# connecting Mac OSX to XP Shares



## zynizen (Oct 25, 2006)

despite all the threads on this forum relating to this issue,
i've also checked out: 

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107804

and I cant seem to figure out what im doing wrong connecting my mac osx 10.4.6 to my pc (xp pro sp2)

i click GO > connect to server...   enter:  "smb://192.168.0.103"
result: nothing. the button doesn't even budge. I tried using same command in terminal window, enabled both windows sharing, and file sharing..

when i click network, my workgroup shows up, then when i click on my pc, it shows as an alias, but when i click on the name it says: "the alias could not be found, please check the alias name or try again"

any ideas? here's my setup:

- Mac OSX 10.4.6, no firewall software, all options checked on built in ethernet
- Pentium 4 PC, XP SP2, security software with firewall enabled for trusted zone (192.168.0.1/255.255.255.0) <- this is standard
- dlink gaming router, all settings configured properly, my two pc's can share files no problem, so its just a matter of getting the mac to access those pcs

thanks for your help!


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## The_LioN (Nov 20, 2007)

Hi,

I see you post is quite a while ago so you may have sorted it now, but I used the format smb://serverIP/sharename & enter the log in credentials for the share 

so try smb://192.168.0.103/sharename - (where sharename = the name of your server shares)

N

Noel


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## zynizen (Nov 20, 2007)

Oh yeh this was a post a long time ago, however I was doing the same thing at an office testing with my MBP, and i couldn't connect to the Windows Server 2003 File Server.

I was entering it exactly as you say:   smb://192.168.1.110/shared
just hangs, maybe leopard will solve that if i upgrade?


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## The_LioN (Nov 20, 2007)

Hi,

I managed to connect to both Windows 2000 server & Windows 2003 server shares successfully in OS X 10.4 (& also now with OSX10.5.1) using the same method, so Im not sure if an upgrade will resolve this.

I could not browse Windows shares until I upgraded to 10.5.1 (ie 10.5 connect to shares OK, but no browse) 

Browsing seems to crop up a lot so I think that may be the solution.

Incidentally, does the Windows server show as a DNS server in System Preferences, Network, Advanced, DNS? as mine does, its grayed out so I assume its being detected automatically.

Also, my son installed OSX 10.5 as a clean install on a different Macbook which I seem to remember, was able to browse our (windows 2000) network.

I now seem to be able to browse Windows 2003 server shares but not Windows 2000 server shares, so I will wait until my son is home next & see whats different on his Macbook

Noel


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## zynizen (Nov 20, 2007)

I'll have to get back to you on the DNS issue, but thanks, I'll be upgrading to leopard this week, and will test friday hopefully.


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## The_LioN (Nov 24, 2007)

Hi there,

How did you get on with the Leopard upgrade?

I really like the spaces feature & browsing my network just makes me smile when I see my Windows server as a BSOD

Im not sure how much of ths may be relevant to you but:

1. Ensure that you set up a user account on the server with the same login as your macbook

2. ensure dns is resolved, I found that if I could ping server.ngr.com ngr.com being the domain & server being the obvious, was a good check to prove internal name resolution.

3. Im not sure if its essential but I set up a wins server on the domain control but this may have been overkill.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the Leopard upgrade & its sorted soon

Noel


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## zynizen (Nov 26, 2007)

Actually I haven't gotten a change to get it all done yet, however..  Giaguara is having the same problems in his post.

The same user account has me confused why that should be the case. 
My macbook pro is named zynizen, and my user account on the windows server is my first initial, then last name, should I have created then a user name called zynizen on the server aswell?

Maybe I don't know the tech. reasoning behind this for it to work properly.

However, the server is not on an actual .com domain.  its local.  I called the server  "server.companyname.local"  (substitute companyname for the obvious here)

Thanks,


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## Giaguara (Nov 26, 2007)

Nearly similar problem that is. It worked fine until I installed 10.5, and now it just does not at all (did not try using a virtual machine and ssh'ing to host and source, that probably works but isn't really a simple solution).
Maybe they tested it only with Vista...


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## The_LioN (Nov 26, 2007)

OK,

This is my understanding, if in finder, you click Go, connect to server your credentials (User & Password) will be authenticated by that server, now its likely you have opted to save them in the keychain so they dont appear every time.

If you wish to browse the shares, then it seems reasonable to me (Im still quite new to Mac & really like it) that you have to pass some credentials. For example, when connected to a Windows network as a domain member, I can browse shares no problem because login credentials are passed, but say if some one brings in a laptop and its never seen the network, then I have to authenticate (using credentials on that laptop) to connect to it.

Therefore, If you log to your Macbook as Joe_Bloggs with password JBlogs

Create the same user account on your Windows (server/XP desktop) & set the share permissions for that account.  I suspect that if you dont create the account, you may be able to see the shares, but get challenged when you try and browse the share contents & have to pass credentials by clicking the Connect As button shown on the right in Finder & offer the right credentials.

I feel that even if this isnt quite correct or wholly applicable to your issue, you seem very close to solving it & may just point you in the right direction.


Noel


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## Giaguara (Nov 26, 2007)

It's not necessary (or always possible or desired) to create another account with the same credentials. What matters is the share, the permissions for the user and usergroup, and possibly the characters. 

Finder's go to Server can't deal with sharenames containing a hyphen since 10.1, but the underlying smbclient can use deal with it, as long as you have access to Terminal. 
At least in OS X you can see some verbosity in the error messages if you open Console, but when you try to log in to smb shares from Windows... it either works or it does not. (Where do I get the Console and exact errors?)

Try if it's a Finder issue or smb issue, using Terminal

smbclient //ipaddress/sharename -W workgroupname -U username

If Terminal does not connect, then it is the smb issue, not a Finder issue. So far everything I've had were Finder issues from Mac's side, now I don't know what was changed, but connecting from XP does not give any verbosity or any clues in why it fails. No domain, not part of AD, so ip\account should do, yet it fails. As does account itself... I used the same account, logging in to the whole account from XP prior to installing 10.5. And now a share that I set specifically does not like to be seen. System Preferences enables to change and set the share access levels for shares and accounts, and that should be read and write for the specific account and the specific share. Grr.


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## zynizen (Nov 27, 2007)

Actually, I could skip this step if I had a reliable NAS drive that both mac and pc can connect to and operate at the same time, any suggestions on a good reliable one?


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## zynizen (Dec 1, 2007)

Ok, to update what happened, I finally installed leopard and on my macbook, I can connect to Windows Server 2003 machine just fine and browse shares no problem, without entering anything other than my user account login and password on the server.

Now to take it a step further, I was wondering how I can then browse those same folder locations using a VPN connection?

I've set up a VPN connection in leopard to connect to the server, and the server has already got VPN ready (set that up long time ago).

SO,  I can connect and get connected no problem, but once I AM connected to the VPN through my mac, I pressed CMD+K and typed in:

smb://SERVER/shared, cifs://SERVER/shared

nothing.  doesn't recognize anything is there. Is there another way to do this easily?

thanks


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## moore78ad (Dec 20, 2007)

I don't know if I'll be of much help. I network my computers only once in a while (which is to say, when I get a new one I have to go through the process again, and again, and again). But I just did my desktop PC, laptop PC, and my Mac OS 10.4.x with little problem. 

Couple things, 
1: Make sure your PCs are on (and possibly logged on at least to start with)
2: I'm assuming that all machines have the same workgroup
3: I've used the same user and password for one account on all machines
4: Are you sharing files on the PCs?

Looks like you are on the right track, if you find an easy way to print from mac to a pc usb printer, let me know!


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## Satcomer (Jan 7, 2008)

moore78ad said:


> Looks like you are on the right track, if you find an easy way to print from mac to a pc usb printer, let me know!



Printing to a printer on a Windows XP PC from a Mac running 10.4.x

How to Use a Printer Attached to a Windows XP Computer in Mac OS X


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## nealt (Jan 9, 2008)

Try this:
TIP: DNS command-line configuration -- a final answer for disappearing Win shares in Leopard's sidebar?
Monday, January 7, 2008
We've reported numerous varied suggestions for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard problems with Windows server browsing and file sharing. Some work for some people, and some work only temporarily.
Kevin David found a solution in a blog that involves typing in some configuration commands in Mac OS X's Terminal command-line utility. The blog gave these instructions:
Type this in Terminal:
$ sudo pico /etc/smb.conf
Then add the following line to the [global] section:
name resolve order = lmhosts bcast wins
Save it, then disable and reenable file-sharing from the Network (Sharing in 10.5) panel, checking "Advanced..." to make sure that SMB is enabled. After a minute or two, your Shared should be back in the sidebar.
The blog claims that the root of the problem is a DNS issue, which is similar to what one of our readers once reported.
Kevin David says this edit works to fix the problem:
This bug was driving me insane until I stumbled over this fix a couple of weeks ago. Since I've done that, machines appear in my sidebar and stay there.
If you've tried this please let us know. We caution, however, that if you've never used a Unix shell command-line before, you may not want to experiment with this approach.

Also make sure you have sharing set up on the PC.


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## nealt (Jan 9, 2008)

My reply came from Macwindows.com.


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