Control a PC from a Mac over the Internet
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Microsoft RDC 1.0.2 fixes Panther dual-processor problem. December 23, 2003 -- Yesterday, Microsoft released Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) 1.0.2, and upgrade to the free client that lets Mac users control applications running on Windows PCs over a network. The update fixes a problem with OS X 10.3.x on dual-processor Macs which caused RDC to not respond. It also fixes a "frequent hang encountered by many users when their Mac was engaged in heavy network activity." RDC 10.0.2 is available in English, Japanese, French and German.
Thursby offers discounts for DAVE and ADmitMac. December 23, 2003 -- Thursby Software Systems is offering $50 of the price of DAVE and ADmitMac on purchases made at thursby.com through December 31, 2003. During this time, the single user license for each US $99, or $149 with an Annual Upgrade Agreement (AUA) is now $148.95 USD. DAVE is a cross-platform SMB client/server for file and printer sharing, which has generally not had the problems of Mac OS X's SMB in versions 10.2.x and 10.3.x. ADmitMac allows Mac OS X to participate in Microsoft networks using Active Directory and NT Directory Services. (See also our DAVE and Active Directory Special Report pages.)
Readers say OS X 10.3.2 update adds some fixes, some not. December 23, 2003 -- Last week, Apple released Mac OS X 10.3.2, its second update to Panther in as many months, promising that it fixes some of the cross-platform problems we have been reporting on our Mac OS X 10.3 Report page. Readers report that some problems are fixes, others aren't.
Apple claims that a number of bug fixes were made in this update. The first two were problems reported at MacWindows:
MacWindows readers report
SMB Browsing: disagreement among readers
Chuck Wehner found that the upgrade fixed the SMB browsing problem:
At last with 10.3.2 SMB Browsing works again on my Windows network at work. After installing the update it immediately found the network and all drives where before I had to type in the addresses to mount drives.
However, Philip Sandiford says browsing still doesn't work:
The 10.3.2 update posted by Apple yesterday has not improved directory browsing on our Win2K network. Attempts to browse using command k, "Browse," has crashed the finder and left the system unresponsive until the Ethernet cable is removed.I believe it is retrieving directory information from the server, for a very long time. Node icons on the Mac keep refreshing, dynamically, appearing like blinking Christmas lights as the info changes.
All in all, I'll stick with Jag for SMB. PowerBook G4/500, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB available on the hard drive.
Norman Cohen also still sees the problem, and offered a suggestion:
Problem: SMB shares on a Macintosh running Panther 10.3.2 intermittently appear in the Network BrowserAnswer: After much troubleshooting, I learned that when both Personal File Sharing and Windows Sharing is turned on, only the AFP share turns up in the Network Browser. When Personal File Sharing is turned off, the SMB share appears in the browser. Both the AFP and SMB shares have the same name in a default install, with the only difference being that the SMB share is in all capital letters and the AFP share is in small letters. The name of the shares are the same as the name listed as the "computer name" in the Sharing Preference Pane. Further sleuthing, using the program Rendezvous Browser, demonstrated that a new service appears when both AFP and SMB sharing are active. This service is called Mac OS X Duplicate Suppression. Thinking that this might be part of the problem, I used Share Points to change the NetBIOS name for the SMB server. Now the AFP share and the SMB share with the new name appear in the Network Browser across my LAN. It sounds as though Rendezvous may be ignoring case when checking for duplicates and that Apple needs to either change the case insensitivity behavior, if that's what the problem actual us, or give the default install a slightly different NetBIOS name from the user chosen computer name (e.g., computer name = "iBook", NetBIOS name = "ibooksmb").
SMB file locking fixed
Greg Priglmeier reports that the new update fixed a file locking problem:
The new 10.3.2 update for Mac clients fixes the 'file locking' bug when users open a file on an SMB server volume.The problem:
Clients connecting to either a Windows of Mac based SMB share would get a -47 error message when attempting to save a file they had opened directly from the server and edited.
Test for pre 10.3.2 clients-
Log in to a SMB share.
Create a new folder.
Create a new document in the folder and save it.
Quit the application and close the doc.
Open it add some info and save it back.
-47 error.
Binding/Authentication with Active Directory on Win 2003 Server fixed
Owen Greenwell says that 10.2.3 helped with a problem with Active Directory:
I was having many problems with binding and authentication with a Windows 2003 Server. Installed MacOS 10.3.2 which includes version 1.0.1 of the Active Directory plugin and all the problems went away. Binding and authenticating without any convoluted work arounds.Also Windows Printing works now, I always had blank windows before and now it shows the servers and clicking on them reveals the shared printers. One flaw remains, even though I have bound and authenticated with the AD it still asks for the username and password to access the printers (which is saved in the keychain)
Virtual PC printing fixed
Norman Cohen verifies Apple's claim of fixing Virtual PC printing problems with Panther:
Problem: Virtual PC with Windows 98 was not printing to a shared Macintosh printer under PantherAnswer: 10.3.2 does fix this bug. In looking for a workaround while using 10.3.1, I tried to set up a network printer to one of my printers on the LAN. After much research on the net at MacWindows, MacOSXHints, etc., I finally succeeded in setting this up. In Windows 98, one needs to activate IP printing by installing a program called wpnpins.exe. Once this is done and the PC is rebooted, you can install the printer using the Network Printer option. The address to put in is
http://xxx.yyy.zzz:631/printers/printer_queue_name, where xxx.yyy.zzz
is the IP address of the Mac computer that is sharing a printer. The printer_queue_name is available from the CUPS configuration webpage: http://localhost:631/printers. I used the Apple LaserWriter II NT driver to generate the postscript code, since it was already installed in Windows. I couldn't find my 98 SE disk to get any other drivers, but this has worked fine. I used the same driver for both my OfficeJet d135 USB printer and for my venerable LaserWriter Select 360, connected to the network via a LocalTalk to Ethernet bridge. Printing is faster using the network printers compared to the shared printer, since one doesn't have the VPC lag that occurs between rendering the print job in Windows and VPC sending it to the Mac printer. Also, by using the network printer option, one can create multiple printers within Windows and not have to change the default printer choice on the Mac side to send to other than the usual default printer. Lastly, unlike one comment printed on the web, Windows sharing does not need to be activated on the host Mac to print to these network printers.
Outlook 2001 problems in Panther 10.3.2
Daniel Foshee reports a new problem with Outlook 2001 running in Classic in OS X 10.3.2:
I'm having problems getting Outlook 2001 to work with the latest update to OS X Panther, 10.3.2. I did the Software Update, installed the Outlook 2001 client, then tried to configure it. I got this error:Microsoft Outlook cannot write information needed to complete installation. Make sure you have copied the Outlook files from the CD to your computer's hard disk. If Outlook is installed on your computer but you do not have permission to modify the files, contact your administrator.I have repaired permissions on the partition, tried to change permissions to both the Outlook folder and the System Folder, to no avail. I noticed that the requisite files were not placed in the OS 9 System Folder by the installer, but how to get them there?
I am working with a freshly installed OS X on a dual 1.8 GHz G5. I know it worked in 10.2.8 on a Graphite G4, and am pretty sure it (still) works on a 10.3.2 install on a MDD G4.
If you'd like to comment on what 10.3.2 does or doesn't fix in terms of cross-platform issues, please let us know.
More reports of Panther slowing down Virtual PC. December 23, 2003 -- A number of readers added to our previous reports of Mac OS X 10.3.x causing Virtual PC 5.x and 6.1 to slow down.
There is no fix known yet, but Ken Ledbetter offers a workaround:
I have just started a VPC rollout on 35 Mac's and had the EXACT same problem. The GUI just bogged down. 30 second response time if any response. I discovered if you go to control panels/administrator tools/services and disable VPCSRVC.EXE. your VPC machine will work fine. However, you lose the ability to paste between the Windows and Mac environment. I realize this is just a work around.
Samual Chan
I own a 867 aluminum PowerBook and recently installed Panther onto the computer. Before the install, VPC ran fine enough but after upgrading to Panther, Windows 2000 won't even complete starting up, it seems to crash the entire system and a restart is needed.I have reinstalled and restarted and no improvement. What seems to be happening is that the emulation is running slower and slower and just stops. A hard-drive check counter starts normally: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6...5......4............3...exponentially taking longer.
I am running Panther 10.3.1
Jeff Corkran
My PowerBook G4 15-inch 1.25 GHz (1 GB RAM) has definitely seen a slowdown in VPC 6.1 under Panther. I am running Win2K Server and it is at least 15-20% slower, at times, much worse. It seemed to be relatively speedy under Jaguar, when I also only had 512 MB installed on the machine. I too have tried allocating more RAM, with some perceived positive difference.
Richard Neill
I noticed this on my G4 867 12 inch with airport extreme. Intolerably slow sometime over the past week. Yes I've installed the latest Apple security updates, which I think must be the culprit.
Bob Stanley
I have the same situation as the individual under the "Performance slowed down" section of your website. I have a PB 17 with 512 MB RAM allotted for VPC and had a noticeable slow down to such a point that I reverted back to 10.2.8. In addition, some of the applications that will run on 10.2.8 like Norton's suites have issues with 10.3.VPC 5 and Panther
Janet Szabo
I had Virtual PC 5.0 and Windows 98 SE running on my dual 1.25 G4 and it was working fine. I installed Panther about two weeks ago, and ever since then, VPC crawls. Also, when I can get it to work at a reasonable speed (usually by shutting everything down and restarting my Mac), I can't print anything. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it. No luck. It looks like I am going to have to spring for VPC 6.0, but I am getting a little tired (and running out of funds) of replacing all my hardware and software every time Apple comes out with an OS upgrade. I just had to replace my faithful SCSI scanner because Agfa will no longer continue to update drivers to work with Apple's OS's. And who can blame them?
Lance Aldrich
I also have had problems with performance of Virtual PC 5 and Panther. As suggested by others, it might be related to rebooting. I had been reusing a "saved state" Window 98 for a week or so without problems, but when I had to reboot it slowly goes to a crawl and eventually locks up the entire system, including Mac OS X. Takes a hard reboot from the power switch. Repaired permissions, ran disk utility to repair disk, replaced the Windows 98 image from a backup, and deleted all the Virtual PC preferences I could find in my home directory, all without helping. Don't know if version 6 would help, holding out until a version comes out that will work on a G5 (currently running iMac DV 400, 640 MB RAM).
Thomas B. Carley
Since I started running 10.3 I've not been able to use VPC 5--it is nonfunctional... I've found that since I quite using VPC that there are many apps available to do what I need... I've dumped VPC and no longer have any Microsoft software on any of my Mac's. I intended to keep it that way.
John W. Grubb
My VPC has slowed to a crawl since upgrading to Panther. And I cannot even install Oracle 9i client or Advance (Development) software under VPC, which I should be able to do.
StuffIt 8.0.2 updates for Panther. December 16, 2003 -- Yesterday, Aladdin Systems released StuffIt Deluxe 8.0.2 for Mac OS X (US $80, free update) and StuffIt Standard 8.0.2, maintenance upgrades to the cross-platform compression/encoding utilities. The main new enhancement is compatibility with Mac OS X 10.3. Other improvements include:
(StuffIt is also available for the Windows, Linux, and Solaris.)
Reader problem with Yahoo Chess. December 16, 2003 -- A reader reports a problem with Macs and Yahoo chess.
I've been playing chess on the Yahoo site for almost 5 years now (iMac, Mac OS 8.6). Now when I go on the site, a note comes up that says: "Macintosh Platform does not support Live Script." What does that mean? I can still play chess, but the board and pieces I'm playing with now look negative and it's difficult to see what's going on.Why do you think this happened all of a sudden? Will updating my browser to the latest Netscape version help?
If you've seen this problem or have a suggestion, please let us know.
O'Reilly posts article on Panther and Active Directory. December 16, 2003 -- The O'Reilly Mac Development Center web site now has an article called Panther and Active Directory by Michael Bartosh, which includes screen shots. The article presents background information and detailed instructions on integrating Mac OS X 10.3 with Microsoft Active Directory.
Near the beginning of the article, Bartosh warns:
However, it should be noted that Panther is, in general, a very different animal from Jaguar. Support infrastructures are expensive to build and maintain, and updating those infrastructures for a new major OS revision shouldn't be undertaken hastily.
Robert Kedoin was reading this article, and noticed the following, which Kedoin notes "seems to imply that it is not possible to have the same home directory on Windows and Mac:"
Access to Windows HomeDirectory: The UNC specified in the user's AD HomeDirectory attribute will automatically be mounted with the credential the user presents at login. It will not be used as the user's Mac OS X Home directory, but it is feasible to use a login script to link portions of the AD user's local home directory into the shared volume.
Thursby Systems have made similar claims (see our Active Directory Special Report page).
Panther clients binding to Active Directory: bug and fix. December 16, 2003 --Brandon Edling says he found a problem with Mac OS X 10.3 binding to Active Directory, and a way to fix it:
I am testing out adding 10.3 clients to our Active Directory structure. In the Active Directory plugin, I entered the appropriate Forest and Domain information, the computer name (in our case the first letter/last name of the user of the machine), and clicked "Bind..."The machine would successfully bind to the Active Directory domain. I then set the authentication and contacts path, and (though it might not be necessary) rebooted for the changes to take effect.
When the user of the machine went to log in (with a username of first initial/last name), the machine would NOT let him log in; the log in screen would shake as if the password was incorrect. I, however, could log in with ANY other account on my AD domain. This struck me as rather odd.
After hours of investigation, my Windows Admin and I found the following:
When the Mac is bound to the domain, it would successfully create an entry in the "Computer" section of AD, but it seemed to also attempt to create a user account of the same name (for example, the computer is named jdoe.domain.com and the user account it tried to create is jdoe@domain.com). This was found by looking at the Computers section of AD and looking in the "User Account" column.
We looked in the AD system log and found an error message saying, in effect "jdoe has multiple accounts created in the domain domain.com". We then searched AD for jdoe and only came up with one account -- a REAL user account that I had manually created months ago.
The first thing we tried is killing the user account jdoe and the computer account jdoe, then rebinding it to the domain, to see if the user account it was referencing was actually created. It was not. We then decided to try to create the computer account (and the user account) MANUALLY in the AD domain, BEFORE we bound the OS X machine to the AD domain.
This seemed to do the trick!
When "Bind..." is clicked on the OS X machine, a message appeared stating that a profile of that name was already in place and if I wanted to use that profile. I stated yes (assuming that canceling would cancel the binding process) and now jdoe can log in to a machine named jdoe.
This is an obvious bug, but I don't know if it's with OS X proper or with Samba 3.
Aki Heikkinen of Finland also had problems binding to Active Directory, and offers a partial solution:
Binding Panther to Active Directory with Apple's new much-hyped AD integration doesn't work in .local domains, even if you disable Rendezvous with methods from Jason Prell and/or Larry Paxton that your report have. By applying these hacks Mac workstations see .local domain correctly (for example in Internet explorer and nslookup), but by running tcpdump you can see that Mac still tries to query only 223.0.0.251:5353 when trying to bind it to AD forest and thus returns "invalid domain/forest".The only partial solution we managed to figure out was to create a different DNS zone in windows domain controller with .company, but then you run into trust and authentication problems because domain controller and dns zone domains are different. Maybe with two AD servers running different zones this could be managed with trusts, but with only one server and limited time we gave up after weekend of hectic trying.
Active Directory, Panther Server and Windows 2003 repaired. December 16, 2003 -- A anonymous reader offers a fix for integrating a Mac OS X Sever 10.3 with Windows 2003 Server and Active directory:
We had problems with Windows 2003 with several DCs, Exchange, and IIS, with trying to mirror a test Panther Server and Active Directory. A kind soul decided to share their fix. While the fix didn't seem to make Panther Server's AD plugin work, it saved dozens of hours of disaster recovery. It's quite simple actually:It turns out there's a secret machine account password on domain controllers that the Mac server seems to corrupt. I used NETDOM to "reset" the "local secret".
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The Netdom tool resets the account password on the computer locally (known as a "local secret") and writes this change to the computer's computer account object on a Windows domain controller that resides in the same domain. Simultaneously writing the new password to both places ensures that at least the two computers involved in the operation are synchronized, and starts Active Directory replication so that other domain controllers receive the change. (Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 260575)
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The Kerberos Key Distribution Service should be stopped on the affected server before attempting the operation. The syntax goes like:
Netdom resetpwd /server:<affected DC NETBIOS name> /userd:<domain admin account> /passwordd:*
Then the affected DC will need to be rebooted.
After waiting for several minutes for DCs to replicate (if multiple-hopefully there are!), start the KDC service and the domain should now process logons, serve Ad-integrated DNS, etc.
I hope this information can help anyone who ran into this potentially serious problem.
Free version of PC-Mac-Net FileShare v3.1 released. December 11, 2003 -- Lava Software is now shipping a free version of its PC-Mac-Net FileShare software called PC-Mac-Net FileShare Lite v3.1. The free version provides secure cross-platform file sharing between Windows and Mac 8.6+ and OS X. The free Lite Edition has a 10 Mb file size limit and supports workgroups with up to 3 users. These restrictions are not found on the Standard and Professional versions.
Microsoft updates MSN for Mac OS X for Panther. December 11, 2003 -- Microsoft released a new version of MSN for Mac OS X, software that connects Macs to Microsoft's MSN Internet subscription service, a competitor to AOL, but with a less cluttered interface, and without the number of popup windows found in AOL. The update, which users can obtain through Microsoft's AutoUpdate application, adds fixes for Panther, enhancing performance and minimizing crashes during dialing. The update also includes Windows Media Player 9 for Mac OS X, which enables users to view Media Player 9 content from within the MSN for Mac OS X interface.
Command line file sharing problem with Panther. December 11, 2003 -- Dr. Michael J. Modesitt describes a problem with webdav file sharing from the Unix command line:
I want to post a problem I have discovered under 10.3 and 10.3.1 that I have not seen directly addressed. Some similar issues appear in other posts. In 10.2.4+ I used an AppleScript to mount webdav volumes via "do shell script" commands. These commands still work under 10.3.X with a few important caveats:1. The icon does not appear on the desktop without restarting the finder (this was a problem in early 10.2).
2. After restarting the finder and the webdav volume cannot be dismounted except via the command line. (On the bright side, the mount is stable and works fine)
3. After using the command line to "umount" the volume and "rmdir" the mount point, again you must restart the finder to get the icon to leave the side panel. The icon will usually disappear from the desktop following the above command lines without a finder restart, but not always and certainly not immediately.
After a bit more testing I found that the problem only occurs when the mount point name ("/Volumes/Share") does not match the server's original share name. For example, on a server named www.server1.com with a webdav share called thisshare1, if I mount it using "Connect to Server..." I get the directory "/Volumes/thisshare1" and and desktop icon named thisshare1.
On the other hand, if I use the following command line entry (this worked in 10.2)
mkdir /Volumes/mysharename
mount_webdav http://www.server1.com/thisshare1 /volumes/mysharenamethe problem described below occurs. I have not tested this with AFP, NFS or SMB.
If you've seen this, please let us know.
More suggestions for broken SMB browsing in Panther. December 11, 2003 -- We've received some more suggestions for working around the broken SMB browsing in Mac OS X 10.3. Adrian Fry offers this solution:
I think I've found a remedy to the inability on some 10.3 installations to browse SMB networks.The fault seems to lie in corrupt cache files; I did an archive and install upgrade of 10.2.8 on our iMac, after which I couldn't browse the SMB network.
I tried all the usual remedies - repairing permissions in Disk Utility, checking the settings in Directory Access and Sharing, to no avail.
The I ran Panther Cache Cleaner, and selected the 'Deep Cleaning' option in the Cache cleaning section. After rebooting, lo and behold, all the shares returned! I presume something is getting mangled during the update process - I did a clean install on another machine, and got SMB browsing available immediately, which points to something going wrong in the update process from 10.2 to 10.3.
Brian Fischer had limited success with a previously reported suggestion:
I tried Darrell Kienzle approach with NetInfo &emdash; I can report SOME progress: After changing my password, the Network Browser correctly identified WORKGROUP as one of the "folders" to select. However, when opening the Workgroup folder, there were no server visible.
Don Daeges had limited success by adjusting Active Directory on a Windows server:
We have three Panther Installs on a Win2K network. We've played with the various settings to use Active Directory and had reasonable success. SMB Browsing is working, except browsing our primary Win2K server. The Mac sees the Server, but when I click on the connect button, nothing happens other than the connect dialog disappearing. It never lists the share volumes. It does have quite a few share volumes on the server, maybe Panther can't deal with too many shares on an SMB server. The server is the main Win2K, AD domain controller as well.
Daniel J. Swartz
I too am having the issues with Panther and Server browsing. I can put in the url (smb:\\server\share) that works fine. However in browsing I don't see anything. I went into Directory services and put in my domain still nothing. I tried the domain as a FQDN and also as the domain in Pre Windows 2000 mode. I get the same results. Nothing.I do get a very interesting phenomenon that I have not seen mentioned anywhere. When I open the browse window sometimes I see my domain's shortcut listed as a folder. I click on it and there is nothing there. I go back one level and the folder disappears. I let it sit there for a few minutes (1 or 2) and the folder with my domain pops in and out.
I own my domain and have only one windows 2000 server nothing funny, just Win2K, MS DNS, and Exchange (all current patch levels too). I know all DNS is correct and my Mac uses DHCP with all the correct parameters.
As a side note, nothing I do allows me to bind Panther to my active directory. I get domain name or DNS name errors. Like I stated above I know it is all correct but this does not work either.
Kathy Gill can't get browsing to work, but has some theories as to why it might:
If people are reporting that this is working for them the only 3 reasons I can think off:1. The 2000/2003 Domain Controller is not the master browser on their network or
2. The 2000/2003 Domain Controller has a different level of Service Pack or patches. "The one I am using is completely up to date" or
3. "Lucky them" until the 2000 Server becomes the master browser
Hope you can work through the ramblings.
I can successfully navigate to my Win2K Server using the
<smb://login@servername> syntax, but I, too, cannot browse.
Interestingly, I was only offered one share as an option, although two shares are configured (it ignore the default C:/Microsoft UAM Volume).
My password was already "shadowed" (NetInfo Manager) and my workgroup was already correct in Directory Access (workgroup being the default name).
Andy Davison describes another symptom:
Unfortunately, I can't provide a solution to the broken SMB problems, but I can add an experience of my own. While my system.log returns 'Nov 3 17:05:34 localhost DirectoryService[319]: Unable to browse contents of workgroup (<workgroup>) due to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx returning an error', I can mount shares by name, either by using the format'smb://Server/Share', or by creating a script to tell the Finder to mount said share.
Similarly, browsing for printers is flawed in the same way. A way around this is to use the Advanced setting (Option-click Add in the Print Centre) and add in the address of the shared printer manually. An oddity is that yesterday, Network browsing came to life for an hour - only to be killed off by a restart later in the day.
Blair Hicks
In my experience so far the SMB browse problem is related to having 2000 or 2003 Server. The Mac I have been working on for a client can login to Active Directory and even mounts the user's Windows home directory on the desktop. You can connect to any other share as long as you know the correct name. While trying to browse the network using Finder the workgroups/domains show up but when you click on them nothing is listed. The 2000 Domain controller is the Master Browser for this network, there is a specific error message received in the console log NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED when the request for computers on the browse list is denied by the Domain Controller "this is where the problem is" Many people have suggested turning off client signing on the domain. This stuff is turned off by default and if it had been turned on then Jaguar would not work either. This computer was joined to Active Dir using the new Active Directory setup in Directory Access, all this worked fine. Another interesting fact is that when a user logs in, a Event is generated in the 2000 security log that the "user" failed logon however is logged in correctly. There is also a logon failure listed for the computer account "computername$" as failing to logon.If I take this computer to a XP NT4 Server network the Network browse in Finder works correctly.
The console error message shows up all over the web in relation to Linux and samba on Windows networks. However I have not been able to find an exact fix, apart from all the "simple" stuff.
Reader seeks Directory Access Utility. December 11, 2003 -- Ray Green asked this question:
I am experiencing the same problems as the other colleagues but my problem is slightly different in that I Have several PowerBooks Running the French language Version of 10.3 and The Directory Access Utility Seems not to be shipped in this Version Of 10.3.Can somebody please advise where I might find the English version of this utility so as to enable me to Change the settings as referenced in this discussion forum?
I am running Lotus Domino sever on a Win 2K Server and the Mac Clients will Only Work in Roaming at the Moment and Connection to the Server over the LAN is impossible.
If you know the answer, please let us know.
Suggestions for connecting to Clients & Profits from Mac OS X. December 4, 2003 -- A number of readers responded to last week's report of problems with Mac OS X and the Clients and Profits database, which runs on Windows servers. First, we heard from a company representative who verified that there are problems and offered a fix:
There is an issue in some versions of Jaguar (10.2.4 and later) which limits access to the Clients & Profits database to a single user. The fix we've found is to copy the database from the server to one of the OS X workstations, go into permissions, make that computer the owner, and allow full read/write access. After copying it back to the server, multiple users should be able to connect. The issue does not appear to exist in Panther.Chris Lawrence
Clients & Profits Helpdesk
However, Lawrence Sclafani can't get it to work on Mac OS X 10.3:
We just installed Clients and Profits 5.03 on OS X 10.3x. We can't get it to login at all. We've opened tickets with C&P.
Richard Heend also feels that the problem is not fixed with Mac OS X 10.3. He also sent a suggestion:
I have dealt with a variety of vendors on this issue, from Clients and Profits, to Apple, to Thursby and our Microsoft consultant. The bottom line? There is a problem with Apple's implementation of SMB file sharing called "record locking" that prohibits cross-platform simultaneous access to multi-user databases like C&P. This problem is also present in DAVE.Unfortunately, it does not appear as this problem was fixed in 10.3, either. While this may, in reality, be more of a problem with C&P's implementation of the database, they continue to claim it is Apple's problem. The only fact that gives this merit is that it worked previously, under earlier versions of Jaguar.
The folks from C&P have told me the best solution, if you store your database on a Windows Server, is to run Services for Macintosh. Then use legacy AppleTalk under Jaguar to connect to the server, instead of SMB. It's important to give your SMB and AFP shares different names so there is no confusion.
This has worked flawlessly for us for over a year.
Andrew Jones also points to file locking in OS X:
We're running C&P on both Mac and PC. The database is being served by a Win2K server. Clients are 1 Win 98 PC, 1 Win XP PC, 1 Win2K PC, 1 G3 iBook (10.2.4), and 1 B&W G3 (10.2.4). All clients connect via SMB.As you can see, 10.2.4 is the last version of OS X that will play nice with the windows machines. I've tried multiple serving combinations:
I have yet to try NFS, but I've come to the conclusion that something was broken in OS X 10.2.5 as far as locking via SMB was concerned. I've submitted bug reports to Apple on each OS X release / update and have yet to see a change.
Two readers report not having the problem. James McAnear:
We have been running Clients & Profits for a couple of months now. One of our Macs runs it under OS 9 and I have been running it under Jaguar and now Panther. I have not experienced any problems logging into it. Our admin. has had to work through some kinks on her end, but from my vantage point, it seems to run fine.
Greg Miller:
We are running about a 10-user license of clients & profits.The database resides on an ASIP 6 (OS 9) server. We have clients running 10.2.6, 10.2.8, Panther and OS 9 all without any problems whatsoever. We are running version 5.02 of clients and profits. Works fine, but sure wish they'd build C&P a native app.
Advice for Cross-platform SMB printing in Panther. December 4, 2003 -- Several readers responded to a previous post about a problem with SMB printing in Panther (printing to PC printers). They all offered advice to get it to work:
Joel Donaldson:
I haven't had any problem with this. Works great. I will agree that the documentation stinks. (See Apple Knowledge Base Article 32315.)You don't have to change the driver (at least on mine) on the Mac. It uses the same driver that it has always used (HP DeskJet 840C). I did let the installer update it when I upgraded to Panther.
For the PC side, I used a generic HP Color LaserJet PS driver as according to the documentation that I was able to find, the Windows shared printer is a postscript version. My printer doesn't have a lot of fancy features and the fact that I can print on it in my home network is great.
Joe Kaufman
Printing to a SAMBA printer can work. When Clicking the Add Printer icon in the Print Manager, hold down the Option key. Now the printer type dropdown will have an "Advanced" option. Select that, and on the subsequent list, choose "Windows Printer via Samba". Enter the URL to the Samba printer such as:smb://<server>@<printer queue>
I think that is the correct syntax, but cannot verify from work. Do aGoogle search on printing via Samba...there are a few web pages with more elaborate instructions.
This worked for my HP 4L LaserJet printer.
Todd Barber describes his use of SMB printing in his enterprise setting:
We have several HP Jet Direct 4000 Print Appliances in our enterprise. This appliance from HP supports several LPR print queues without hosting shared printers on your servers. HP has never claimed support for Macintosh clients with this product. This has not stopped me from trying to make it work. I did not have any success making it work in 10.2.x. I now have 10.3 installed and with the Windows printing feature I was able to print to one of the queues on this device.I was able to browse to the HP Print Appliance from the Printer Setup Utility. I was prompted for a username and password. I entered my NT logon and was then able to browse all of the print queues on the appliance. I selected a queue and selected a driver and the printer was setup and I could successfully print through the appliance to the printer.
This is great news for us as we are standardizing on these print appliances and we prefer all of our clients go through a queue for management. We are currently setting up OS X clients with direct IP printing which offers no centralized management.
Group Logic ships MassTransit Version 4.2 for Mac OS X. December 3, 2003 -- Yesterday, Group Logic released MassTransit Enterprise 4.2 for Mac OS X. This is the first Mac OS X version of the software used for mission-critical, cross-platform file transfers. Among the features:
MassTransit version 4.2 is now shipping is available as a paid upgrade for owners of MassTransit for Mac OS 9. Group Logic will support MassTransit for Mac OS 9 until the end of 2004.
PC-Mac-Net FileShare 3.0 transfers family movies and photo collections over the Internet. December 3, 2003 -- Lava Software has shipped PC-Mac-Net FileShare 3.0 (US $25 for two licenses), a new version of the cross-platform file transfer utility for Mac and Windows. (Lava also plans a Linux version for early 2004 release.) The new version allows the transfer of large files, such as "family movies and photo collections," securely over the Internet. From the press release:
After collectively choosing a workgroup name, members simply enter the name and press the 'Join' button. Files and folders selected for sharing on each computer then become accessible and can be downloaded by members of the group. If a download is broken for any reason (such as a modem dropout), it can be resumed from where it left off, allowing users to reliably transfer large files such as digital movies.
Maintenance upgrade for CrystalFire Wormhole, easy cross-platform file transfer. December 3, 2003 -- CrystalFire Wormhole 1.0.7 (US $15 per computer, free update) a cross-platform file-sharing utility aimed at the home or small office. When you start the software, it automatically locates other Macs or PCs running Wormholes and connects to them. You can then drag-and-drop to get the files over to the other computer. Among the enhancements in this new version:
New XPlay iPod-for-Win tool supports iTunes for Windows December 3, 2003 -- Mediafour Corporation has released XPlay 1.1.4 (US $30, free update), Windows software that enables owners of Mac-formatted Apple iPods to use them on PCs without reformatting the iPod. The major new feature support for iTunes for Windows, allowing you to load the iPod with music purchased from the iTunes Music Store from a PC.
XPlay is also the only product that enables Windows users to use both Windows- and Mac-formatted iPods. (XPlay is also the only way to use iPods with older versions of Windows, including Windows Me and Windows 98 SE.)
DigiTunnel 1.3 VPN Client adds Panther compatibility, Jag improvements. December 3, 2003 -- Gracion Software is has released DigiTunnel 1.3 (US $58, upgrade $19), a virtual private network client for Mac OS X. The new version adds support for Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther). For Jaguar users, version 1.3 brings compatibility improvements, AppleScript support, multiple configurations, and a status/control menu to connect without opening the program.
DigiTunnel 1.3 connects to Windows 2000/NT Server, Mac OS X Server, and VPN routers such as Watchguard and Nortel. Features not found in the built-in Mac OS X VPN client include a split-routing feature that allows direct connection to Internet sites while on the VPN.
MacImage 7 produces Mac/PC hybrid CD images for Windows. December 3, 2003 -- Logiciels and Services Duhem has released MacImage 7, a Windows application that produces hybrid PC/Mac (ISO/HFS) CD-ROM images, that can be burnt with standard Windows CD-ROM burning tools. Version 7 adds support for HFS Extended (HFS+) and beefed-up project file management tools.
MacImage comes bundled with WinComposer, an icon composer that creates custom Mac and Windows icon resources for use with MacImage as custom icons for volumes or folders. A trial version can be downloaded here.
Thursby refutes Apple claims of AD integration in Panther. November 25, 2003 -- Thursby Software Systems has posted a paper comparing its ADmitMac software for Mac OS X to Panther's built-in active directory and SMB file sharing capabilities. The paper disputes claims by Apple (and reported here) that Panther's home directory can by an SMB volume. Thursby says:
Although Apple claims that they support "SMB Home Directories," it is also apparent that they do not understand the true use of this feature by most of their customers. Panther merely mounts the Home Directory at log on, while ADmitMac allows you to actually use it for your home directory. With Panther, all of your Mac home directory files reside on the physical Mac that you log in to. With ADmitMac, you can specify that your SMB Home Directory also functions as your Mac home directory allowing you to log in to any Mac or PC on the network and have complete access to all of your files. This powerful feature of Active Directory is missing from Panther.
Thursby also claims that Panther lowers the security level of a Windows Server 2003 network:
...it is interesting to note that Panther actually requires you to downgrade the security levels of Windows Server 2003 in order to use a Macintosh with it. Microsoft has stated that its earlier protocols were "vulnerable to widely published attacks for obtaining user passwords." ADmitMac v1.1 provides full support for NTLMv2 in addition to its use of Kerberos and encrypted LDAP authentication. These enhancements allow ADmitMac to join Microsoft networks with Windows Server 2003 running at full security levels.
Thursby also takes Apple to task for SMB browsing problems with Panther that we and others have reported:
Apple's [SMB] browser still doesn't work in most real world corporate and educational environments. This is a clear indication of Apple's lack of sufficient development labs and customer beta test environments.Within the first week after Panther's release, internet news groups were filled with customers complaining that they could no longer see most of their networks. Unless you can see the remote computer, it is very hard to even try to share files and printers with it. Several internet web sites and publications simply quoted Apple's announcements of all of their new features, and then started to question many of the claims after their readers started reporting the facts back to them.
(We have more on Active Directory Integration on Integrating Macs and Microsoft Active Directory report page.)
Update on Jaguar kernel panics with SMB shares. November 25, 2003 -- Several readers have confirmed a previous report of kernel panics (system crashes) when Mac OS X 10.2.x access SMB file shares. Todd Heidesch has seen it on many versions of Jaguar:
It's been well documented and ignored by Apple. I reported it back in November/December 2002, with Mac OS X 10.2.1. It was never fixed in the 10.2 series as far as I know. I never tested 10.2.7-8.The actual reason for the extent of the crash (kernel panic) is unknown to me, but it always occurs when the first SMB lookup (nmblookup probably) has not timed out before the next one is started. I suspect that the 'stop' button simply dismisses the connection box and leaves the lookup running in the background.
Mac OS X 10.3 does not have this problem.
Gerrit Tijhof has seen the problem on a variety of Mac models:
It happened to me as well, on several machines running 10.2.6. The SMB-server is a Win2K Advanced Server, hardware varies from eMac to iBook. Third party software and hardware can be ruled out: no extra hardware and clean installs, even straight out of the box. Haven't tested it properly in 10.2.8, cause that one's too young.
Sabrina Alfonso describes how it occurred:
I had that happen to me last week. (It was my first kernel panic.) I was trying to connect to a Windows (XP) share; but I noticed it wasn't working; it was the wrong IP address. I canceled and tried again with correct address-- that's when it happened.
Seth Matheson
I can confirm this kernel panic in 10.2.6 on an iBook(16 VRAM), PowerMac (AGP Graphics), and PowerMac (Gigabit Ethernet). Doesn't seem to effect any of the same machines running 10.2.8 though.
Mac OS X 10.2.6 problem with Clients and Profits database. November 25, 2003 -- Joe Carrasco describes a problem with Mac OS X 10.2.6 and the network-based database Clients and Profits:
Both our Macs in our group and the PC in our department were working great with Clients and Profits [a tracking and accounting package]. When the update for OS X 10.2.3 to 10.2.6 came out we quickly made the change just like we always do. This is where our problems began. Our Macs could not log into the Clients and Profits database . After some time we found we could only log in as a sole user, locking out all other users including PC. If any one else, PC or Mac, was logged in our Macs could not. This was totally unacceptable since the department had some users logged in all day.We had our IT people look into the problem. The server and network checked out fine. I had a Mac consultant come in to check our Macs. He said everything was fine. Clients and Profits said everything was fine. I looked on Apple site. No problems there.
Our solution was to pay our Mac Consultant to downgrade back to OS 10.2.3. We were wondering if Panther would fix this problem.
If you're using Clients and Profits with Jaguar or Panther, please let us know what you've seen.
Win 2000 Server and Russian lowercase "er" character problem. November 25, 2003 -- Adam Adamov reports a problem with Macs and Windows 2000 Server concerning a Russian text character:
Many Russian users use Macintosh clients and Windows 2000 Server and have problem with file naming with Russian small letter "er". If you create a file name that contains a Russian lowercase "er" character on a client Macintosh computer, the "er" character is not displayed correctly in the file name (on Windows), but you can gain access to the file. The file name is displayed correctly on Macintosh computers.If you create a file name that contains a Russian lowercase "er" character in Windows 2000, Macintosh clients can see the file name correctly. However, you cannot open the file from a Macintosh computer. When you try to open the file, you receive an error message that states that the file cannot be found.
These symptoms occur if you are using a Windows 2000-based server that is running Services for Macintosh (SFM). The default locale is set to Cyrillic, and the server is servicing Cyrillic Macintosh clients.
There was a similar problem with a Greek lowercase "pi" character (described in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 302737, but Microsoft fixed it for Greek Language. The problem with Russian letter "er" sill exists.
If you've seen this problem, please let us know.
Creo Tokens offers secure large-file transfer via email. November 25, 2003 -- Creo Inc. has released Tokens, a secure file-sharing solution for delivering large files by email for Mac and Windows. The system allows large video files to be sent over email, which might normally not get through the email system. The procedure also compresses and encrypts the file. Creo describes the method:
[Tokens] allows users to create an alias or shortcut-called a Token that can be sent via email or instant message. The Token itself is only a few kilobytes in size even when the files are many megabytes. The recipient simply opens the Token to retrieve the files.
There are two components in Tokens software: the Token Redeemer (free), used by the recipient to locate and download the file or files, and the Token Creator (US $49), used to create the Token that is emailed to the recipient. Creo also offers a Tokens Server (US $595).
QuickPopup 4.1, cross-platform messenger. November 25, 2003 -- Kanex Group, Inc. has released QuickPopup 4.1 (1-9 licenses US $25 per unit), a messaging application for Windows, Mac, and Linux that can work on a local network without an Internet-based account. QuickPopup messages can be encrypted for privacy. (We could note find information on what is new with this version or any indication that an upgrade was offered.)
Updates at MacWindows, new Win Server 2003 Report. November 24, 2003 -- We've consolidated old reports from our home page and News Archive pages onto several of our special reports pages. First, there is a new MacWindows Report page:
Reports on problems with Panther and Virtual PC have been placed on these pages:
Macs and Win Server 2003: readers point to Domain Controller. November 24, 2003 -- Several readers have pointed to the domain controller as a way to fix Windows Server 2003 problems with Mac clients.
Guillaume Brocard:
I found that after promoting a Windows Server 2003 to a Domain Controller, you must check the Domain Security Policy and deactivate the "Always secured connection" policy. after changing that setting, it works fine.Or use Thursby's ADmitMac to do it.
Amos Hayes sent in some exact procedures:
The other descriptions I have seen are a bit vague (and/or incorrect) about the exact setting. After some investigation, I thought I would provide a bit more detail on the exact setting required and how to apply it.FYI, according to the MS contextual help in the policy editor, Windows 2003 Server domain controllers have "Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (always)" set to "Enabled" by default. This is likely causing the Macs to fail to authenticate with the "error = -5000".
To change this on a given domain controller, go to "Start" ->"Administrative Tools" -> "Domain Controller Policy" (not Domain Policy) and look for "Security Settings" -> "Local Policies" -> "Security Options" -> "Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (always)". It should show "Enabled" by default. Double-click on it and set to "Disabled". Then close the app and reboot the server. When it comes back up, the Macs should connect without difficulty.
This is the only setting that needs to be changed. Disabling the other similar settings will only weaken the security between all your Windows boxes.
BTW: Right clicking on these settings gives a very good synopsis.
John W. Lee:
Regarding the Windows server issue, I read about something similar on Mac OS X Hints the other day. Maybe it will help.Avoid error -5000 with SMB from Windows 2003 serversWed, Sep 24 '03 at 10:19AM • from: voltage230v
After installing a Windows 2003 Server and trying to mount a share in Mac OS X, everything was fine in Workgroup mode. However, after putting the Windows server 2003 in Domain Controller mode, I started to have get -5000 errors coming from SMB. The Macintosh File Server is installed.
After some searching, I found that after promoting a Windows Server 2003 to a Domain Controller, you must check the Domain Security Policy and deactivate the "Always secured connection" policy. I don't understand why, but after changing that setting, it works fine.
Jim Seifert
Windows 2003 Server ships with MS UAM authentication required for Mac clients. Your reader can enable clear text authentication or install the MS UAM on his Mac clients. OS 9 certainly does have a better error message for troubleshooting this problem. Another difference you will notice on Server 2003 is that all newly created shared AFP shares are read only by default.
A reader named Bostjan has this suggestions for Mac OS 9 clients:
Try on Win 2003:Settings/Control panel/Administrative tools/Computer management
Computer Management (local)/Shared Folders -Action-Configure File Server For Macintosh
Michael Sandoval has seen some other problems with Windows Server 2003:
I have a client that using Mac OS 9, Photoshop and Quark to connect to a Windows file server. We recently (3 months ago) moved to a Windows 2003 server platform. Since then I have encountered the following issues:1) Files posted to Mac & PC share from a PC not viewable on a Mac. If I removed and re-create Macintosh share the new files would show up. Problem was fixed by creating a new empty Mac share and coping files into it instead of sharing a folder with the files already inside them (Required call into Microsoft Product Support).
2) Clients get mysteriously locked up, and need to reboot to get back onto network. Has happened about 3 times in the past 3 months (That I know of). Unable to figure this one out. Increased server timeout from 15 minutes to several hours on the server. Happened once since then but only on one computer where in the past it was all my Macs.
3) File dates are not showing correctly on Mac clients. PC's are able to view correct dates, but not on the Macs. Calling into MS PSS.
I'm considering using the ExtremeZ-IP 3.1 as a file share for the Macs but want to get more feedback from people who may already use it.
More VPC USB incompatibilities. November 24, 2003 -- We have a pair of new reports of specific USB devices not working with Virtual PC. A reader named Byron tells us that a heart monitor is known to be incompatible with VPC:
I use a Polar Heart Rate monitor that connects to a PC with a USB device to download and upload data. I've tried everything I can think of to get it to connect to VPC and no luck. The VPC USB settings dialog will momentarily recognized it, then not, sometimes crash, etc. I've even tried to manually install it, nope nothing works.I found further information on Polar's website that it won't work on VPC. According to them, it's not just a simple USB device.
Vincent Cogliano's yet USB problem began with Mac OS X 10.2.8:
I have 17" PowerBook G4 it came with 10.2.2 or 4 I use MapSource program to link to my Garmin GPS and download and upload maps it worked fine until I have been updating OS X 10.2.8 now USB keeps unselecting, seems everyone is having the same problem, I put OS X 10.2.2 on another disk and original VPC 6, tried every thing and it worked fine, but I also have an Earthmate GPS from Delorme and that still won't work. This is new and never did get this to work, so I hope some updates from Apple or Microsoft comes soon. I think Apple did something with not releasing it to VPC .
VPC 5 software incompatibility with Dreamweaver MX 2004. November 24, 2003 -- Craig Grannell
I thought you might like to know that Dreamweaver MX 2004 refuses to run under Virtual PC 5.x. I don't have 6.x, so I've no idea if it runs under that release.It installs fine, but doesn't open, at least under Windows 2000.
If you've tried Dreamweaver MX 2004 on VPC, please let us know what you've found.
Microsoft Keyboard driver conflicts with VPC 5. November 24, 2003 -- Jed Hresko reports that Microsoft's USB keyboard driver causes VPC 5 to crash:
We use Virtual PC 5.0.4 on Mac OS X 10.2, and also have a USB Microsoft Internet Keyboard. This is the keyboard that is intended for Wintels (i.e. the Option and Command keys are reversed from what a Mac user expects.) We've tried Microsoft's "Microsoft Keyboard" driver, which fixes the key mapping. However, VPC crashes.We've looked for updates from MS, as well as keeping current with the latest revisions to OS X. Nothing has been fixed to date. Not having VPC 6 or 6.1 (MS's first version as owner of the product), I don't know if they fixed it.
If you've seen this problem, or know if VPC 6.1 fixes this problem, please let us know.
Another fix for kernel panics with VPC 5 in Jaguar. November 24, 2003 -- Simone Dell'Agnello found another way to stop the kernel panics with Virtual PC 5 in Mac OS X 10.2:
I had a dynamically expanding hard drive. Via di VPC Drives menu I turned it into a fixed size disk (2 GB). Since then I didn't have any crash like before.
Also, turning off virtual memory in Win 98 speeds things up. Now it's usable.
VPN Tracker 2.2.3 adds Netopia compatibility. November 24, 2003 -- Equinux has released VPN Tracker 2.2.3, an upgrade for the IPsec virtual private network client for Mac OS X. The new version adds compatibility with VPN-enabled devices from Netopia. Equinux has a PDF manual on how to set up VPN Tracker to work with Netopia hardware, which you can download.
Iogear mini wireless mouse works with Macs and Windows. November 24, 2003 -- Iogear's Mini Mouse 800 RF (US $50) is a rechargeable, small wireless mouse designed for Mac and Windows-based laptops being used in small areas, such as airplanes. The mouse recharges via a USB cable.
Problem and workaround for Word X font problems. November 24, 2003 --Darren Wright reports of font problems with Word X, and offers a workaround:
I have run into lots of font problems with Office X in the last few weeks. Office (Word) tries to activate fonts when it launches. If you have Suitcase or Font Reserve active both Word and the font Application might hang. Eventually word will launch but it can take 10 min.My solution has been to let Word launch and then check the auto-activated Fonts in your font application. Create a new font set called Word or Office and put the auto-activated fonts in the set. Activate the set permanently and the next next time you launch word or Excel it will pop right up.. This has worked for me a few times.
HELIOS adds AFP 3.1 to EtherShare, 3X faster than SMB and NFS. November 21, 2003 -- HELIOS Software GmbH announced that HELIOS EtherShare 3.1 now supports the latest version of Apple Computer's Apple Filing Protocol, AFP 3.1. The company says that the file server for Unix servers and Mac clients is now two-to-three times faster than SMB/CIFS or NFS file sharing, and that printing is 7 times faster than Windows Server 2003. The company says:
When used with HELIOS EtherShare, AFP 3.1 is the easiest, best performing, and most reliable protocol for connecting multiple Mac OS X clients to a server for sharing files easily and efficiently over a network.
Other new features include:
An EtherShare-based server will be cross-platform, supporting Windows clients when PCShare is installed.
More on Panther and Virtual PC. November 21, 2003 -- We have more reports of Virtual PC and Panther, in these five catagories:
Performance slowed down
Ronald Leppke reports that his once-good performance is not not-so-good:
My PowerBook G4 17-inch 1.33 GHz (512 MB RAM) was working beautifully with VPC 6.1 and Windows XP until recently and possibly after the Panther upgrade. Now it is entirely worthless because it is very painfully slow. It typically takes minutes from the click to whatever is next. I have reinstalled XP three times so far and it is getting worse. I have tripled the RAM assigned to XP from what I had when it was fast with no speed gain whatever. I'm running Mac OS 10.3.1.I tried Windows 2000 but it was no faster. I read someplace on MacWindows that there is a problem with my Airport Extreme card and VPC 6.1. I have given up but would appreciate any help to start trying again.
We've heard from a lot of people who have seen good performance If you've seen your VPC performance in Panther suddenly slow down, please let us know.
Printing problems
A reader named Andrew:
Another experience with Printing problems with VPC 6. I am running Windows 2000 with an Apple LaserWriter Pro 600 connected via an AppleTalk connector, and I cannot get the printer to receive print jobs.Sounds like they are not getting out of VPC - something in Panther is blocking the connection?
Steve Catania:
I couldn't get my Epson 740 to print using VPC in emulation mode on my new iMac using the default Epson 3260 driver. First I started trying it with Windows 2000 and called MS VPC support. When that wouldn't work, we tried loading the printer directly to Windows, but 2000 doesn't support that printer. I then reloaded VPC with Windows XP. Emulation printing still wouldn't work. I ended up having to make my 740 the default printer when using VPC and having to close out of VPC to restore Mac printing.Since my wife's eMac works in emulation mode using Jaguar 10.2.6, I'm in no hurry to upgrade her to Panther.
Joe Shultz:
Since I upgraded my Aluminum PB15 to Panther, I can no longer print from VPC 6.1. My Mac apps all print just fine. I have an HP LaserJet 4M Plus on my Ethernet network. I could print from VPC before the upgrade.Microsoft seemed to know about it, but didn't have a fix. Not, surprisingly, they blamed it on Apple.
Andre Lauzon:
I have also the same problem. I went through different forums, and nobody is discussing this problem. I hope somebody finds a solution soon.
Michael Leckman has a workaround:
I have been running AutoCAD on VPC since OS X and it is quite usable - except printing did not work at all. I have found an excellent work around, though, by printing to PDF and dragging the file to the Mac desktop. For processors of 1 GHz or higher, design professionals should have no hesitation at all using Mac's for AutoCAD.(1 GHz PowerBook G4 w/768 MB RAM)
VPC 5 and Panther
Aaron Solomon Adelman verified a fix
Please send my gratitude to Kenneth Schunk, who is quoted on your site "I ran Disk Utility and verified all permissions. Now Virtual PC seems to be working fine."I ran Disk Utility as he suggested, and suddenly VPC 5 is a lot happier.
Tony Touch has a problem with VPC 6 and iTunes
Cannot get iTunes to play a CD in Virtual Windows 6.1 on a PowerBook G4. Strange behavior is exhibited. iTunes will skip through each song a CD without playing any sound and will then quit after going through the playlist. Windows Media Player works just fine. Any users with similar experiences.
Michael Leckman VPC 5
Had no luck with VPC 5 for two weeks, including repairing permissions, tweaking settings, testing it as a new user. So updated to VPC 6, and glad I did. Worked as designed right out of the box. Speed increases were noticeable and welcome. Enjoyed being able to reuse the previous virtual hard drive, too, eliminating the need to reinstall all the applications: made the new installation take 15 minutes. Remarkable!
Michael May
My experience: VPC 5 worked fine in Panther as long as I launched from the "saved state" of my PC. Once I needed to do a full reboot of the PC, the startup process bogged down to near-standstill (1 hr and it still hadn't competed the boot up disk consistency check), which lead me to upgrade to v6.1, which cured the problem. Prior to the VPC upgrade I tried a permission repair (based on Mr. Schunk's note on your site), to no effect.
Other problems
Rick Bates
I had VPC in full screen mode on a second monitor. I'm having the same phenomenon. Have at least discovered that if I hold the Command key down and then click the app I want, VPC will let go and things behave "normally" (irritating, but it works for me).Another bothersome occurrence that may or not be related:
I had VPC in full screen mode on second monitor. Mac password-protected screensaver came on after set time BUT VIRTUAL PC WAS STILL "DOMINANT" and available to any passerby on the second monitor
I was unable to enter a password (keystrokes still going to VPC) until I initiated a "Quit" on VPC (which I canceled after I entered the Mac password and regained control)
David Savatgy
I cannot get AutoCAD LT 2004 to run on my VPC 6. I have a 20" G4 laptop, bought last year (OS X).
VPC on Panther runs just fine for these folks
Andrew Montague
I'm using VPC 6.0.1 in Panther. I reinstalled the application after installing Panther and it works great.
Euclid Moon
I have Windows XP installed in VPC 6, and when I did the upgrade to Panther, there were no problems to report, but instead there is a subjective increase in performance. On a dual 1.25 G4, XP in VPC runs much better than under 10.2.8. It's actually pleasant to use!
Paul Vitello
I have been successfully using VPC 6 (without the dot 1 Microsoft update) on Panther now for a few days.I had shut down the PC and backed up my PB before I ran the Panther upgrade. Windows booted fine and if anything Windows seems just a bit more responsive than before but definitely not any slower. I use VPC for many apps to survive in a corporate environment. Outlook on
Exchange servers, Net Meeting, Office and Adobe products for testing cross platform compatibility. I was also able to also access the typical servers on the Lan/Wan internally.
I have a Gen 1 17"PB running windows 2000. I allocate 384 ram 16 vid of the 1gig on my pb.
Bruno Gaufier's only problem is with digital cameras:
I Installed Panther yesterday, boot my Windows 2000 Pro in VPC 6.0 with no problems. It worked like a charm. I didn't reinstall VPC, but only had to reregister it.It seems faster. Maybe it's just an illusion because Panther is clean. (That was not the case with Jaguar where I used to have 2 SQL Servers, a proxy, an IDS, apache and many more running in the background.) My Windows 2000 "home folder" (profile) is stored on the Mac and accessed via the network : No problems. USB stills work (Epson printer, scanner and a joystick)
However, Digital cameras don't work. (They also never worked with jaguar).
Mike Van Winkle
I'm running VPC 6.0 under Panther and haven't had any problems. QS DP800 w/1.5 gb ram, and PB17/1.33 w/1 gb. If anything, it seems much peppier than it did under Jaguar (10.2.6 and 10.2.7). I did an Archive/Install on both machines and everything still works perfectly.Under VPC I've run Cool Edit Pro, Delphi, Photoshop, Illustrator, Xara 3D, PCAnywhere, Paintshop Pro, Animation Shop, etc., etc. I'm running Win2K Pro. It runs faster on the PowerBook, for example Cool Edit Pro 2.0 just jerks and sputters on the QuickSilver, but seems rock steady so far on the PowerBook.
VPC and Jaguar issues. November 21, 2003 -- Another pair of readers reported problems with Virtual PC and Jaguar. Joubex Billiard is having problems with sound:
Virtual PC is very slow on Mac OS X 10.2.6, but my first problem is that I use it with Win 98, and with a software to learn English (it is not my mother tongue), and there are problems with the sound. Sometimes it says that the sound can not be initialized, and other times the sound is ugly with cuts every 5 seconds!I have a PowerBook 12' G4 867 MHz with 684 MB of RAM.
If you've seen this problem, please let us know.
Saverio Paleni (of Trento, Italy) reports seeing a problem with USB that we previous reported:
I have seen the same problem on a client's G4. He wanted to access his bank account via an USB Gemplus Card Reader under VPC 6.1+MacOS X 10.2.6; VPC detects the reader, Windows 98 does not notice it, Add New Hardware adds nothing...Restarting in MacOS 9.2.2 made everything working as expected. Not a perfect solution but something usable while waiting for an upgrade. Looks like the problem is MacOS X, rather than VPC.
One person running 18 OS's on VPC. November 21, 2003 -- Rudy Bernstein sent us this link to someone who is running over 18 different operating systems on Virtual PC, including Windows, Linux, Sun Unix, and OS/2.
GroupCal beta links iCal with Exchange Server. November 18, 2003 -- A company called Snerdware has a public beta of new Mac OS X software called GroupCal, which lets you use use the group calendaring features of Exchange directly from Apple iCal. You can view and share calendar schedules using iCal instead of Outlook. David Rienzo has tried GroupCal, and likes it:
I downloaded the beta over the weekend and am using it now at my workplace. It allows me to subscribe to my colleagues' Outlook calendars, which show up in iCal. In the other direction, whenever I enter an item on my iCal, it is immediately published to Outlook and shows up when my colleagues view my calendar. So, it essentially seems to turn iCal into an Exchange client.I know Microsoft has built similar functionality into Entourage, but I was never able to get this functionality in Entourage to work, and I have no idea why. GroupCal worked immediately. It works remotely as well, so I don't need to be in the office in order to link up with Outlook. You might want to have a look. I'm impressed, anyway.
PC-Mac-Net FileShare v3.0 adds speed and new features. November 18, 2003 -- Today, Lava Software began shipping PC-Mac-Net FileShare v3.0 (US $25 and $40), a new cross-platform secure file sharing tool for local networks and the Internet for Mac OS X, OS 8/9, and Windows 2000/XP. (A Linux version is due early 2004.) New features include:
Problems with Panther and Active Directory. November 18, 2003 -- Dorian Mattar reports numerous problems with Mac OS X 10.3 and Microsoft Active directory:
We are having the following issues running Panther on an NT 4.0 network with Active Directory 5.5.Mail receives, but can't send.
Address will not load to Address Book.
A message stating that it cannot connect to the exchange appears every 15 minutes or so.
Shortcuts from drives on the PC network and placed in the Dock take 40 seconds to prompt for password. The Dock is unusable until the prompt appears and the drives mount.
Password is not saved on the Keychain.
We have spent several sessions with Apple and have a direct number to the top engineers who are looking into this.
For now, we are still waiting for the day when we don't have to use Virtual PC. But for now, VPC is our savior.
Joseph Swenson reports can't authenticate:
We're having issues with accessing the AD with 10.3 client. Binding went perfectly, but our user accounts won't authenticate. We've discovered that the normal accounts we use won't work, but a special account we built from scratch, leaving out all the bells and whistles, does. A hunt is currently on to find what attribute or aspect of an account is not being liked by Panther.It was also spied over on the Microsoft forums that 10.3 isn't going to play nice with Windows 2003 Server if you have Exchange 2003 attributes.
This AD plugin is far from perfect.
AppleTalk helps Panther with SMB browsing. November 18, 2003 -- Jorge Fino respond to previous reports of suggestions for Panther problems with SMB browsing and found that a simple upgrade to Panther resulted in fewer problems than the Archive and Install option because it turned on AppleTalk in Directory Access:
I've installed Panther on 3 machines so far (with more coming up). The ones that I've done a simple upgrade (not "Archive and Install") during install have had "out of the box" access to all our PC-based servers. I was able to see the servers by simple finder browsing. The one machine in which I did an "Archive and Install," I had no apparent access to the aforementioned servers (though they were still accessible from "Connect to…" by typing in addresses). Not until reading this discussion on your site did I attempt to enable "AppleTalk" in the Directory Access utility like someone mentioned.Well, it's working so far. And upon further investigation, I checked the machines that had the basic Upgrade install to find that AppleTalk was indeed already enabled without needing intervention within the "Directory Access" utility.
If you've seen this, please let us know.
Apple releases Mac OS X and OS X Server Update v10.3.1. November 18, 2003 -- Less than a month after shipping Panther, Apple has released Panther's first update, v10.3.1 for Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server. Apple describes the update:
[The] update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for FileVault, Printing, WebDav, and FireWire 800 drives. This update also includes the latest Security Updates.
If you've seen any improvement with Panther's cross-platform problems by upgrading to 10.3.1, please let us know.
New Cross-platform Panther Reports page. November 11, 2003 -- We've collected our reports about Mac OS X 10.3 cross-platform problems and published to a new MacWindows Panther Reports page.
Panther's Unix command improves SMB browsing over Finder. November 11, 2003 -- We have already pointed out that Mac OS X 10.3 gives you different file sharing behavior depending on whether you use the Network icon or the Go to Server dialog. John Holley of New Zealand points out that the Unix command prompt does better SMB browsing than the Finder:
I tried running some of the SMB utilities in Terminal. They quite clearly showed devices etc. that the Network Browser does not. There is some huge disconnect here! Try smbtree or findsmb in Terminal and you see stuff that the Network browser refuses to show.Now the devices/workgroups are all visible to my machine as they show up instantly in VPC yet in the Network Browser - nothing. ( I can connect of course using smb://....)
I have also replaced /private/etc/smb.conf but this made no difference.
We have received many dozens of reports on problems with SMB. We are still working our way through these reports.
Microsoft RDC problems in Panther. November 11, 2003 -- Rick Felter reports that Mac OS X 10.3 is causing a problem with Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) that did not occur in Jaguar:
I've run into a problem with MS RDC under a clean install of Panther on my Dual G4 1.42 FW800 system. While RDC is able to establish and maintain connections, the application will freeze on exit, drawing about 185 percent CPU usage in Activity Monitor. It is necessary to 'Force Quit' the application in order for it to exit -- which loses any changes to the session that have not yet been saved. This will happen approximately 95% of the time (if not more) and is easily reproduced. For experimentation, I installed a clean install of Jaguar 10.2.4, then applied Software Updates to 10.2.8 and RDC in that scenario worked flawlessly.
Another tip for Panther and Cisco VPN clients. November 11, 2003 -- We continue to receive suggestions for dealing with Panther problems with the Cisco client for virtual private networks. David Morgenstern, acting West Coast editor of eWEEK.com, told us how he got the Cisco VPN client to function under Panther:
Thanks for all the effort about Cisco VPN client compatibility with Panther. I also had problems with the "Warning 201: The necessary VPN subsystem is not available." error message. After trying this and that, I finally went back to basics: I removed all traces of the software (visible and invisible), even the alias in the Dock. I then reinstalled the software from the mounted image of the package and not just from the installer app that I had previously copied to my drive. Finally, I entered all the information very carefully, making sure of upper and lower cases. This worked.
Workarounds for Outlook 2001 Panther problems. November 11, 2003 -- Several readers sent in workaround for Panther's problems with Outlook 2001 that we reported last week, which seems to be related to permissions issues.
Jenson Yu verified a workaround suggested last week:
We too have this problem. But thanks for Morgan Terrinoni's tip of installing Outlook on separate partition, we made it working by creating a disk image -- read/write of course -- and copy Outlook program onto it.
J. C. Thorpe sent us one fix:
John Parnaby in the UK also found a workaround:
Looks like the permissions problem that is causing this has to do with write access to the Outlook 2001 folder. At launch Outlook 2001 updates a small file - rpcreg.bak. My Outlook folder was read-only - thus preventing this file changing. I'll have to investigate a little further about how restrictive I can get with the permissions on this, but opening up the main folder to Read/Write permissions solved the problem for me.
Jonathan Becker notes that you can fix permissions with Disk Utility:
With regards to the Outlook permissions problem, there's a menu item in Disk Utility which says Fix OS 9 Permissions. I didn't see this until I wiped my drive (which for me needed to be done anyway). Another thing to check is to make sure if they've not given themselves Admin privileges to completely configure Outlook as a client using admin privileges before configuring for anyone on workstation without.
Aram Heller was mostly okay after a reinstall:
Regarding Outlook on Panther. I had the same problem that many of your readers were experiencing after UPGRADING Jaguar 10.2.7 to Panther on a G5 1.8 Ghz. I actually could not get Classic to start running. I got an error that said something to the effect that "Your Disk is Locked" Basically I wasn't able to write to disk w/Panther.What solved this was an erase and reinstall of the entire system, applications etc. Draconian, yes, but I got a clean start, and was able to make it all work.
However, I occasionally do have problems with the Exchange Server when Outlook is hidden. It will toss up a message saying: The Client Event Failed. I quit and restart Outlook, and find new messages. Also a few other glitches, mostly not getting notification of new messages or them not showing up in my In Box. Sometimes starting a new message will cause spooled messages to download into the In Box.
Apple Active Directory paper back at Apple.com. November 11, 2003 -- Steve Dockery notes that Apple has reposted it's paper called Using Active Directory with OS X (a PDF file). This paper, written in 2002, describes how to you Mac OS X Server to integrate Macs with Active Directory running on Windows servers. We had linked to it for awhile, but Apple removed it for a while.
Panther issues with Active Directory. November 11, 2003 -- We've had several reports of problems with Mac OS X 10.3 and Active Directory. Eric Darby reports being unable to bind:
I've had great success with the Exchange integration and LDAP. My GAL came up just fine in Address Book. However, I have been unable to bind in Active Directory. I keep getting an unknown error has occurred.
Santino Rizzo found that the Kerberos ticket won't renew:
I've been doing some testing of Apple's Active Directory plug-in. It works very well with one exception. When the Kerberos ticket expires it doesn't renew. The only way to get your ticket to renew is to dig through the System folder and find the Kerberos.app and force the renewal.If you don't do this, the ticket stays expired and you have to manually login to any share you want to mount. Even shares from the same server. Hardly a single sign-on solution! I would think you would at least get a dialog asking you to renew (Thursby's ADmitMac does this). I would also think that when you login from the screensaver it would do a kerberos authentication, but this doesn't renew your ticket either. As usual there's little to no documentation on any of this.
Overall, I find it more configurable and consistent than ADmitMac which very often can't seem to find our Domain Controllers at all and since Apple's AD plug-in saves user info in the NetInfo database, you have access to all the AD information using NetInfo command-line utilities.
If you've seen these problems, please let us know.
Reader question with Citrix SSL Relay. November 11, 2003 -- Mark Burke is having a problem with the Citrix ICA client and SSL Relay:
I have been trying to configure Mac OS X ICA Clients using Citrix SSL Relay. I have everything running find in Windows and working without SSL, but when I try to use SSL I get the following error: "The remote SSL peer sent a bad certificate alert (SSL error 49)" I am using a Baltimore.com certificate, which should be installed by default. I have tried the Citrix User forums without success. I am quite stuck since we do not, and will not, allow user to connect to our Citrix server with anything less than SSL.
If you can help with this issue, please let us know.
Panther problems with Outlook 2001. November 6, 2003 -- Readers are reporting problems with Microsoft Outlook 2001 since upgrading to Panther, Mac OS X 10.3. (Outlook 2001 runs in Classic mode. There is no Mac OS X version of Outlook, though Entourage now has some of the features of Outlook.) The problem has something to do with OS X permissions in OS X 10.3.
Gerald Gigliotti said that Apple acknowledged the problem:
I updated my G-5 to Panther. Outlook 2001 client which was previously running fine under Classic will not startup. Had an Apple SE on site. He confirmed that it is some issue with permissions. It seems that Panther will not let anything write to the System. It is really a pain using Outlook web access when I am used to the regular client.
Tim Blanco discovered that repairing permissions doesn't solve the problem.
Several of my clients are having problems with Outlook 2001 after upgrading from 10.2.8 to 10.3.Outlook 2001 had been working fine in Classic mode before 'upgrading' to Panther. After the upgrade Outlook will no longer load complaining that "The set of folders can not be opened. The attempt to log on to the Microsoft Exchange Server has failed." We have verified connectivity to the MS Exchange server via the Outlook Settings Control Panel.
Here's where it gets interesting. Boot into OS 9 (if you can) and Outlook works fine. Boot back into 10.3. Still does not work with the same error as above. Copy the Outlook 2001 Application folder to another drive or shared volume and the application runs fine. This sounds like a permission problem but repairing the permissions (OS X and OS 9) does not seem to help.
Others on the net are having this issue as well, and we do not know of a solution yet--unless you have a second partition or drive to run Outlook off of.
Morgan Terrinoni found a workaround -- install Outlook on a separate drive partition:
I've been running Outlook 2001 for years with no problems. I first upgraded my TiBook to 10.3 and had no issues. With that, I upgraded my main machine, a new G5. Well, now Outlook can't connect to the exchange server. In the Outlook settings app, it does the test, my profile is fine, but when launching the actual app, it says "Folders could not opened. The attempt to log onto the Microsoft Exchange computer has failed."So I tried to reinstall, but it gave me a weird couldn't write to this disk error for the pref file in the system folder (classic system). Using the old one, I could launch the app but it still won't connect. My theory thus far is that Classic on the G5 might be different than running a real bootable system on my Ti.
Following a post on the apple discussion boards, I installed Outlook on a separate drive (well, my iPod for now) and it worked fine. What didn't work was installing Classic on a separate drive. It seems that the application itself needs to live elsewhere.
David Findley reports that he can't logon to Outlook in Panther:
Since 10.1 came out, I've been a pretty happy user of Outlook 2001 in Classic. While it's not stable compared with Mac OS X itself, it rarely crashed. But it always worked.Now, with Panther, it can't seem to log in. I'm having a similar problem that I've seen reports for: the Outlook Settings control panel allows me to create the profile and certainly sees the server, because it resolves my name and puts the server name in the settings.
But Outlook 2001 just comes up, claims that it can't log into the Exchange server, and quits. Running a packet sniffer shows that it's not even trying to send any data, so I suspect that it can't resolve the name properly. That also seems to be a common problem, but I can't figure out just what name it's trying to resolve. I'm usually pretty good at debugging these sorts of things, but I spent about 6 hours on it today with no success, so I'm back to using my PC at work for e-mail (instead of my Mac).
I do have Entourage, but my Exchange Server is at 5.5 and won't be upgraded for about 3 more months, so I can't even try that option. Since my work group relies very heavily on the integrated calendar, I have to use a program that supports it.
If you're having problems with Outlook 2001 since upgrading to Panther, please let us know.
Citrix ICA Client works in Panther; occasional glitches. November 6, 2003 -- Over two dozen readers reported that updating to Panther does not impair the Citrix ICA client in any way. Several other readers offered some advice to overcome minor glitches.
Joe Biskupiak got it to work with a clean install, but not Archive and Install:
I am using the Citrix client to access a University MetaFrame server. Panther was a clean install. The Archive and Install option where network settings were preserved was not successful. A clean install on a newly formatted drive, followed by installation of the Citrix client and a reboot got everything working properly. The Citrix client did not function properly until the reboot.PowerBook G4 17-inch, Citrix Client Version 6.30.314.
Alon Mogilne found that Citrix in Panther had a problem with Netscape, and offered a solution:
I have gotten Citrix client working on Panther (dual processor 1 GHz G4 tower), although the first 3 times the ICA client window came up, it crashed Netscape. I then had to remove it from the "helper applications" window in Netscape 7.1, and now it seems to work as well as in 10.2.
Carsten Schmidt notes a minor difference in logon procedure:
The only difference from Jaguar seems to be that if I go through the servers through Citrix I am asked if I want to share my internal drive in a pop up window. While declining works well 9 out of 10 times some time Citrix doesn't respond. Otherwise I have had no problem.
Conny Svensson notes a slight improvement with Panther:
There might even have been a small improvement, before when I left the computer for 30 minutes to have lunch the Citrix client would quit when I got back. Now it stays online I just need to re-login. They might have changed the timeout on the server side but I noticed this after installing Panther. And it saves me some time when I get back to my computer. I recommend upgrading to Panther if you are using Citrix.
More on Panther Printing Problems. November 6, 2003 -- Several more readers reported cross-platform printing problems with OS X 10.3.
Peter Murphy found a script to fix Panther printing at the AllOSX.com web site:
I did an upgrade install of Panther on G3 PowerBook and connected first and every time seamlessly on Ethernet LAN. I had to use the AllOSX script work around to get printing running directly to the network
Scott Rankin also reports the problems, as well as a workaround:
Just thought that I would confirm William Plasencia's issues with printer sharing. I too have a Brother MFC-9700, and I had to do the same thing as William - use the Gimp-Print HP LaserJet II drivers on the Mac, and an Apple LaserWriter PS driver on Windows. Certainly not the easiest way of doing things.
Dealing with Panther problems with SMB browsing. November 3, 2003 -- Several readers offered suggestions for dealing with problems with SMB browsing in Mac OS X 10.3.
Pinet Cherdhirunkorn notes the problem:
I use OS x 10.2.8 and I am also have that problem, but before I could see a list of PC in server list pretty well. But with Panther, I can't see PC in the list of connect server, even I try to install a clean OS X again, I still wonder why I still unable to see a PC in server list. but if I type "smb://ip address" of PC, I can mount it drive.
Darrell Kienzle has a fix based on the NetInfo Manager:
I read your discussion of problems with access to SMB shares in Panther. Here's something I discovered when working with one of the betas.Fire up NetInfo Manager and browse to /users/yourname/passwd. The passwd _should_ be "******". This is a representation of a shadow password (a feature added in Panther). If you see something like "YW3273hhs," that's a standard hashed Unix passwd (which Jaguar used).
If you have a hashed passwd, use System Preferences to change your password (you can give it the same value it used to be). Reload NetInfo Manager and you'll see it has changed to "******"
I found that this helped enormously when trying to connect to Windows and SAMBA shares.
Sean Sperte points to the Directory Access utility:
One thing that helped my painful SMB browsing experience in Panther was to set the correct workgroup in the Directory Access utility app (found in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder). Once I did this, problems accessing "folders" (or drives) more than one time were solved.
Dave de Groot offered the same idea, but called it a partial solution:
I found that you need to add your domain to the SMB WorkGroup on your Mac. You can do this by opening the "Directory Access" app in the Applications:Utilities folder, clicking on the lock to authenticate, clicking on SMB, clicking on Configure, and then typing your workgroup (or domain) into the WorkGroup field.After doing this, you should be able to browse for servers in that domain. Furthermore, your servers will show up in the Network area of the Finder.
The only drawback is that if you have a home network, you need to change that workgroup setting again when you get home.
Phil Sandiford also called his suggestion a partial solution:
Add me to the list of users that have lost SMB with 10.3. When I browse our large network using Cmd-K (the Go menu), I get a partial server listing that will not refresh. This list shows around 20 percent of the servers available.In 10.2.x the browser would partially list, pause, then complete the server list.
I installed Jaguar onto an old drive and booted from it, browsed for the network using the "Go" menu, jotted down the URL, and rebooted into Panther.
The short is; Yes, I could log on using the correct URL (smb://share.domain...). However, the "Go" browser will hang (beach ball of boredom) if I try to view the hierarchy.
I then found a fix for SMB browsing on my company's network.
We use Active Directory, which is switched off on 10.3. You can switch it on using Directory Access (in the Utilities directory). I can see 1,104 of my servers...the rest will not load their alias.
Andrew Cunningham had a similar experience:
Although, as you point out, there are two methods to mount a SMB volume (either by browsing or by Connect...), both are working perfectly on our Windows 2000 Server network. "Network" shows the various domains/workgroups on our LAN.I did enter my Domain Name in the "WorkGroup" in the utility "Directory Access" in the SMB configuration, though I would like some explanation as to why this funny option still exists.
If you can add to this discussion, please let us know.
Panther problems with SMB file servers and the Keychain. November 3, 2003 -- Corey Klass responded to last week's post about login credentials are not saved in the Keychain even though a reader clicked the option to do so. Klass has a suggestion:
I had the same problem initially, when I realized what the problem was. The username on my Mac is "coreyklass", and my username in our Active Directory/NT Domain is "cklass".Using the URL "smb://servername/share", the Finder's login window would open up, defaulting to the server's domain, my Mac's "coreyklass" login, and prompting me to enter a password. I'd check "Save In Keychain", but when I would try to connect to the share again, it would prompt me for my username and password again.
The problem turned out to be that I have to specify the username in the URL to get it to keep in the Keychain. Using the URL "smb://cklass@servername/share", the Finder's login window will appear, this time pre-populating the "username field with "cklass" (as I specified in the URL). Entering my password and selecting "Save in Keychain" saved my password properly, and the next time I use the URL above (with my username), it lets me right in.
It looks like it doesn't default to the last username you entered in the login window if you don't specify one in the URL, probably to allow you to log in to the share as one of any number of different users.
Virtual PC in Panther: Version 6 mostly OK; version 5 troublesome. November 3, 2003 -- We've had several dozen readers respond to our report of troubles with Virtual PC 5 earlier this week. Several dozen readers reported that all versions of VPC 6.x does run in Panther. (A few readers report printing problems --see the article below .) However, other readers verified that VPC 5.x has problems.
Daniel Stone: "I have version 5 and it is unusable as of Panther on my PBG4 667."
Michael Leckman:
I installed Mac OS X 10.3 on a 15" Titanium PowerBook G4 1 Ghz w/768 Mb RAM last Saturday and so far all applications are working fine, except for VPC 5, which either freezes on start up or goes so slow that it is unusable, then freezes. The whole system locks up, the mouse disappears or freezes, can't quit from within the application, can't log out, and I can't force quit from the finder. The only way out is to reboot using CMD-CTRL-Start button.
Some readers offered suggestions. Kenneth Schunk thinks it was a permissions problem:
My new iBook G4 exhibited the same behavior with VPC 5 -- until I ran Disk Utility and verified all permissions. Now Virtual PC seems to be working fine.
Kevin James Kelly : We ran into the same problem with VPC 5, but VPC 6 fixes the issue.
Jim Clark:
I, too, cannot run VPC 5.0 under Panther. It gets to the splash screen and nothing else happens. This is not good as I have never found VPC 6 stable in that it has often crashed on "save all and quit" or just when quitting VPC. After that I can never launch VPC 6 again, until I first run VPC 5, save and quit, then launch VPC 6 and discard the saved state left by VPC 5. So when VPC 5 won't run, I am toast. However, somehow I did get VPC to start up in DOS mode (I am using Windows 98 -- I don't know how I did that), I had the option of safe mode etc. (which did not work either) and just used the startup in DOS option. Anyway, after saving the state from DOS, I am able to (temporarily) use VPC 6 -- at least until the next crash.
Petr Siemens does not have these problems: "Although it's sluggish, I found it worked with VPC 5.04 and Windows 98"
Tom Cody also doesn't have the problem:
I Installed Panther and I have no issues with VPC running Windows 98. It starts up in about 10 seconds. In fact yesterday I installed about 30 MB of MS patches to 98 directly from the VPC window via my Macs DSL Internet connection.
Minor VPC 6.1 problem with Panther. November 3, 2003 -- Tom Beardmore reports this problem:
After installing Mac OS 10.3 (Panther), I found that when I run Virtual PC 6.1, I cannot click out of the VPC window and into any other application that is still running in the background. Interestingly, I can move the open document windows of the applications around, but I can't click into them.However, by toggling through the open applications using the Command-Tab keyboard sequences, I can manage to get back into the desired application and continue working.
No Printout with VPC 6 and Panther. November 3, 2003 -- Several readers report that upgrading to Panther disabled printing in Virtual PC 6. Michael Bennett describes the problem:
Panther is preventing me from getting documents to print (with the generic laser driver) from VPC 6.1. Under identical conditions (same version of VPC, same printer, same output), OS X 10.2.8 worked well and Panther wouldn't print.
Doug Kinzey also has a printing problem, but found a less-than-ideal workaround:
I'm using (pre-Microsoft) Virtual PC 6 XP Home Edition under Panther on a TiBook and so far am pleased with the performance. The only problem I have had is I wasn't able to print to an MS-networked printer that I could use previous to the Panther upgrade. I still print to this printer successfully through TCP/IP on the Mac side.I changed my security settings inside Windows at about the same time as the Panther upgrade. My printing problem disappeared when I reset my Windows security settings to the default ones--Now I don't have a Windows firewall.
If you've seen this problem, please let us know.
Cross-platform SMB printing problem with Panther. November 3, 2003 -- William Plasencia reports a problem with Printing in Panther to a PC printer:
Cross-platform printing on Panther does not work. At least it doesn't work the way it was promoted. I upgraded to Panther solely because it would let me share my Brother MFC-9700 laser printer with my wife's PC and laptop, both which run Windows XP.A solution that was supposed to work out of the box didn't AT ALL.
First off, the documentation sucks. Nowhere does it tell you how to mount a SMB printer from Windows -- something Apple just assumes you know. O.K., I can give them slack for that.
But now, to get my printer to work I had change the printer driver both on my Mac and on the PCs to a Postscript driver (any will do) other than the Brother driver. In this case, I had to set my Brother printer in Panther and
XP to use the HP LaserJet III driver. In the process, I lose any capability the Brother driver gave me on my Mac unless I switch back. Using the Brother driver on Windows sends the print job into the ether never to be seen again.
If you've seen this problem, please let us know.
Citrix Client in Panther? November 3, 2003 -- Fredrich Dengel asks "Has anyone attempted to use a Citrix client in 10.3? I am holding off upgrading until I am sure Citrix accesses MetaFrame server reliably."
Please let us know what your Panther/Citrix experience has been.
Thursby issues Panther upgrade for DAVE. November 3, 2003 -- Last Friday, Thursby Software Systems announced the availability of DAVE v4.1.1. This is a free upgrade for DAVE v4.x for Mac OS X.
Panther's confusing file sharing dichotomy
URL volumes mount, browsed volumes don't. October
29, 2003 -- A number of readers complained about the inconsistent
file sharing behavior of Mac OS X 10.3, a point that we neglected to
make in Monday's report. The confusion arises in the fact that not
only are there now two different locations and methods of logging on
to the same file server (AFP or SMB), but the behavior changes
depending on how you logged on.
If you use the Connect to Server dialog in the Go menu to logon by typing a URL, the server will behave as it always has since Macintosh file sharing began around 1986 -- the server will act like a drive, mounting on the desktop and becoming available through the Open and Save dialog box. Dragging the server to the Trash is the logoff.
However, the behavior is completely different if you browse for an AFP or SMB volume in the Network icon. To start with, a different logon screen appears, with no way to add the password to the Mac OS X Keychain. When you double-click a server, it will not act like a drive, but as folders at this location:
/private/var/automount/Network/ServerName/ShareName
Browsed servers that you logon to won't mount on the desktop. To access the server in an Open and Save dialog, you have to click through the directory structure (through AppleTalk Zones if you have them). In fact, there is no real indication that you are connected to the server other than seeing folders on the server--a problem if you're using a notebook and aren't continually connected to a network, as disconnecting can result in long periods of the spinning beach ball.
We also discovered that these two methods of logging on can be used at the same time--that is, you can be logged on to the same server twice.
Yesterday, we spoke with an Apple executive (who did not wish to be named or quoted), who acknowledged that Panther indeed has two server logon behaviors, that this was not a bug, but was indented. As an explanation, he told us that business users were expected to type in a URL, and that home users are expected to browse.
(We found this explanation as perplexing as Microsoft's old contention, long abandoned, that Outlook for Mac was for business users and MS Office was for home users.)
SMB file sharing broken in Panther. October 29, 2003 -- Readers are reporting problems browsing and logging on to SMB file sharing volumes in Mac OS X 10.3. We have also experienced these problems ourselves, and have seen the problem reported at various user forums around the web, including Apple's Discussion Forums and MacNN forums.
Jay Brewer describes the basic problem:
We can't seem to browse the Windows network any longer [in Panther]. We can SMB to specific shares but if you don't know the name, you can't browse the directory to find it.
Gibbons Burke has the browsing problem, but also cannot use a URL:
I haven't been able to share files with or get files from a Windows machine running 98(SE). The vaunted browsing doesn't yield it, and typing in SMB URLs in the Go To Server... Finder command isn't working either.
Jim Solderitsch reports broken SMB browsing and a problem with the Keychain
I am having 2 problems with Windows networking:1. For my office network, network browsing does not work. I do not see any machines in my company's domain even thought there are plenty of machines exporting shares (as evidenced by what I see on my Windows XP box's network neighborhood). In fact the domain itself does not even show up as a folder that contains machines with shares.
I did check the system.log file that is available through the console application and I see repeated messages of the form:
Oct 27 14:11:59 localhost DirectoryService[206]: Unable to browse contents of workgroup (<company-domain-name>) due to 192.168.101.5 returning NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED
In place of <company-domain-name. I see the actual domain name of course.
2. I can mount shares with the Connect to Server option in the Finder but my login credentials are not saved in the Keychain even though I click the option to do so.
I suspect that these are 2 separate problems. Since I most often connect to the same machine each day, I could live without browsability but having to authenticate each time is a bit of a pain. So I would appreciate learning of a workaround for problem 2.
If you can add to this discussion on broken SMB or know how to get passwords to stick in Keychain, please let us know.
Network duplex settings problem under 10.3. October 29, 2003 -- David Toub reports that the solution for an Ethernet duplex problem that worked in Jaguar no longer works in Panther:
I work in a Win2000 environment using an iBook. The network switch, which runs on full duplex, is autosensed incorrectly by OS X as half duplex. Under Jaguar, I was able to fix this and achieve full 100BaseT speeds by either using Cocktail or typing the following in the Terminal:sudo ifconfig en0 media 100basetX mediaopt half-duplex; sudo ifconfig en0media 100basetX mediaopt full-duplex; ifconfig
This always worked, and prevented my iBook from crashing during large file uploads to the network.
Under 10.3, however, this series of network commands does not work. In fact, it drops my network connection entirely until I restart. I should also add that the Networks preference panel indicates 100 Base T and full-duplex, but if one types ifconfig in terminal.app, half-duplex shows up instead.
Cocktail, which also would change my card settings under 10.2, also no longer keeps me on the network. It does convert me to 100 base T and full duplex, as does the Unix command line as above, but drops me from the network. Renewing the DHCP lease also does not work.
If you've seen this, please let us know.
Readers can't get Panther VPN client to work. October 29, 2003 -- Several readers are having difficulties using Mac OS X 10.3
Fergus Hammond says Apple told him that the built-in client should be used with Panther Server:
We've had no success regarding Panther's native PPTP and IPSec/L2TP support and Cisco 3000. In fact, we received an email yesterday from Apple, stating that Apple only recommends using Panther's VPN support with Panther server. We are disappointed by this but Apple has made huge improvements in OS X's cross-platform support, so hopefully this is something that will change soon.
However, this is quite different than what Apple says at its web site, which is that the builti-in client "is compatible with popular VPN servers, including those from Cisco and Microsoft."
Steve Aghazadeh also is having trouble with the built-in client
I have had complete success on my 15" PowerBook G4 1Ghz/Ti with 10.3 and the Cisco VPN Client 4.0.2C connecting to a Cisco VPN 3000 Series concentrator.However, I have not been able to get the built-in client working.
J M Roegner is too:
I can report that the Cisco OS X 4.0.2 VPN client works just fine under Panther. I have not, however, been able to use the new, built-in VPN client to connect to our network.
Panther/Netlock VPN success. October 29, 2003 -- Jim Rossman notes that the Netlock VPN client works in Panther:
I'm running Panther on a 17" Powerbook and having no problem connectingto my company's Nortel VPN switch using Netlock's Contivity Client for Nortel. We are using Netlock client version 2.1.2.
Advice for using Cisco VPN Client in Panther. October 29, 2003 -- Some five dozens reader reponded to Monday's report of problem with using a Cisco virtual private network in Mac OS X, some five dozen readers. (Thanks to everyone
