share certain folders in Win 7 with OS X

[jawman]

Hello everyone!

I'm new here, and thought this was the place to find some help! My problem:

I want to be able to share select folders on my computer with my roommate, so he can see them and read them from his computer. The only problem is, he has a mac (I know, quite unfortunate). I want to be able to do this just like how I used to do it in XP - I could just go to My Network Places and all other computers on the network who were also running Win XP could view the shared folders. I tried for hours and Google searched it how to do something like this for Windows 7 & OS X, and everyone said something different, and I couldn't get any of the different methods to work. I am running Windows 7 Home Premium and my roommate is running the latest version of OS X. I want him to be able to see select folders that I determine, and be able to read, not write, so that he cannot accidentally delete a file or move it around somehow (he's not a real advanced computer user, hence a mac owner).
Basically it's just so I can share my music and videos with him. Also, is there a way so I can see shared folders on his computer that he has selected to share? Like I said, I read many articles, blogs, and forums about how to do this and they all said different things and I couldn't get any of them to work! So if there is an experienced user out there that can provide some guidance I am begging for help!

Thanks!
jawman

 

[FuturDreamz]

from a Mac:
1. Apple menu (top left corner of screen)->System preferences-> Sharing

2a:If on Tiger (top menubar is opaque): check "File sharing" and Windows sharing." a window might pop up asking which accounts you want to enable IDR. with "windows sharing" highlighted, click on "accounts" and check the accounts that you wish to share.

2b: If on leopard (top menubar is transparent): check "file sharing". click on "options" and ensure that SMB is enabled

3: at the top of the "sharing" pane there should be something that says something like "other computers on you local net can access your computer at "(your-computer).local"

4: on the pc, go to the "map network drive" menu and for sever input //(your-computer)/ and hit browse. you should be prompted for the login information for the Mac user. select which folder you want to use as the root of the network drive, then there you go.

From Windows: following the official guide:

Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
Choose Connect to Server from the Go menu.
In the address field of the Connect to Server dialog, type the URL using this syntax (you should know this) eg: smb://ServerName/ShareName/
Click Connect.