Multi-Platform Windows File Sharing in OS X, Part I
Making Everyone Play Nice Together
16 January 2004 Ryan J. Bonnell Skip to comments
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### IntroductionWindows and Macintosh can coexist? Who knew! Ryan J. Bonnell gets you started on making your multiple platforms play nice together in this first installment of the ongoing series.
For years, Mac users have enjoyed simple and almost effortless file sharing. Thanks much to the friendly approach the Chooser provided, it was easy to log onto other people's shared computers to swap files, collaborate on projects, and even access the printer on their desk. Using an Apple made things drop-dead simple, and it all "just worked."
With Apple's latest incarnation of OS X (pronounced Ten), the same possibilities apply, but with an even greater scope. No longer are you limited to sharing files and folders with just your other Mac colleagues, but even Microsoft ® Windows ® and Unix / Linux users. Mac OS System 8 originaly extended file sharing to TCP/IP, so that any Windows ® (or other) machine could access designated shared folders on a Mac using nothing more than a Web browser, or an FTP client.
Apple has made great strides in making OS X play well with others, so much that you can easily integrate your Mac into a Microsoft Windows based Active Directory forest, almost like your Mac was a PC. (but we would never want to see that day come - though Steve has already shown us that Hell has frozen over.)
The Macintosh that was once not taken seriously in the Corporate Enterprise is now popping up on desktops all over the world — and they're no longer "just for creative designers".
In this tutorial we'll show you how to set-up your OS X based machine to easily and securely share files between Macs, PCs, and even Linux boxes.
### OverviewBefore OS X, file sharing between non-Macs was an arduous undertaking. You either had to rely on third party products such as Thursby Software's Dave or PC MACLAN from Miramar Systems, or roll your own server setup. (HTTP, FTP, AppeShare IP, Windows NT with Services for Macintosh, Net-a-Talk, etc...)
Luckily for us, Apple has laid OS 9 to rest in a staged funeral, and officially migrated off of AppleTalk based networking and printing, instead moving toward a Rendezvous and IP-based network model.
"We are here today to mourn the passing of Mac OS 9," Jobs said. "He is no doubt looking down on us today with that same smile he showed us every time he booted up."
This is very good news for us, as Apple has joined the crowd and has warmly adopted many of the open standards that drive the Internet, instead of relying on their own in-house developed Protocols.
With the introduction of OS X, we now have a full-blown BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) underpinning, bringing us the proven network stack of Unix and the ability to use the open source Samba effort for Windows ® file sharing and compatibility.
Thanks largely in part the open source community and the committed development team at Apple, we now have all of the tools necessary "built-in" that allows us to easily and openly share files to anyone, almost anywhere.
Now that we have all of the pieces in place, all we have to do is set everything up.
Getting Started
In this tutorial, we will be using a Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional computer for the PC machines, and a Mac OS X v10.3 Panther computer for the Mac examples. (NOTE: A Red Hat Linux 9.0 based box was to be included in this tutorial, but due to time constraints of the author it will be added at a later date.)
A brief overview of what we're going to do is as follows:
- Set up user accounts
- Configure Computer / Network Preferences
- Enable File Sharing and/or Firewalls
- Connecting to Network shares
Apple has provided a number of Knowledge Base Articles describing the basic steps to get Windows file sharing up and running in a network environment, but to date none of the documents explain in great detail many of the contingencies and intricacies one encounters when getting things set up.
A no-frills approach to setting up your Mac to share files with a Windows computer can be found by combining several of the bits mentioned in these articles:
Mac OS X 10.2: How to Set Up Windows File Sharing
It is the aim of this article to include as much necessary content as possible without adding any irrelevant information. Comments are encouraged, and discussion is welcome. So roll up your sleeves, and let's get dirty.
Note: This article is just Part One of an in-depth tutorial covering workgroup file and print sharing from a multi-platform point of view. Next time, we'll get started on setting up the computer configurations, network shares, and getting everyone connected.
Ryan J. Bonnell is a Web Developer, Student, and leading contributor to MacZealots.com. When he is not playing around with his endless amount of toys, he can be reached at .
Reader Comments (2)
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#1) On August 22, 2005 10:00 AM
Have had plenty of trouble attempting to set up a network of two computers.
#2) On September 29, 2005 5:51 PM
i am completly in the dark in regards to filesharing, so thank you for providing this tutorial
-garrett