PC to share files with the Mac.

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Answer 2

Nick Taylor Author

Level 2

159 points

Aug 3, 2018 3:28 AM in response to a brody

Hi a brody,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I think where it falls down is that on 10.3.9, if you go to System Preferences and select Sharing, there is no 'options' tab, or at least none that I can see, it's just a very basic window, with three buttons in the middle, Services, Firewall, Internet.

I've watched several videos of people doing what I'm trying to achieve and as you say, they go into system preferences, sharing and there are the options you mention but this is always on a later version of OSX.

I've never used FTP but will do some investigating to see if that might work for me.

Nick

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