Request for step-by-step Windows networking
 

I'm encountering this, so others might at some time.
For the benefit of the community as a whole, Could someone knowledgable please post a step-by-step process to take a mac on OSX and a windows 95/98/2000 pc linked only by a cable dsl router to a point where they can at least see each other on the network?
My windows savvy is lacking, to say the least, so could someone start there with the arcane process involved? (my particular problem seems to be getting the pc workgroup to recognize the mac, and vice versa, even though an installed retrospect client on the pc allows me to back it up on the mac, so they ARE connected somehow, but they cant see each other.)

OR if the answer is that's not possible with samba or sharity or Dave (etc), then could someone at least post a step by step of getting both machines to the point of readiness networking-wise for the addition of the proper software?
Thanks.

networking OS X to/from a Windows client
 

You can do this in a number of ways. Since OS X comes with an SMB networking client the easiest way to do it is to set up a share on the PC and connect to it from the Mac:

1. Share a folder or drive on the PC
2. On the Mac connect to the share using the format smb://[ip address]/[share name]

You can also try using an AppleTalk client (like PC/MacLAN) on the PC to connect to the Mac, making sure that AppleTalk and file sharing are enabled on the Mac.

To do the reverse you will need either a samba server installed on the Mac (freely available, but requires a little *nix knowledge), something like DAVE, or third-party software like Timbuktu on both machines.

thanks. is setting up a shared folder on the pc simply creating a workgroup in network neighborhood? how is that accomplished? Then how does one select only a certain folder to share on the pc instead of the whole pc?

The workgroup in network neighborhood refers to what network your machine is on. I'm not on a wintel machine right now (actually I am, but it blocks me from the control panel) so I can't say exactly how you set up sharing. I know you can designate share points that you want to allow users access to and then decide how to control the access to that folder.

-Dogcow "moof!"

Setting up a share point on a PC
 

You can share a single folder and give certain users access rights to it. Right-click on the folder and select Sharing... and set it up the way you want it.

As far as I know, you do not need to specify a workgroup since you are connecting via IP and not NetBios/NetBEUI.

excellent. I'll have to give that a try tonight when I get home. thanks again!

Re: networking OS X to/from a Windows client
 

uh...ok, but WHERE do I put that information? I tried IE and I tried in terminal.
where do I input "smb://(ip)/share"?

you seem to have left out a step that is obvious to you but not to me.

You should put it in the Connect to Server dialog box under the Go menu (in the finder). You can also bring it up by hitting command-k in the finder.

thanks
 

thanks.
ok, I have tried that, and unfortunately it says "no file services are available"

smb connections
 

Sounds like you don't have Microsoft File and Print Services loaded on your PC. You'll have to add them.

nope.
 

• I added those already. Under "network", configuration, file and print sharing, both are checked.
• under "access control" I have "share-level access control checked.
• additionally, the tcp/ip and netbui are also configured for printer and file sharing.
• I have selected a folder inside "my documents" to share and right clicked it to enable sharing (a hand appears on the folder) I have given it a password.
---one annoying thing is I have to do run:winipcfg/ and constantly change it from "PPP adapter" to my ethernet card.---maybe this is part of the problem?
• under "winipcfg" menu "more info", the following settings apply:
--Host name (pc computer name.ispprovider)
--DNS servers (netgear router's ip number)
--Node Type (Broadcast)
--NetBios Scope Id (blank)
--IP Routing enabled (blank)
---WINS Proxy enabled (blank)
--ethernet adapter (my linksys ethernent card)
--Adapter Address (dont recognize this string of numbers)
--IP address (reported correctly: router ip number +.3)
--Subnet mask (reported correctly)
--Default gateways (router's ip)
--DHCP Server (router's ip)
--Primary WINS server (blank)
--Secondary WINS Server (blank)


• In network neighborhood, there is an icon for my pc, which seems to be able to find itself and the shared folder just fine.
• checking properties on "workgroup" displays "Microsoft Networking file and print"

on the mac side:
• in Go/connect to server/ there is both Appletalk and local network icons. clicking on them produces nothing. I created a favorite with "smb://(ip)/share" but it yields the same error message. (server returned error 1, no files services available)

•I'm using a netgear dsl router, which the wizard shows that both ports (mac and pc) are working fine. Both machines connect to the internet just fine. (once I change the pc from "ppp adapter" to ethernet card. ---btw, how do I make that the default so I don't have to change it at every startup?)


sigh....

lerk:

Can you ping the PC from the Mac; i.e. open the OS X Network Utility, and enter the IP address of the PC in the ping tab and get a response back??

results of ping:

Ping has started ...

PING (ip) (ip): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=0 ttl=128 time=0.623 ms
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=1 ttl=128 time=0.568 ms
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=2 ttl=128 time=0.547 ms
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=3 ttl=128 time=0.616 ms
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=4 ttl=128 time=0.555 ms
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=5 ttl=128 time=0.555 ms
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=6 ttl=128 time=0.534 ms
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=7 ttl=128 time=0.575 ms
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=8 ttl=128 time=0.607 ms
64 bytes from (ip): icmp_seq=9 ttl=128 time=0.54 ms

--- (ip) ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.534/0.572/0.623 ms

OK, now in the 'Connect to Server' window, type:

smb://workgroup;username@servername/sharename

where:

workgroup = PC workgroup name, probably WORKGROUP unless you've changed it

username = whatever username you log into the PC with

servername = IP address of the PC

sharename = whatever you named the share on the PC when you created it, possibly the same as the name of the shared folder

An example: <smb://HOME;craig@10.0.0.3/pub> is me 'craig' trying to connect to the share 'pub' on the PC with address 10.0.0.3 in the workgroup 'HOME'

You should get a password prompt at that point.

Lemme know what happens.

oh, you had me excited for a moment. I tried that, and got the same error message.
I tried both as the logon when the pc starts up, though I have no password entered for that, and as what the network neighborhood lists the pc as (this isn't it, but its something like: D7w8o6)

the last one at least gets a spinning beachball before the error message. the first one gets nothing, no spin, no dialog, nothing.

Email me with the specifics of what you typed in; I need to know the details to 'shoot this one, I think.

Man oh man
 

I'm seeing the same thing you are. I can successfully connect to one of our NT servers using the smb://servername/sharename format, but when I try to do the same thing with a Windows desktop it fails with the same error. I wonder if the Windows peer-to-peer file sharing is that different, or if the version of samba that Apple is using is hamstrung so as not to allow peer file sharing.

Apple's no help...
 

From Apple's knowledgebase article about connecting to Windows SMB servers:

"The only alert message that Mac OS X displays for SMB login difficulties is 'There's no file service available at the URL <URL>.' This is sometimes correct and sometimes incorrect. This is the message that would appear if you mistyped your password, for example."

SMB URL limitations
 

This may be something. Apple's knowledgebase article points to the draft document for SMB URL schemes. In this document I ran across this:

"SMB filesharing services are identified by NetBIOS name. In an SMB URL, SMB filesharing services may also be identified by DNS name or IP address. A DNS name or IP address MUST be reverse-mapped (resolved) to a NetBIOS name in order to establish a NetBIOS Session Service connection."

In all instances where my smb connection succeeded I was connecting to a server whose DNS hostname was the same as its NetBIOS name, and in all instances where it failed the DNS hostname did not match the NetBIOS name. So, I'm not sure if you'll be able to use Mac OS X's built-in smb client on a local network, since your PC's IP can't be mapped to a hostname. Looks like you might want to try another tack.

The Apple smb client is good for connecting to any windows machine. I found that if there are any spaces in the name of the share then I could never connect. Thanks to yuriwho I found a free app that allowed me to connect to any pc on the network easily. You can find this app at http://shukwit.com/main.php I have found it to be a little buggy, though. Of the problems I found, the biggest is that when I eject a shared volume I also ejects any other partition on my hard drive, and I cannot connect to any share again. I found that if I used the "umount" command in terminal to unmount a shared volume then I'd be fine, except it left a folder with the name of the share in my "/Volumes/" folder. I couldn't delete this from terminal, so I opened the HD, went to Go>Go to folder and opened "/Volumes/" and deleted the empty folder from there. I have found that this program is worth it, even though I have to deal with the bugs.