Darrin Jackson had a problem where Macs on his network could connect to a Windows XP as guests for file sharing. All computers were on an AirPort network. His fix involves unchecking "Use simple file sharing" in Windows, among other things:
I was having trouble connecting my Windows XP PC to my Mac OS network (I'm using Leopard 10.5.8 and Snow Leopard). I searched the web, your site came up, but nothing worked. I googled to my fingers got sore.
My Mac would only allow me to connect to my PC as guest. No matter how many times I've changed the username. I even tried the all-numeric password tip and the port 139 tip with no success.
But the solution was actually simple. Even though my username had changed on the PC, the PC still initially created the account with the name "owner" as seen when I look in my "Documents and Settings" folder on my PC.
So when I logged in as "owner" with my password, it worked. I had full file share access from My Mac to My PC. This is what I did.
On my Macs:
- Go to System Preferences>Accounts and select "Guest Account" and uncheck "Allow guest to connect to shared folders." This is necessary to force the login screen to pop up on the PC side. Otherwise you just get the public folders.
- Go to System Preferences>Sharing. Check and select File Sharing. Select Options. Then Check 'Share files and folders using SMB'. Next check the account that you want On. Hit Done.
On My PC:
- Right-click My Computer. Select Properties. Select the "Computer Name" Tab. Hit 'Change' and make sure the computer is on the right workgroup. I set mine to WORKGROUP.
- Left-click My Computer. Go to the top menu. Select Tools>Folder Options. Select the View tab. Go to the bottom of Advanced Settings and UNCHECK "Use simple file sharing." This definitely made a difference when I unchecked this.
- Go to any folder that you want to share. Right click on it. Select Sharing and select Share This Folder.
I use an Airport Extreme Base Station. For some reason, I had to reboot it for this to work. Then I just waited for the network to propagate itself.
The PC shows up on my Mac in the shared. I can log in as "Owner." And all of my Macs show up on the PC under Workgroups. I click on them and log in. Full Access.
If you've tried this suggestion
Two readers wrote with differing responses to the tip Fix for Mac OS X connecting to Win XP as a non-guest. One verified it, and the other ran into a problem and poses a question for our readers. The tip worked for Alfred Reinold Baudisch:
I've tried one of your site's fix for connecting Macs to Windows as a non-guest, and it worked pretty well. This after I searched around almost every Mac site and tips. Thanks a lot for it.
Phil Gates had a problem with the procedure in Windows XP Home:
I got to Step 2: "Left-click My Computer. Go to the top menu. Select Tools>Folder Options. Select the View tab. Go to the bottom of Advanced Settings and UNCHECK "Use simple file sharing."
I found that I did not have "Use simple file sharing" as an Advanced Setting in my Windows XP/Home Edition. My problem is that I access share points if I enable guests, but once I disable guests I get "Workgroup is not accessible" error message. This is despite the fact that I can Map a share point and access it using user names and passwords that are set up in Workgroup Manager.
If you have a suggestion for Phil Gate's problem
John Thow in the United Kingdom answered another reader's question about turning of Windows XP's "simple file sharing" option:
Regarding this page: TIP: Fix for Mac OS X connecting to Win XP as a non-guest. I came across this as I'm trying to do the same thing on a friend's machine. The answer to Phil Gate's problem can be found at on this WikiHow page.
