Basic authentication and file sharing configuration for Windows PC

[panamateur]

My apologies if I am asking that which has been answered, but I did search and couldn't immediately see anything.

I have Leopard server running on a Mac Pro and need to set up authentication and file sharing for some PCs. I have created user login/password accounts on the server that match the existing accounts on the PCs in question, and have set up a workgroup that the PC users are a member of (and have added the PC to the workgroup). The PC user can see the Mac Pro in his Network Neighbourhood directory, but can't access it to navigate to the directories I wish to use for file sharing. It just says 'access denied, contact administrator' or similar.

The Server set up instructions do not seem to give any guidance on what I need to do to configure client PCs. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thank you so much.

[Go3iverson]

If you are just looking for file sharing, you should be able to create an account for accessing the Windows file sharing service for your Windows clients.

Do you have a directory service running such as Active Directory? If you do, you should integrate the Leopard Server into the AD domain so that you can use the domain usernames and passwords. If you don't you could consider creating an Open Directory Master and a PDC on the Leopard Server. The PDC is there to support the Windows domain login. Conversely, if you are not interested in the PDC, there are third party tools that you can use to integrate Windows PCs into an existing Open Directory domain through LDAP.

If you have the same username and password on your Leopard Server and on your Windows clients, you may have a UID matching issue with your permissions as well. They may both have the same shortname, but the UIDs won't match.

Michael

[panamateur]

Originally Posted by Go3iverson

If you are just looking for file sharing, you should be able to create an account for accessing the Windows file sharing service for your Windows clients.

Do you have a directory service running such as Active Directory? If you do, you should integrate the Leopard Server into the AD domain so that you can use the domain usernames and passwords. If you don't you could consider creating an Open Directory Master and a PDC on the Leopard Server. The PDC is there to support the Windows domain login. Conversely, if you are not interested in the PDC, there are third party tools that you can use to integrate Windows PCs into an existing Open Directory domain through LDAP.

If you have the same username and password on your Leopard Server and on your Windows clients, you may have a UID matching issue with your permissions as well. They may both have the same shortname, but the UIDs won't match.

Michael

Thanks so much for this. In order:

1. I'm not just looking for file sharing. I also want the server to act as print server for a few networked printers. To be clear I want all our files to be on the Mac - I'm not trying to share files hosted on PCs as well.

2. Do you mean create a single account on the server that all windows users would authenticate through?

3. We aren't using an Active Directory service (as far as I know). We had been previously been using a Windows Workgroup.

4. So I need to create an ODM and a PDC on the Leopard Server. I've little idea what this means, but will hit wikipedia in a moment...

5. I had not got my PCs on a domain - they were on a workgroup, named the same as that which I had created on the Mac Pro. Is this where I am going wrong - ie I need to create a domain instead?

Your patience is much appreciated!
Dunstan