Wireless Home Networking - Index of

Chapter 10: Putting Your Wireless Home Network to Work
Sharing between Macs and
Windows-based PCs
If you have an OS X Macintosh computer (using OS X versions 10.2 right on
through to the current 10.5), you don’t need to do anything special to get
your Mac connected to a PC network for file sharing. All these versions of
OS X support Windows networking protocols rights out of the box, with no
add-ons or extra software required.
Getting on a Windows network
To connect to your Windows PCs or file servers, simply go the OS X Finder
and then choose Go➪Connect to Server (Command+K). In the dialog box that
appears, you can type the IP address or host name of the server you’re connecting
to and then click the Connect button. Alternatively, click the Browse
button in the dialog box to search your local network for available servers
and shares.
Letting Windows users on your network
To let Windows users access your Mac, you simply turn on file sharing in
your Mac’s System Preferences. To do so in OS X versions 10.4 and earlier,
follow these steps:
1. Open System Preferences (click the System Preferences icon on your
Mac’s dock).
2. Click the Sharing tab to view your file-sharing options. Make sure that
the Services tab is open.
3. Select Windows Sharing in the services listing, and then click the Start
button to activate it.
4. Close the Sharing dialog box.
If you’re using the latest version of OS X (10.5 Leopard), just do the following:
1. Open System Preferences and click the Sharing tab (as described above).
2. Select the File Sharing check box.
3. Click the Options button.
4. In the dialog box that appears, select the Share Files and Folders
Using SMB check box.
5. Click the Done button.
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