Turning Windows computer into Server for OS X

[dotdotdot]

I have an insane Windows computer, with terabytes of data, music, movies, games, and two monitors hooked up to it. It's really fast and awesome, and on 24-7. However, I love OS X, and my MacBook, and want to use those as my full time computers.

I want to manage my iPod with OS X, but I want my music stored on my Windows box.

In OS X, Tiger AND Leopard, I don't see any Windows machines from my network, and when I do, they are not the one I want (which is really frustrating). I can connect via "Go" in the FinderBar, typing in smb://IP_ADDRESS_HERE, which I guess is an option.

What I want is a seamless way of networking my Mac and PC, with a password, so that even on the network only those computers can see each other's files, and a way to manage my music library on the Mac with the files on the PC.

 

[ChrisA]

This would be a lot easier if you'd install a UNIX-like OS on the PC. In fact it would be nearly triveal to simply do an NFS mount. Look into BSD or Linux.

 

[Krevnik]

It would only be easier if the Linux/BSD box had zeroconf (Bonjour) setup on it.

One thing that you can do to make accessing the Windows box easier is to install Bonjour for Windows on it. OS X uses it to discover file servers, or looks for windows servers in the same workgroup. Since Bonjour is built around IP subnets, it is usually a little less painful than managing your IP network and a workgroup.

 

[MacsRgr8]

LOL...
Forgive me here, but "Services for Macintosh" suddenly came to mind... Remember? AFP over AppleTalk on an NT 4 Server... that was so easy for the Macs! Fire up your chooser et voila!

Those were the days.... NOT!!

 

[Consultant]

10.4 and 10.5 (never tried with other versions of OSX but they should work fine) can connect to PC fine.

The thing is setting up sharing in windows is not as easy as sharing on OSX.

Once the share (either from a mac or pc) is connected, on the mac, you can save password and make an alias of the drive or folder that you want to connect to. In the future, you can then double click the alias to connect.

 

[logandzwon]

My home network is 2 XP desktops, 2 XP notebooks,two macbook pros, a G4 mini, an early 2006 iMac, and a intel mac mini with server on it. Everyone sees everyone else in finder. I'm not sure what your issue is without looking at it. But you can start by checking that file and printer sharing is enabled on your windows machine, and then make sure everyone is on the same workgroup.