 Related information:PC to Macfile sharing Instructions for sharing files on your Mac with your PC Ping how-to Directions for pinging one computer from another Download a .PDF copy (202Kb) of this page for future reference Having problems? My Documents Sharing Quirk SMB Connect Error = -36 Apple KBase article Error -43 When Copying Files to Windows Shared Volume Apple KBase article MacWindows Additional info. Alternative Software Solutions Connect Using AppleScript When specifying the Computer Name of your PC, please note that only "standard" characters should be used (according to Microsoft these are letters A-Z, numbers 0-9, and hyphens) and that the name will need to be 15 characters or less. According to an Apple KBase article you cannot natively auto-connect to SMB or NFS servers at login. However, you can do so by using a free utility. |
Sharing files on a Windows 98-based |
| Once you know your computers can "see" one another, one way to share files between the two is to enable file sharing on your PC then connect to it from your Mac. To begin looking into doing so, first check out the following Apple KB article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106471 |
 | Prior to trying to connect to your PC, you obviously need to properly setup file sharing on that computer. Get started by checking the name of your PC: go to Start, then Settings, then Control Panel. Double-click to open the Network control panel and within the window that appears choose the Identification tab. (Refer to "Ping how-to" to verify the IP address of your PC.) |
| Next, while still in the Network Properties window, switch back to the Configuration tab. Make sure that "Client for Microsoft Networks" is shown in the list of components. If it is not, you need to add it: click the Add... button, then select Client, click Add... again, select that component from the list provided, then click OK. |
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 | Now back to the Network Properties window, click on the "File and Print Sharing..." button. Once that window appears put a check in the "I want to be able to give others access to my files" box, then click OK. Click OK one more time to close the remaining window and click Yes when prompted to restart. |
After your PC has been rebooted, open Windows Explorer. Find the folder or volume you would like to
share, right-click on it, and choose Sharing... from the contextual menu. Next, select the "Shared As:"
option, then switch the Access Type to "Full." Now type in the password you would like to be
required to fully access this shared folder/volume and click OK.
 You then will be prompted to
re-enter that password, after which you can click OK. Having now been taken back to Windows Explorer,
you should see that the icon for the folder/volume you chose to share has changed.
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 | Now that you have your PC sharing files, you can try and connect to it from your Mac. From the Mac OS X Finder, click on the Go menu and select Connect to Server... You can then either click to highlight the PC you would like to connect to, or simply type in "smb://192.168.1.7" (without the quotes), with the number being the IP address of your PC. (Note that you can also substitute the name of your PC - such as "WIN98VPC" - for its IP address.) Then click Connect to initiate the connection. |
| You will be prompted to select the shared folder or volume you would like to connect to. Choose the desired share from the drop-down menu and click OK. |
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You should now be able to login to your PC from your Mac. Within the login window that appears,
enter the password that you assigned to the share you selected and click OK. The share should then
mount as a volume on your Mac. To quickly access the PC share in the future,
make an alias of the volume and save it somewhere on your Mac's hard drive.
 From then on just double-click that alias, again enter
the appropriate password, and the PC share/folder will again mount on your Mac.
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This is the method I use for sharing files between Windows 98 (which I have installed within
Virtual PC running on a Power Mac 7500) and my Mac OS X-based B/W G3/400 via a router/hub. Please
keep in mind that you may run into some problems specific to your network and machine setup when
trying to get your computers connected that could keep things from functioning properly. Be sure to check the extra tips and guides
shown within the left frame of this page, as well as both the
Apple and
Microsoft knowledge bases for help in fixing the
particular issues you need to resolve to get things working. If you need additional assistance or would like to share your thoughts on this or any of my web pages, please visit my forums. There you can post questions, view previously answered topics, as well as submit feedback regarding this site. Copyright © 2003-04 Joel Shoemaker Hardware photos copyright Apple Computer and Dell Computer Corporation |