Sharing OS X 10.5 Files With Windows XP

What You Will Need

A Mac running OS X 10.5 or later.
A PC running Windows XP. These instructions are for Windows XP with Service Pack 3 installed, but they should work for any version of Windows XP.
Administrative access to both the Windows XP computer and the Mac computer.
About a half-hour of your time.
Oh, and some files you wish to share.

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File Sharing With OS X 10.5 - Share Mac Files with Windows XP

Apple uses the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol for file sharing with Windows users, as well as Unix/Linux users. This is the same protocol that Windows uses for network file and printer sharing, but Microsoft calls it Microsoft Windows Network.

Apple implemented SMB in OS X 10.5 a little bit differently than in previous versions of the Mac OS. OS X 10.5 has some new capabilities, such as the option to share specific folders and not just a user account's public folder.

OS X 10.5 supports two methods of sharing files using SMB: Guest Sharing and User Account Sharing. Guest Sharing allows you to specify the folders you wish to share. You can also control the rights a guest has for each shared folder; the options are Read Only, Read and Write, and Write Only (Dropbox). You can't control who can access the folders, though. Any individual on your local network can access shared folders as a guest.

With the User Account Sharing method, you log in to your Mac from a Windows computer with your Mac username and password. Once you're logged in, all of the files and folders you would normally have access to on your Mac will be available.

The User Account Sharing method may seem to be the most obvious choice when you want to access your Mac files from a PC, but there's a slight possibility that your username and password could be left behind and accessible on the PC. So for most users, we recommend using Guest Sharing, because it allows you to specify the folder(s) you want to share and leaves everything else inaccessible.

One important note about SMB file sharing. If you have User Account Sharing turned off (the default), anyone who attempts to log in to your Mac from a Windows computer will be rejected, even if they supply a correct username and password. With User Account Sharing turned off, only guests are allowed access to shared folders.

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The Mac and PC need to be in the same ‘workgroup’ for file sharing to work. Windows XP uses a default workgroup name of WORKGROUP. If you haven’t made any changes to the workgroup name on the Windows computer connected to your network, then you’re ready to go. The Mac also creates a default workgroup name of WORKGROUP for connecting to Windows machines.

If you have changed your Windows workgroup name, as many people often do with a home office network, then you’ll need to change the workgroup name on your Mac to match.

Change the Workgroup Name on Your Mac (Leopard OS X 10.5.x)

Launch System Preferences by clicking its icon in the Dock.
Click the Network icon in the System Preferences window.
Select Edit Locations from the Location dropdown menu.
Create a copy of your current active location.
1. Select your active location from the list in the Location sheet. The active location is usually called Automatic and may be the only entry in the sheet.
2. Click the sprocket button and select Duplicate Location from the pop-up menu.
3. Type in a new name for the duplicate location or use the default name, which is Automatic Copy.
4. Click the Done button.
Click the Advanced button.
Select the WINS tab.
In the Workgroup field, enter the same workgroup name you're using on the PC.
Click the OK button.
Click the Apply button.

After you click the Apply button, your network connection will be dropped. After a few moments, your network connection will be re-established, with the new workgroup name you created.

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Once the workgroup names on your Mac and PC match, it's time to enable file sharing on your Mac.

Launch System Preferences, either by clicking the System Preferences icon in the Dock or by selecting System Preferences from the Apple menu.
Click the Sharing icon, which is located in the Internet & Network section of System Preferences.
From the list of sharing services on the left, select File Sharing by clicking its checkbox.

By default, your Mac will share the public folder of all user accounts. You can specify additional folders for sharing as needed.

Click the plus (+) button below the Shared Folders list.
In the Finder sheet that drops down, navigate to the location of the folder you wish to share. Select the folder and click the Add button.
Any folders you add are given default access rights. The owner of the folder has Read & Write access. The 'Everyone' group, which includes guests, is given Read Only access.
To change the access rights of guests, click Read Only to the right of the 'Everyone' entry in the Users list.
A pop-up menu will appear, listing the four available types of access rights.
1. Read & Write. Guests may read files, copy files, create new files, and edit files stored in the shared folder.
2. Read Only. Guests may read files, but not edit, copy, or delete any data in the shared folder.
3. Write Only (Dropbox). Guests can't see any files stored in the shared folder, but they can copy files and folders to the shared folder. Drop Boxes are a good way to allow other individuals to give you files without being able to view any content on your Mac.
4. No Access. As its name implies, guests will not be able to access the specified folder.
Select the type of access right you wish to assign to the shared folder.

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With the shared folders selected and the access rights set for each of the shared folders, it's time to turn SMB sharing on.

With the Sharing preferences pane window still open and File Sharing selected from the Service list, click the Options button.
Place a checkmark next to Share files and folders using SMB.

Guest Sharing is controlled by the access rights you granted to the shared folder(s) in the previous step. You can also activate User Account Sharing, which lets you log in to your Mac from a Windows computer using your Mac username and password. Once you're logged in, all of the files and folders you normally have access to on your Mac will be available from the Windows computer.

User Account Sharing has some security issues, the primary one being that SMB stores passwords in a method that is slightly less secure than Apple's normal file-sharing system. While it's unlikely that someone would be able to gain access to these stored passwords, it is a possibility. For that reason, we don't recommend enabling User Account Sharing except on a very trusted and secure local network.

Just below the Share files and folders using SMB option that you enabled with a checkmark in the previous step is a list of the user accounts currently active on your Mac. Place a checkmark next to each user account that you wish to make available to SMB User Account Sharing.
Enter the password for the selected user account.
Repeat for any other accounts you want to make available to SMB User Account Sharing.
Click the Done button.
You can now close the Sharing preferences pane.

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Now that SMB file sharing is enabled, you still have one more step to complete if you want to use Guest Sharing. Apple created a special Guest user account specifically for file sharing, but the account is disabled by default. Before anyone, including you, can log in to SMB file-sharing as a guest, you must enable the special Guest account.

Enable the Guest User Account

Launch System Preferences, either by clicking the System Preferences icon in the Dock or by selecting System Preferences from the Apple menu.
Click the Accounts icon, located in the System area of the System Preferences window.
Click the lock icon in the bottom left corner. When prompted, supply your administrator username and password. (If you're logged in with an administrator account, you will only need to supply the password.)
From the list of accounts, select Guest Account.
Place a checkmark next to Allow guests to connect to shared folders.
Click the lock icon in the bottom left corner.
Close the Accounts preferences pane.

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You have now configured your Mac to share folders or user accounts using SMB, the file-sharing protocol used by Windows, Linux, and Unix computers.

One annoying thing I've noticed when file sharing with Windows machines is that the shared folders sometimes disappear from Windows XP's Network Places. One way around this intermittent problem is to use Windows XP's Map to Network Drive option to assign your shared folder(s) to network drives. This makes Windows think the shared folders are hard drives and seems to eliminate the disappearing folders issue.

Map Shared Folders to Network Drives

In Windows XP, select Start > My Computer.
In the My Computer window, select Map Network Drive from the Tools menu.
The Map Network Drive window will open.
Use the dropdown menu in the Drive field to select a drive letter. We like to label the network drives starting with the letter Z and working backward through the alphabet for each shared folder since many of the letters at the other end of the alphabet are already taken.
Next to the Folder field, click the Browse button. In the Browse for Folder window that opens, expand the file tree to display the following: Entire Network, Microsoft Windows Network, Your Workgroup Name, Your Mac’s name. You will now see a list of all your shared folders.
Select one of the shared folders, and click the OK button.
If you would like your shared folders to be available whenever you turn on your Windows computer, place a checkmark next to Reconnect at logon.
Click the Finish button.