Windows Vista -> OS X file sharing help!

I was wondering if anyone here could assist me with setting up a simple file sharing with Vista. I enabled File Sharing in System Preferences on OS X, and added one folder to the sharing. That's all I need to share. I just don't know what else I'm supposed to do, and there don't seem to be any easy tutorials as to what comes next. I don't even know where I even see a "Network Places" OS X equivalent. My computer is already file-sharing enabled, but I don't know how to gain access to it from my Mac.

Any tips for me, please?

Thanks

 

I'm assuming you are working behind a router, if you want to go from osx to vista, just open your finder, on your sidebar, you should see a 'shared' thingy, click your vista's computer name, and input your username and password for the vista computer.

From vista to osx, you have to input your internal ip address as username (192.168.1.xxx), and your osx password as your password. Took me a while to figure out. Let me know if you have any troubles.

 

I don't see a "shared thingy." I also don't even know if I'm on the same workgroup, and can't find how to change that either.

How do you get the shared thing up on the sidebar? It's just simply not there..

 

Well when you are in a home network, a shared thingy should pop up with all available computers, provided you have a file sharing enabled, and a shared folder. Have you set up a shared folder in windows already? Just right click a folder and then click the sharing tab. You have to enable an option there, forget which one it is, but it's an obvious one so dont worry.

Did you try to connect to your mac from windows? did it work? are you behind a wireless router?

 

I'm on an open wireless router, so it should just connect (it does for my other systems). There's no shared thingy at all. I've set a shared folder on my Mac, and lots of shared folders on my Vista PC. I can't connect from either system to the other.

 

also, is the sharring enabled on the pc?

 

Hmm i dont know, this requires thinking, and its already 12am here , i have to get up early tomorrow to go to work, so if nobody else cant help you out, we can probably sort this out tomorrow. good luck and g'night!

 

Thank you. Sleep well!

 

Yes, enabled on the PC, as my other systems share with it just fine.

 

Vista <-> OSX sharing is not as straightfoward as XP <-> OSX sharing was.

There are really 2 steps involved.

1. Being able to see each computer from the other.

2. Then you will have to mess with the users and permissions on the Vista side since you will not initially have the permissions to copy files and folders.

I got it going once, but it was a huge hassle.

 

Well neither computer can see each other, which sucks.

 

This is a very general guide. I'm assuming your wireless router is configured properly for file sharing. It should be by default.

To Share OS X Files with Windows

Mac OS X 10.5 Help: Setting up a Mac computer to share files with Windows users

Sorry I have XP, not Vista. I can't remember the differences exactly as I only used Vista for about two months. Consequently, the processes I'm going to describe may need some adjustments.

After you've set up Windows Sharing you can Map the Mac Network Drive in Windows. This should be very similar for both XP and Vista. In Windows Explorer choose Tools > Map Network Drive. Then enter the folder address from Step 5 (above) as the Folder. Then click "different user name" and enter the Mac's Account login information. Check the box to reconnect at login if you want this option. Click Finish and you should be connected to the Mac; a network drive will appear.

To Share Windows Files with OS X

Run the Network Setup Wizard if you don't already have File Sharing enabled on your Windows machine. See File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista for more information. Write down your Computer Name, Workgroup, and IP Address.

Now on your Mac open Finder and click Go > Connect to Server. Enter "smb://xx.xxx.x.x/" without quotation marks (where xx.xxx.x.x is the IP Address of your Windows computer) and click Connect. Then enter the Windows login information as requested. You should see a newtwork drive appear.

If you want to make this process streamlined for the future make an Alias of a folder within the network drive. You cannot just make an Alias of the network drive, it won't work after the next Restart (I think). Ideally there should be only one folder directly inside the network drive, if not make the necessary change on your Windows computer. In OS X, to make an Alias select the folder and choose File > Make Alias (or use the keyboard shortcut Open-Apple + L). Drag this Alias to your Mac's Desktop if necessary. The next time your restart your Mac you only need double-click this Alias to reconnect to the Winodows share directory. Note: You may not need to actually do all of this, but this method has worked for me so I wanted to share. Leopard is supposed to automatically detect shared computers which should appear in the Finder Sidebar like this. So if you notice your Windows computer in the Sidebar click the Connect As button.

I know this guide is for OS X 10.4 and mainly XP, but it may still be useful to you, GUIDE: Networking Windows with OS X.

Additional Resources: Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard - Sharing Support

 

Thanks so much for the reply. Unfortunately, nothing happens at all to give any indication that the two systems can see each other. I had the Leopard firewall on, but even with it off there's no change. Nothing.

 

That sucks. I blame Vista!

I suggest you find a friend who knows a bit about computers & networking and have them come over to help you in-person. Troubleshooting networking issues on a Forum is not ideal in my opinion. On the other hand, maybe I forgot something important about Vista. Hopefully another NBR member will be able to help you.

Good luck.

 

*sigh*

I thought I was that person. Never had trouble before, but I'm the only person I know with a Mac + Vista.

Thanks for the try, though.

 

I'll be the 2nd person later in Dec. However, I think I'll go to different route. I would partition my MBP and store all the shared files in external HD. Maybe I'll get a NAS later next year.

 

Did you setup a home/office network in network connections in windows? It requires a restart.

 

I think so, yes. I'll take a look at it some more this weekend. Thanks for all the assistance, guys.

 

Well if you havent run that wizard, there is no way you will be able to see your windows computers on your mac. At least no way that I know of

 

Which wizard are we talking about now?

 

That's just it, I had only one vista laptop which I downgraded back to xp a few months ago, so i don't really remember which one. sorry...

 

Hey guys. I just went back to Windows XP on my PC, and I'm trying once again to network from Leopard. I made a folder shared on my Leopard system, and I went to Map Network Drive in Windows, and when I enter the IP of my Leopard system, it does connect to it but only shows "Printers and Faxes."

Also, I can't connect to my Windows system at all from Leopard. Am I missing something?

Thanks for the help!


**UPDATE**

I'm sort of getting there. I managed to connect to my Windows box using smb://192.168.0.x (IP Address), but it wants a user name and password (neither of which I use in XP), and it fails to mount the folder I have shared when I click it. Any ideas there?

 

Gosh this is frustrating. I can now sort of connect to my Leopard system, and it shows my OS X Leopard folder, my Windows XP folder, and my name as 2 folders (full name and short user name). It doesn't show the folder I actually shared, though! If I try and click on any of the folders, it wants a user name and password, that don't work.

I'm at a loss, and it's totally infuriating!

I can also connect to my Windows system's IP, but it wants a username and password, neither of which works, and then it lists the folders I shared in Windows, and when I click them it says it can not be mounted.

Essentially, I must be close, but I can't figure it out...

 

i work back and forth between my MBP and my Fujitsu all the time, the Fujitsu is running XP and the MBP 10.5.1.

well, back and forth is a relative term I guess, it is much simpler to access a PC from the Mac, I find, as all you need to do on the mac side, well, all you really need to do is to be connected to your network, if you are using Leopard that is really all you should need to do.

even if you do nothing on the XP side, as long as both machines are connected to the network, you should be able to pick of the PC on the mac side of things, because basic level file sharing should be turned on on the XP machine already, your XP machines Shared folder.

if it asks you for a password to connect to the XP machines shared folders, just click ok and see if that gets you anywhere.

also, make sure in Finder preferences/Sidebar that all the Shared tabs are checked. also, at the very top in that section, turn on the Computer option to show that in sidebar, click on your computer name in sidebar, and there should be a network tab there as well, but basically, anything that will appear in that space should automatically appear in your sidebar.

i know that you really shouldn't have to do anything on the PC side of things, to connect to the PC from the Mac, as I see PC's automatically pop up, that I know have not been configured at all, just plugged into the network or connected wirelessly.

keep working on it, but I would strongly recommend trying to connect to the PC from the Mac first, as that should be very very simple.

 

also I recommend typing windows file sharing into Mac Help from finder, as there is a lot of good info, and little things you may need to check to to get everything working.

 

Thanks for the help. However, it refuses to mount any folders that are shared. So I can connect to my Windows XP system, and it sees the folder just fine, but says it cannot mount it when I click it.

Any idea how to fix that?

 

Ok this is what you need. (I do this all the time for work)

1. Both computers need to be on the same subnet, which the probably are probably something like 192.168.1.x. (this is not mandatory but you wont see the Vista box in the finder, if you must route)

2. Then they both need to be in the same workgroup if you want to see Vista box in the Finder. This is not mandatory but then you have to use IP's instead of names. (to change the workgroup in OS X, system, network, advanced, WIN's tab)

3. Vista is not much different than XP, but there is another layer. By default sharing is off. You need to set your network to Home/Private and then turn on file sharing....by default Vista will go with public network and file sharing off to protect its self.

4. If the Vista PC is going to be the server/have the share, create a user on the box that is the same as the user on your Mac, name and password. If you dont on the Mac you will have to use "connect as".

5. On the vista box, pick your folder, right click go to sharing....create a share name.

6. On the Mac go to the finder and you will see the Vista box on the left under shared. (with leopard this will come and go if you sleep your notebook but its always there when you boot up). Click on the name and on the right you will see the share provided the user/password is setup on the Vista box.

7. To get this to mount when your Mac starts up go to system, accounts, login items.

 

Thanks for the reply, but it still doesn't work. I can connect straight away to my Windows XP (I'm back on XP now, not Vista) system, but it still says "A Volume failed to mount" when I click the folder I want to connect to.

Example, I click my music folder when I log in to my Windows XP PC from Leopard, and it says:

A Volume failed to mount
The volume "Music" could not be mounted.

 

I fixed it! It ended up being an obscure Windows bug that means the IRPStackSize was broken.

Boy, that was ridiculous! But now it works. Yay! Now I just have to figure out what to put in my Symantec firewall to let my OSX system connect at all times..

 

192.168.0.0 / 255.255.255.0 seems to work.

Yay! Networked at last! I NEVER would have figured this out without the Internets!

http://www.howtonetworking.com/winissues/irpstacksize.htm

That's for others with the same problem. I increased my irpstacksize to 50, and after reboot I have no issues connecting to my XP system from Leopard.

 

WilliamG,

Registered just to give you a public thanks for finding the IRPStackSize fix. I've been networking Mac/Win for years, and up 'til the other day, both Tiger and Leopard had no problem accessing an XP Pro box. No problems the other way, XP to Mac, what a pita, which pretty much ate my day today :-( Jeesh, RDC works great from the Mac, file sharing doesn't??? Well, does now, all's well in x-platform land ;-)

Once again, thanks!

jb

 

No problem! I'm glad that finally helped somebody.