How to access Windows and Mac files on your Network

If you have Windows and Mac computers on your home or office network, here is an easy way to share folders and access them easily on either platform.

To view Windows shared folder on the Mac OS X:
Usually, Macs detect connected PCs, but if your having trouble, here is how to do it:

From your Windows computer, select the folder you want to share. Right-click and choose ‘Properties’. Select the ‘Sharing’ tab and check the box: “Share this folder on the network”. The second check box, “Allow Network users to change files” is optional, check it only if you trust the people on your network, since they can change and delete anything in your shared folder.
Right-click on My Computer on your Windows PC, then click Properties, select the Computer Name tab, you will be able to see the Full Computer Name. Copy that down.

Now, go to the Mac computer and follow there steps:

Click on the Finder, click Command-K, or from the menu bar click Go > Connect to Server.
Type smb://YOUR_FULL_COMPUTER_NAME and click Connect.
(NOTE: There is another method, but I would only use it if you are running in a network that assigns static IP addressing mode,
Type smb:// followed by your Windows local IP address. For example: smb://192.168.0.3
You can get your IP address by clicking START > RUN and type cmd in the text field and click enter.

The command prompt will appear. Type ipconfig and after a moment you will get a few lines like the ones in the image below.

Write down your PC’s local IP address. Copy that down, Type exit and the command prompt will close properly).
After the connection is done, you will be asked to authenticate the connection by providing the user name and password to that computer, do that and click OK. If the connection does not work, make sure your Windows firewall allows access to the computer, you can do that by adding the necessary IP range to Windows Firewall “safe list”.
After verification, select one of the shared folders you want to mount from the drop-down list. And you’re done.

Now, to view Mac folders on your Windows PC:

Open System Preferences (Apple Menu: System Preferences), enable “Windows sharing” on the Mac, from the Internet & Network > Sharing menu.
Enable a local user account privileges to connect.
Now, at the bottom of the window, you will see the UNC path to use. It will look something like this: \\192.168.***.***\YOURUSERNAME

You can use that in your Windows PC to connect: Click START > RUN and type \\192.168.***.***\YOURUSERNAME in the text field. Press the Enter Key.
You will be asked to authenticate with the Mac username and password, and after verification, an Explorer window will open showing all folders accessible.
(NOTE: Similarly, you can also look for your Mac in your Windows computer under My Network Places > Entire Network > Microsoft Windows Network.)

Filed under: Tech | Networking |

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