Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Panther Edition

Networking with Windows

Microsoft Windows may dominate the corporate market, but there are Macs in the offices of America. Mac OS X represents a historic moment in Mac-Windows relations: It lets Macs and Windows PCs see each other on the network, with no special software (or talent) required.

In fact, you can go in either direction: Your Mac can see shared folders on the Windows PCs, and a Windows PC can see shared folders on your Mac. The following pages take you through both situations.

Seated at the Mac: Seeing the PC

Suppose you have a Windows XP machine on the network (although the same feature works in Windows Me, Windows 2000, and other recent editions). Here’s how you get the Mac and PC chatting:

1. On your Windows PC, share a folder.

   You have to specify which folders you want to make available on the network, if some administrator hasn’t already done so. In Windows XP, for example, you right-click a folder, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, click the Sharing tab, and turn on “Share this folder on the network” (Figure 12-12, top). In the “Share name” box, type a name for the folder as it will appear on the network (no spaces are allowed).

   

   Figure 12-12.  Top: To share a folder in Windows, right-click it, choose Properties, and turn on “Share this folder on the network.” Bottom: Back in the safety of Mac OS X, click Network in the Sidebar, click your workgroup name ...