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General discussion

networking a mac and a PC

Oct 1, 2005 7:50AM PDT

I run a PC with XP and my husband just got a Mac with OS X.3. We have a ethernet router and now want to network the 2. How do we do this?

Discussion is locked

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NETWORK
Oct 1, 2005 8:45AM PDT

If you have a four, or five, port router, all you need do it attach the mac and the PC to the router with regular ethernet cable.
Now you have your network.
On the Mac, go to the File Sharing preference and turn on File Sharing and enable Windows Sharing.
On the XP machine, pick a folder you would like to share, My Documents for example. Share it. From the Mac, go to the menu bar and select Go/Network and if there is something there called Workgroup, click it. You should now see the XP machine. Double click it and, to make life easier, give the username and password of the person who normally logs onto the XP machine.
To connect the other way, you can Map a drive to the Mac and use the Username and Password of the person who normally logs onto the Mac.

Let us know how you get on

P

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can't connect the PC
Oct 1, 2005 3:56PM PDT

You mentioned "To connect the other way, you can Map a drive to the Mac and use the Username and Password of the person who normally logs onto the Mac." How would I do that? I was able to view the shared file on the PC from the mac, but can not view any files on the mac from the PC. I read somewhere that I need the macs shortuser name. Any idea where I would find that?

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Short Names
Oct 1, 2005 9:58PM PDT

You will find the name of the Mac in the Sharing preference Pane. It is at the top of that page. On the line that says Computer Name.
If you can't make the sharing happen, remember that you already have a connection and that data will flow both ways. From the Mac to the Pc and from the PC to the Mac. You just do it all from the same place.


P

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Wireless??
Oct 19, 2005 6:54AM PDT

What about hooking them up wireless??

Currently I have just a cable modem with a WinXp pc hardwired. Am taking the plunge (against poor Maria's advice in another discussion) and getting a G5 Mac as a 2nd unit. I too would like to network both but wireless style.

Can I use a regular wireless router to connect both to eachother (and printer) and then to the modem or do I have to get mac specific wireless connection (e.g. AirPort Express or Extreme Base Station)? I know the new G5 come with built-in networking and 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi (802.11g)3; built-in Bluetooth...all that jazz

Thanks

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The answer is
Oct 19, 2005 9:22AM PDT

The Mac will need an Apple wireless card but this will come already installed. If you are buying a G5 iMac that is. On the PowerMac G5, the wireless is not always installed.
You can use any wireless router to connect the machines to the Broadband router


P

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Router
Oct 1, 2005 8:52AM PDT

You can, of course, allow both these machines to access the Internet but connecting them both to the Router and setting the Mac to DHCP in the Network Preferences.
I'm hoping that you are not calling the Cable/DSL modem, the router. If you are, and some Modems will act as routers, you will need a Switch. This will connect the two computers together at the same time as it connects itself to the Modem.

P