Trouble accessing my C drive wirelessly
June 27, 2006 7:26 PM Subscribe
I just purchased a Macbook, have it up and running nicely with a Linksys router which is connected to my desktop (an HP WinXP machine) and I can't see/access my desktop hard drive from my Mac...
I'm fairly new at piecing together a network, so if this is a complex task then it may be beyond my skills. I can type the ip address of the router into the Mac and bring it up. I've tried a couple other commands suggested by friends to no avail.
Basically I'd just like to be able to transfer files from my C drive wirelessly to my Mac, control iTunes wirelesly, etc.
To anyone that chimed in regarding my prior Linksys issues, thank-you. Thhe advice was spot on.
I'm fairly new at piecing together a network, so if this is a complex task then it may be beyond my skills. I can type the ip address of the router into the Mac and bring it up. I've tried a couple other commands suggested by friends to no avail.
Basically I'd just like to be able to transfer files from my C drive wirelessly to my Mac, control iTunes wirelesly, etc.
To anyone that chimed in regarding my prior Linksys issues, thank-you. Thhe advice was spot on.
You're going to have to explain a bit more about how they're connected. My guess is they're on separate subnets and you need to turn off NAT and DHCP in the router, though that's only a guess.
posted by cillit bang at 7:40 PM on June 27, 2006
posted by cillit bang at 7:40 PM on June 27, 2006
Response by poster: cb - tell me if this gets too painful. Cable comes into the modem, that then connects to the router. XP desktop connects to the router. I'm not sure I know how else to explain. But everything works great as far as connecting to the web. Someone tried to tell me just to put in the address of the router with a /C$ after, but that did not work.
posted by docpops at 7:58 PM on June 27, 2006
posted by docpops at 7:58 PM on June 27, 2006
Response by poster: Bonaldi - that looks promising, but the problem is I want to acces my XP hard drive and not the Mac hard drive.
posted by docpops at 8:01 PM on June 27, 2006
posted by docpops at 8:01 PM on June 27, 2006
I have very little experience going the other way, docpops. I don't know if windows has discoverability -- ie, if the shares will automatically appear in the Network globe.
Try this: From the Finder, choose "Connect to server" from the Go menu. Type smb://[your PCs IP address] and press return. You'll have to find out what IP address your PC has of course, and I don't know how that's done on Windows.
posted by bonaldi at 8:10 PM on June 27, 2006
Try this: From the Finder, choose "Connect to server" from the Go menu. Type smb://[your PCs IP address] and press return. You'll have to find out what IP address your PC has of course, and I don't know how that's done on Windows.
posted by bonaldi at 8:10 PM on June 27, 2006
Response by poster: Bonaldi - where is the 'Go' menu in finder?
posted by docpops at 8:20 PM on June 27, 2006
posted by docpops at 8:20 PM on June 27, 2006
Response by poster: Does it have anything to do with setting up a VPN?
posted by docpops at 8:22 PM on June 27, 2006
posted by docpops at 8:22 PM on June 27, 2006
Er ... it's in the menu bar docpops. Click on the Finder icon (the bisected blue face) in the dock (the panel of icons on a grey tint at the bottom of the screen. Then read along the top of the screen from the left, "Go" is between "View" and "Window".
It has nothing to do with VPNs.
posted by bonaldi at 8:30 PM on June 27, 2006
It has nothing to do with VPNs.
posted by bonaldi at 8:30 PM on June 27, 2006
Response by poster: sorry. there actually isn't a 'Go' buttton. I opened up the customize menu and used the 'Connect' button.
Oh, and also...YOU RULE....
I got into a 'Shared Folder'. So I suppose if I put a ton of shit into that I can move it into my Mac. It's a start, though. Further advice?
posted by docpops at 8:37 PM on June 27, 2006
Oh, and also...YOU RULE....
I got into a 'Shared Folder'. So I suppose if I put a ton of shit into that I can move it into my Mac. It's a start, though. Further advice?
posted by docpops at 8:37 PM on June 27, 2006
Go back to your PC and find a folder you want to access. Right-click on it and select 'Sharing' and then follow the prompts to share it with the network.
That folder will then come up in the list of shares you get on your mac when you go 'Connect to server...'.
(You can also do this with your whole C drive from 'My computer' if you don't mind your whole HD being shared via the network)
posted by ranglin at 9:58 PM on June 27, 2006
That folder will then come up in the list of shares you get on your mac when you go 'Connect to server...'.
(You can also do this with your whole C drive from 'My computer' if you don't mind your whole HD being shared via the network)
posted by ranglin at 9:58 PM on June 27, 2006
ie, if the shares will automatically appear in the Network globe.
They do, though things can be sporadic. You can edit samba's smb.conf file to put the Mac in the Windows workgroup. Once that's done, the workgroup should show up in Finder. As an added bonus, once every 10 times you click on it, there will be visible machines. In my experience, you're better off just using the Connect method described above and saving the PC machine names as favorites there.
What I'm planning on doing is shutting off DHCP on all the computers at home and hard-coding their IPs. smb://[ip address] always gets me to the PC in question, but smb://[pc name] is just an unreliable as Finder > Network.
posted by yerfatma at 8:01 AM on June 28, 2006
They do, though things can be sporadic. You can edit samba's smb.conf file to put the Mac in the Windows workgroup. Once that's done, the workgroup should show up in Finder. As an added bonus, once every 10 times you click on it, there will be visible machines. In my experience, you're better off just using the Connect method described above and saving the PC machine names as favorites there.
What I'm planning on doing is shutting off DHCP on all the computers at home and hard-coding their IPs. smb://[ip address] always gets me to the PC in question, but smb://[pc name] is just an unreliable as Finder > Network.
posted by yerfatma at 8:01 AM on June 28, 2006
Relevant smb.conf sections
# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
workgroup = [YOUR WINDOWS WORKGROUP NAME]
netbios name = [WHAT YOU WANT THE MAC TO BE NAMED]
# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = [MORE DESCRIPTIVE NAME]
# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
wins server = [IP ADDRESS OF YOUR ROUTER]
(I don't remember where smb.conf lives on OSX. /etc/samba/smb.conf is my guess)
posted by yerfatma at 8:04 AM on June 28, 2006
# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
workgroup = [YOUR WINDOWS WORKGROUP NAME]
netbios name = [WHAT YOU WANT THE MAC TO BE NAMED]
# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = [MORE DESCRIPTIVE NAME]
# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
wins server = [IP ADDRESS OF YOUR ROUTER]
(I don't remember where smb.conf lives on OSX. /etc/samba/smb.conf is my guess)
posted by yerfatma at 8:04 AM on June 28, 2006
docpop:
but your button works exactly the same. As for putting stuff into your shared folder -- you can do this the other way round too: mount the Mac from the PC and copy stuff over from there.
posted by bonaldi at 8:19 AM on June 28, 2006
but your button works exactly the same. As for putting stuff into your shared folder -- you can do this the other way round too: mount the Mac from the PC and copy stuff over from there.
posted by bonaldi at 8:19 AM on June 28, 2006
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Controlling iTunes wirelessly is murder. There are little apps that let you do it Mac-to-Mac, but you're best off just using library sharing (in iTunes preferences)
posted by bonaldi at 7:37 PM on June 27, 2006