Mac OSX to WinXP Networking

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Guest

I'm not very proficient at computers/networking. But I'm tearing my hair
out, not being able to print from my Mac. The way things are around here, my
husband has a WinXP, and a printer is physically attached. The modem is
attached to his computer, and I access is through a wireless router.

Anyway, I tried to set up the printer on his computer as "shared," and I
thought I had my computer networked, but I guess I didn't. I get the error
message "nt-access-denied" on my computer when I try to print.

Can someone give me easy instructions on how to fix this?
 
Don't know about Macs but in the Windows world both computers must be in the
same workgroup. Does that apply here?
 
Well, I don't know how I can see whether they are in the same workgroup. At
one point, in fiddling around, I saw that my Mac said something about
"workgroup" and "mshome," as if it were actually reading something on my
husband's computer.

On my Mac, I just tried to switch on my "windows sharing" and log onto the
network again, and I got the error message "the finder could not complete the
operation because some data in smb:\\--- could not be read or written."

So, I guess, my first question is whether something is going on on my
husband's PC that is preventing my computer from reading it.
 
Rachel said:
Well, I don't know how I can see whether they are in the same
workgroup. At one point, in fiddling around, I saw that my Mac said
something about "workgroup" and "mshome," as if it were actually
reading something on my husband's computer.

On my Mac, I just tried to switch on my "windows sharing" and log onto
the network again, and I got the error message "the finder could not
complete the operation because some data in smb:\\--- could not be
read or written."

So, I guess, my first question is whether something is going on on my
husband's PC that is preventing my computer from reading it.
Click to expand...
Even in the Windows world, computers don't need to be in the same
Workgroup to share files/printers. I'll give you some links to sites
about Windows-Mac networking, but here are a few tips first:

1. On the XP machine - make sure the firewall is configured to allow lan
traffic. If you have Service Pack 2 and are using the Windows Firewall
(and not a third-party firewall), just run the Network Setup Wizard and
when it asks about sharing files/folders say "yes". If you have a
third-party firewall instead (Zonealarm, Sygate, Norton Internet
Security, etc.) then you will need to configure that firewall to allow
lan traffic.

2. On the Mac, make user accounts and password identical to the ones on
the XP machine.

3. On the XP machine, make sure you've shared the printer.

4. On the Mac, you will have to run Samba. I believe this is extremely
easy to do and if you have OSX you will find the necessary settings
under Networking (I may not have the exact name).

And here are some links that I found by Googling "Windows Mac
networking":

http://www.macwindows.com/
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/networking/

Malke
 
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