Mac OS X Lion: The Missing Manual

Networking with Windows

Microsoft Windows may dominate the corporate market, but there are Macs in the offices of America—and there are PCs in homes. Fortunately, Macs and Windows PCs can see each other on the network, with no special software (or talent) required.

Figure 13-11. This dialog box asks you how much notice you want to give your coworkers that they’re about to be disconnected, and what message to send them before the ax falls.

In fact, you can go in either direction. Your Mac can see shared folders on a Windows PC, and a Windows PC can see shared folders on your Mac.

It goes like this.

Seated at the Mac, Seeing the PC

Suppose you have a Windows PC and a Mac on the same wired or wireless network. Here’s how you get the Mac and PC chatting:

1. On your Windows PC, share some files.

   This isn’t really a book about Windows networking (thank heaven), but here are the basics.

   Just as on the Mac, there are two ways to share files in Windows. One of them is super-simple: You just copy the files you want to share into a central, fully accessible folder. As long as nobody has turned off the Guest-access feature, no passwords, accounts, or other steps are required.

   In Windows XP, that special folder is the Shared Documents folder, which you can find by choosing Start→My Computer. Share it on the network as shown in Figure 13-12, top.

   In Windows Vista, it’s the Public folder, which appears in the ...