Networking my Mac and PC for File/Printer Sharing. HELP

[Steffz07]

Okay, so i am hoping that some of you networking gurus around here will be able to help me with the slight dilemma that i am facing.

I want to share some files and the printer between my Mac (Snow Leopard) and PC (Vista.....), not too much to ask huh?

I have enabled SMB on my Mac. I have enabled printer sharing and i know that it works because my mom is able to printer from her laptop.

The printer is a HP psc 1600 series that is connected via USB to the PC and then the PC is connected to my router.

I even went into the regedit in Vista and changed the lmcompatibilitylevel to a value of 1 to help SMB, like some sites have instructed.

I enabled the appropriate permission on the share tab AND the security on the folder i wanted to share on Vista.

I went into the network center and turned Network Discovery ON and file sharing ON. Password sharing is OFF.

Now after ALL of this:

I can see my MBP on my PC and go to its Public folder and drag and drop files into it. I can then access these files on my Mac and alter them. Thats all fine and dandy.

I can SEE my PC on my Mac in Finder. But it gets stuck at "connecting" and after awhile it says "The server at xxx.xxx.x.x is may not exist or is unavailable at the moment. Please check your IP address or your network connection."

I have tried this with the full computer name and the ip address.

I think that i have to at least have file sharing working both ways before i can even START to think about printer sharing.

Sooo,
suggestions/solutions please
Thank you

 

[Winni]

I enabled the appropriate permission on the share tab AND the security on the folder i wanted to share on Vista.

Now what are those "appropriate" permissions EXACTLY?

Since you are not using a domain setup, you either have to make sure that a user with the same name exists on both machines and that this user has all the required access rights -- OR -- you just do it the completely unsafe way and grant full access permissions to EVERYONE. The latter setup is one of the many reasons why people believe that Windows is ah-so unsafe, while the truth is that they unlocked the doors themselves and opened them wide to everybody.

You should also cross-check the Firewall settings on Windows - maybe it is still blocking the file sharing access and you have to explicitly allow it. Try completely disabling it and see if the remote system can then access the PC; if it works, turn the firewall back on and add the appropriate exceptions.

It's also possible the an installed anti-virus software blocks the access.

You should also think about whether this access really needs to go in both directions - usually it should be enough if one computer holds the shared resources. Whatever you want to share has to go over this one machine. (Client/Server principle.)

 

[aarond12]

I second Winni's "firewall" suggestion. That's the #1 reason I've found for this issue. Try disabling it completely at first (including any third-party firewall/anti-virus/anti-spyware/anti-septic applications), then slowly re-enabling those applications one by one until you find the culprit.

-Aaron-

 

[Steffz07]

Okay, i got the sharing going, and you were right, it was my MacAfee firewall.
I can also access my printer now thru SAMBA. So thats all good, thanks guys.

And now im trying to remote access my Mac to Vista. But, i read somewer that with Vista Home Premium the remote desktop connection doesn't work properly? Well, something along those lines.

I got RDC for Mac and coRD, I've tried them both and have entered my PC's LAN IP and username and password. When i click connect it shows the connection going through and then it stops and nothing happens

I have gone into system properties in Vista and enabled remote access.
Do i need to enter the domain? Cos i cannot find where the domain is shown on my PC. I have been leaving the domain blank in these attempts.

 

[etchtech09]

No RDC in Vista Home

Vista Home doesn't have this feature. You will need to install a VNC server on your Windows box and probably a client on your Mac box.

Screen Sharing (which is a VNC client) doesn't work very well when you need to push CTRL-ALT-DEL but most VNC clients have a way of passing that command.

 

[RememberMac]

I use the same setup with a Vista printer shared to my iMac. You have to have a dedicated IP address on both machines then name your printer on the vista machine. Once that is done, the use SMB://IP ADD for VISTA Mach/Printer Name. That should be all you need, remember to use the proper driver options on your mac, then you should be fine. Hope that helps.