File Sharing Process - Win7 and Snow Leopard

It took a lot of web research and experimentation to get file sharing between my Win7 Desktop and MacBook Pro to work the way I wanted it to work. There are a lot of posts on this subject, but many leave out steps or assume a certain level of knowledge that may not exist. For myself, I know a lot about Windows, but this is my first Mac. Accordingly, I decided to provide a step by step process that might help people that find themselves in my situation. Hope it helps someone out there.

How to set up file sharing between a Mac OS “Snow Leopard” Computer and a Windows 7 Computer

Notes:

1. These instructions assume that your Mac and your Windows Computers are both password protected
2. At certain points you may be asked to enter your Administrator’s account password in order to continue

Mac Preparation

1. Go to System Preferences/Sharing and put a check mark in left panel box for File Sharing
a. Only public folder is shared by default
b. To add additional folders to share, click the “+” sign in the Shared Folder box and choose additional folders to be shared
c. Once folders to be shared have been selected, click on each folder to be shared and set permissions, e.g. “Read Only”, “Read & Write”, etc.
2. After choosing folders to be shared and setting permissions, click the “Options” button in the Sharing window
a. Check the box “share files and folders using SMB
b. Click “Done”
3. Click “Show All” and then click the “Network” icon
a. Click “Advanced”
b. Click the “Wins” tab
c. Enter WORKGROUP on the Workgroup line
d. No other entries are necessary in this window, so click OK.

Windows Computer Preparation

1. Click Start Button, right click on Computer and select “Properties”
2. Click “Advanced System Settings” in left panel
3. Click “Computer Name” tab
4. If the Workgroup line does not read WORKGROUP, click the change button
5. At the bottom of the window, click the Workgroup button and enter WORKGROUP
6. Click OK and then OK again
7. Click on Start Button, then Control Panel and select Network and Sharing
a. Click on Home network under “view your active networks”
b. Select “Work network”
8. Exit all open windows

Logging On To Access Shared Folders

Windows

1. Make sure both your Windows and Mac are turned on and you are logged into your user accounts on each system
2. Open Explorer
3. Double click on Network in the left panel. You should see WORKGROUP listed. Single click WORKGROUP.
4. Enter your Windows Administrator account name and your Windows Administrator account password.
5. Click OK. You should now be able to view your shared Mac files

Mac

1. Open Finder
2. Click “Go” in the Finder menu
3. Click “Connect to Server . . .”
4. In the “Server Access” box, type smb:// followed by your Windows Computer Name (Example: smb://MyWindowsComputer)
5. Click “Connect”
6. On the next window that appears, enter the user name of your Windows computer and the password for that Windows user account.
7. On the next window, select the volumes you want to mount (in other words, the folders you want to share)
8. Click OK. You should now be able to view your shared Windows files.

Limiting Windows Folders and Files to be Shared

When you check the shared Windows Folders and Files on your Mac, you may discover that all of your Windows folders have been shared. If this is true and you want to limit what Windows files are shared with your Mac, follow the following procedure on your Windows system.

1. Open Explorer
2. Click Local Disk in the left panel
3. Right Click the “Users” Folder
4. Select “Properties” and then select the “Sharing” Tab
5. Click “Advanced Sharing”
6. Uncheck “Share this Folder”
7. Click “Apply”, then Click “OK” or “Close”
8. Navigate to each folder or file that you DO wish to share and follow the procedure outlined below for each folder or file (navigate using Explorer/Local Disk/Users, NOT using your Documents Library Folder).
a. Right Click on the File or Folder you wish to share
b. Select “Properties” and then select the “Sharing” Tab
c. Click “Advanced Sharing”
d. Check “Share this Folder”
e. Click “Permissions”
f. Set the Permissions you wish to allow for persons sharing this file or folder
g. Click “Apply”, Click “Apply”, Click “Apply” or “Close”
h. This file or folder will now be shared. Continue this procedure for other files or folders you wish to share.
i. After you’ve finished, go to your Mac and verify that the correct folders are now shared. Note that you may have to “Eject” the shared folders and then use the “Go” and “Connect to Server” routine in Finder to see the corrected Shared Folders and Files.

A Final Note

At various times during the setup process and when you are using shared folders and files, you will be asked to enter a login user name and a password. Sometimes it’s not clear whether you should enter the Windows or the Mac information or the Administrator or Standard User information . There must be a pattern and logic to what’s requested, but I haven’t been using the systems long enough to discover that pattern. Just do what I do – experiment until something works and make note of it for future reference.