OSX can't see my XP drive

April 16, 2009 11:50 AM

Suddenly my Mac can't see my Windows PC, and I'm stumped.

So I have a Windows PC (XP, latest service pack) and a new Macbook Pro (latest up-to-date version of Leopard). When I first got the Mac I was able to connect to my XP drive over wifi just fine by going to Finder and choosing "Connect to server" and typing in smb://bill (Bill's the XP PC's name, natch).

But suddenly it's not working anymore and I'm stumped. When I try to connect, using either that PC's name or IP address, it says it can't connect. When I ping that IP address, it sees it just fine.

The only thing I can think was awhile back I attempted directly connecting a Linux box to the Win PC to try to share its wifi connection. I did some tweaking of local network settings, but it never worked quite right, so I reverted changes. It could well be that something is still configured incorrectly on the Windows box, but damned if I can see what.

Any ideas?

posted by middleclasstool to computers & internet (9 comments total)

You say you can ping it? Is the XP firewall enabled? Try disabling it and see if you can connect.
posted by zerokey at 11:57 AM on April 16

Hmm... make sure you aren't accidentally connecting to your neighbor's wifi? Check XP firewall, and check to make sure your XP box is actually sharing something.

Also make sure File and Printer Sharing is enabled, to check, go to Control Panel -> Network Connections -> (double click correct connection) -> Click Properties -> Make sure 'File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" is enabled
posted by davr at 12:00 PM on April 16

I've had this happen to me with my Mac several times. It seems to be a fluke as it works flawlessly most of the time and once in a blue moon it just doesnt want to work. Usually restarting networking or a reboot of the Mac fixes it for me.
posted by wongcorgi at 12:06 PM on April 16

Weird. Disabling XP firewall fixed it, but I haven't changed any firewall rules.
posted by middleclasstool at 12:07 PM on April 16

Am I safe enough just relying on my router to firewall?
posted by middleclasstool at 12:13 PM on April 16

Weird. Disabling XP firewall fixed it, but I haven't changed any firewall rules.
Did you recently run Windows Update?

Am I safe enough just relying on my router to firewall?
Probably. I use Zone Alarm too, but the router seems to do just fine on its own.
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 12:31 PM on April 16

The last time I recall running it was Service Pack 3, though it could have run more recently than that.
posted by middleclasstool at 12:35 PM on April 16

You're probably okay, presuming nobody can get into your wireless network and thereby bypass the router's firewall. But before you do that why not try just adding an exception?

On the exception tabe you need an exemption for file and printer sharing. The ports that need to be open are TCP 139 & 445 and USB 137 & 138. If you want to be particularly paranoid you can set a scope on those of "My network(subnet) only"
posted by phearlez at 12:52 PM on April 16

Those exceptions (and ports) are selected. So that's not my issue.
posted by middleclasstool at 1:02 PM on April 16