Networking an Apple Mac to a PC

[richardmclarke]

I have a Macbook with OSX 10.5.2 that I want to network to my home PC with XP
Home SP2 via a wireless router.

I have followed the standard network setup procedure and I can "see" the PC
from the macbook but I can't connect to it.
I can read and write to the mac from the PC.
I can access the internet from the Mac.
I can access PCs on other networks (my work network).
I have reset the firewall settings in XP.
I have disabled all security on the PC.
I used to be able to connect to the PC with OSX 10.4, the problems started
when I upgraded to 10.5.2

I have called Apple and they have informed me it is a security issue with
Microsoft and I need to change some security settings in XP to allow the Mac
to access it.

Can anyone please let me know what I have to do on my PC to allow the Mac to
access it. (all folders have full share access, the Mac and PC are on the
same workgroup - I have even redone the network setup wizard).

Thanks

 

[Malke]

I have a Macbook with OSX 10.5.2 that I want to network to my home PC with
XP Home SP2 via a wireless router.

I have followed the standard network setup procedure and I can "see" the
PC from the macbook but I can't connect to it.
I can read and write to the mac from the PC.
I can access the internet from the Mac.
I can access PCs on other networks (my work network).
I have reset the firewall settings in XP.
I have disabled all security on the PC.
I used to be able to connect to the PC with OSX 10.4, the problems started
when I upgraded to 10.5.2

I have called Apple and they have informed me it is a security issue with
Microsoft and I need to change some security settings in XP to allow the
Mac to access it.

Can anyone please let me know what I have to do on my PC to allow the Mac
to access it. (all folders have full share access, the Mac and PC are on
the same workgroup - I have even redone the network setup wizard).

In Leopard, make sure you are using SMB to connect and not AFP. Find this in
the Options section under Sharing in System Preferences.

Make sure you've created identical users/passwords on both machines that
match.

You need a firewall in Windows. Having an antivirus and firewall running on
Windows will not impact file sharing with the Mac. You simply need to make
sure that 1) you are only using one firewall; 2) if using a third-party
firewall you've configured it to allow the Local Area Network as trusted.

If you are using a Norton or McAfee product on Windows, uninstall it
completely and replace with a better antivirus (NOD32, Kaspersky, or Avast
if free is desired) and use the built-in Windows Firewall.

Malke

 

[richardmclarke]

Thanks, I have uninstalled Norton 360 but I still have the same problem. I
have rerun the network setup wizard on the PC and created a new workgroup and
I have created a new network location on the Mac with the same workgroup. I
then restarted both machines. Both have automatic TCP/IP settings but they
are both the same (except the IP) 255.255.255.0 assigned by DHCP. I can still
see the PC in the finder on the Mac but I can't access it, unfortunately now
I can't see the MAc from the PC, whereas before I could read and write to it.
Do you have any further suggestions?

 

[richardmclarke]

Sorry, ignore the last bit of my post. I had disabled SMB sharing. So I can
still read and write to the Mac from the PC, I just can't read or write to
the PC from the Mac. So same problem as before - no changes.

 

[Malke]

Sorry, ignore the last bit of my post. I had disabled SMB sharing. So I
can still read and write to the Mac from the PC, I just can't read or
write to the PC from the Mac. So same problem as before - no changes.

If you can't write to the PC then you have some combination of 1) firewall
problems; 2) permissions problems. I don't see where you created the
identical users.

Can you ping each machine from the other?

1. On the Mac, create your user and assign a password. Set up your Windows
Sharing and share out what you want. Use SMB. If you have a firewall on the
Mac, turn it off momentarily. If turning off the firewall works, then you
know you need to adjust the settings. It isn't wise to run without a
firewall. Usually enabling Windows Sharing will take care of setting the
firewall correctly.

2. On XP, if it is XP Pro or Media Center go to Control Panel>Folder
Options>View tab. Uncheck the box next to Simple File Sharing to disable
it. Create a user account/password that matches the one on the Mac. Create
shares, marking them as accessible to Everyone.

If you have gone through the Network Setup Wizard, then the Windows Firewall
should be on. If you have no other security software installed it should
have File and Printer Sharing enabled.

You have something set incorrectly on the PC and since I can't see your
machine from here, I can't tell you what it is. If the above doesn't help,
you may want to have a knowledgeable friend or computer professional come
over and set you up properly. Normally networking between OS X and XP is
pretty painless so I don't know what you're doing wrong.

Malke

 

[richardmclarke]

Hi,
1. I can ping each machine from the other
2. I have disabled both firewalls - now there is no security running on both
computers.
3. Both Mac and PC usernames and passwords are identical
4. I have XP home edition so can't enable simple file sharing.
5. You mention using SMB in windows - how do I set up using SMB?

You said that setting up a Mac / PC network should be simple - it is - my
Mac can network with other PCs no problem, there seems to just be a problem
with my own PC. Is there any way I can reset whatever settings are wrong on
my PC to their defaults? or do you have any other suggestions?

You also mentioned asking a knowledgeable friend come over - I am that
knowledgeable friend that is the most frustrating bit. I can set up Mac / PC
networks for all my friends but not my own!!! As I said before what is most
frustrating is that it used to network fine when my Mac had Tiger.

Thanks.

 

[Malke]

Hi,
1. I can ping each machine from the other
2. I have disabled both firewalls - now there is no security running on
both computers.
3. Both Mac and PC usernames and passwords are identical
4. I have XP home edition so can't enable simple file sharing.
5. You mention using SMB in windows - how do I set up using SMB?

You said that setting up a Mac / PC network should be simple - it is - my
Mac can network with other PCs no problem, there seems to just be a
problem with my own PC. Is there any way I can reset whatever settings are
wrong on my PC to their defaults? or do you have any other suggestions?

You also mentioned asking a knowledgeable friend come over - I am that
knowledgeable friend that is the most frustrating bit. I can set up Mac /
PC networks for all my friends but not my own!!! As I said before what is
most frustrating is that it used to network fine when my Mac had Tiger.

You don't set up SMB (Samba) on the PC. Samba is what allows *nix computers
(and OS X is a form of Unix) to communicate with Windows computers.

Do you get any error message when you try to write to the Windows machine?
Or are you just not able to see it in Finder on Leopard? If the latter is
the case, this is a known issue with Leopard. Leopard's Windows sharing is
wonky. The Windows machines are supposed to show up in Finder on the
Sidebar under Sharing. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. On my
own machine, updating to 10.5.2 has not fixed that. I just checked and
while yesterday the Vista machine showed up, right now Leopard has decided
not to show it. Since I rarely use Windows for anything, this isn't a huge
deal for me and if the moon isn't in the right phase or whatever for
Leopard, I just access the Windows box by using Finder's Go>Connect to
Server and typing in:

smb://192.168.1.xxx [IP address of Windows machine]

There is a lot more information about this Leopard blindness on the Apple
forums and also on http://www.macwindows.com/ - maybe you should take a
look there.

Otherwise, I just don't know what else to tell you.

Malke

 

[richardmclarke]

Thanks. I have been through the macwindows forums and tried everything. I can
see my PC in the finder but I just can't connect to it, it says I do not have
permission to access this server. When I try to access it through finder's Go
connect, I enter my username and password and it just doesn't connect. It is
an issue with my PC I just don't konw what it is. Thanks for your help anyway.

 

[Malke]

Thanks. I have been through the macwindows forums and tried everything. I
can see my PC in the finder but I just can't connect to it, it says I do
not have permission to access this server. When I try to access it through
finder's Go connect, I enter my username and password and it just doesn't
connect. It is an issue with my PC I just don't konw what it is. Thanks
for your help anyway.

Then you have permissions and/or user account and password set wrong on the
PC even though you think you don't. Create a new user account and password
on both machines and set sharing in System Preferences>Sharing on the Mac.
Go into Safe Mode on XP Home and look at the Security tab for your shared
folders. Understand that XP Home does not permit sharing My Documents or
Program Files. Use the Shared Documents folder and make sure security is
set to "Everyone". If you can connect using the new account, then you know
for sure you've misspelled a password, are using a different User Account
name or the like.

A common mistake in networking is that people "rename" user accounts by just
changing the display name. For instance, they change the display name to
John from Owner. This doesn't change the actual name of the user account,
which remains Owner. So if you create an account named "John" on another
computer, you won't be able to connect because you really should have
created "Owner". The way to check the account names if to look at C
\Documents and Settings and make a note of the actual names.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas. I'm really sorry I wasn't able to help
you but without being able to actually see your machines I can do no more.
I understand that you are the "go-to" guy, the "knowledgeable friend" but
sometimes getting a fresh pair of eyes in is useful. There are plenty of
times I'll call up my tech buddy for his advice and vice versa.

Good luck,

Malke

 

[richardmclarke]

Last post ...
I am assuming I am doing something very simple wrong so can you just confirm
I am doing the following things correctly. As you said it shouldn't be a
problem...

1. Create a new user account and password
In control panel I am going to accounts, creating a new account, setting it
as an administrator and giving it a password.
2. On the Mac I am adding a new account with identical username and password.
3.Sharing on Mac - I am clicking the file sharing option box in Sharing in
System Preferences.
4.In PC safe mode, I am checking the shared folder, I have allowed full read
write access. The shared folder is not the whole drive but a file within the
drive - it is not my documents.

I have then set the workgroups as the same.

I have tried connecting 2 different ways -
1 via the PC icon in finder - it simply says "connection failed"

2 via connect to server writing smb://192.168.1.35 and it says "there was an
error connecting to the server. Check the server name or IP address and try
again" I then click try again and it gives me error 36 "the finder cannot
complete the operation because some data in "smb://192.168.1.35" could not be
read or written"

The Mac can ping the PC without problem.

??????

 

[Malke]

richardmclarke wrote:

(snippage)

2 via connect to server writing smb://192.168.1.35 and it says "there was
an error connecting to the server. Check the server name or IP address and
try again" I then click try again and it gives me error 36 "the finder
cannot complete the operation because some data in "smb://192.168.1.35"
could not be read or written"

The Mac can ping the PC without problem.

What is 192.168.1.135? The XP box? Go to Google and type in this search
term:

error 36 the Finder cannot complete the operation

There are a lot of links about this. You'll need to examine them to see
which links are applicable to you.

Malke