- Topics Mentioned
- Operating System(s):
- Windows 7
If you have multiple computers on your network, it’s safe to say that you probably want to share information between them. Windows 7 makes sharing between other computers with Windows 7 on them easy with the new Libraries system, allowing you to share images, videos, and more with ease.
However, what happens when you bring a Mac with the latest and greatest OSX install into the mix? In this article, I’ll show you how to set up your Mac and PC — Windows 7 and Snow Leopard — to share your files with ease.
File Sharing: Speaking the Right Language
The first thing you’ll need to know about file sharing, is that not all methods are the same. While they all do the same basic job, they each speak a different language, so to say.
For example, AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) is a great way to share files between Macs, quick and easy; but Windows doesn’t understand AFP and therefore can’t send or receive with the protocol.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a nice way to share files and works on both Macs and PCs, however, this protocol is used mostly for client to server transfers, and doesn’t handle files as easily as other protocols.
NFS (Network File System) is a Unix-based protocol that most Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices use to share files. While this is a good choice, it’s not necessarily the easiest to set up.
Finally, there is the SMB (Server Message Block) or CIFS (Common Internet File System) protocol. This protocol is not only the easiest to set up, but also a lot faster in most cases than other protocols.
To share files between our Snow Leopard Mac and Windows 7 PC in this article, we’ll be using the SMB protocol.
Sharing Files Between Mac and PC: Setup on Snow Leopard
The first thing we’ll want to do is set up a sharing account on our Mac. This can either be your personal account, or a separate account made specifically for this purpose.
After you’ve made the account, go to System Preferences –> Sharing and check the File Sharing box.
Once file sharing is turned on, we need to tell it what type of protocol we will be using. Click on Options (on the right side of the window when File Sharing is clicked) and make sure to check the box Share files and folders using SMB (Windows).
Next we’ll want to choose what is shared with who. Close the options box and you should see the “Sharing” screen again. This step is fairly self explanatory, you’ll basically want to add folders you want to share on the left, and choose who to share them with on the right along with Read and Write privileges.
The final step is often overlooked, but very important in connecting to your Windows 7 based PC.
Go back to your System Preferences and click on Network. Choose the connection you’ll be using (Airport for wireless, Ethernet for wired, etc.) and click Advanced. You’ll see a few tabs up top including “WINS” right in the middle. On this tab, choose your Windows workgroup. Without doing this, neither computer will be discoverable.
Sharing Files Between Mac and PC: Setup on Windows 7
The first thing you’ll want to do on the Windows 7 side is ensure that you are on a private network. This will usually be the “Home” setting in the network settings, but can be “Work” as well. Public makes sure things are a bit safer when sharing files.
Next, you’ll want to enable Network Discovery, this can be found in Windows 7’s Advanced Sharing Settings. This page also lets you view other sharing options, so go through them carefully.
To edit your Workgroup name, go into your System Properties and click Change. Make sure this name, and the name you set on your Mac, is the same or the computers won’t be able to find each other.
Now you will need to set up your user account for sharing. This can be done on your current user account, or you can create a new one made specifically for sharing.
Once you know the account to be used to share files, you can start picking and choosing what folders to share.
Find a folder you would like to share, right click it, and choose Properties. There is a Sharing tab up top which will bring you to the folder’s sharing permissions and properties.
Here you can add users to share with and choose similar permission levels including both read and write permissions.
Connecting Windows 7 to Snow Leopard
Now for the fun part, accessing files that are on your Mac, with your PC. In an Explorer window in Windows 7, click on Network. If everything went as planned, you should see other computers on your network, including your Mac.
When you double click on your Mac, you’ll be prompted with username and password fields. This is another part where a few people have had mix-ups. For the username, you’ll need to input your Mac’s information as follows:
Username: NameOfMac/Username
Password: password
For the username, you need to first input the name of the Mac, followed by a backslash and the username to the account set up for sharing on the Mac. The password is simply the password to said account.
Connecting Snow Leopard to Windows 7
Connecting your Mac to your PC is just as simple. In Finder, or when on your Mac desktop, simply click on Go –> Connect to server. Alternatively, using the command Command + K shortcut will also bring up the Connect to server prompt.
In this box, type in smb://NameOfPC and click Connect. This will bring up a Mounting box (after entering your name and password) for which folders you would like to mount. Choose the ones you would like to access, and click OK. The folders you chose will now be accessible from your Mac desktop and Finder menus.
Conclusion
There are many other ways to share files between Windows 7 and Snow Leopard, but I found SMB/CIFS to be the easiest and most straightforward method of sharing, allowing you the most access to your folders and their contents (for example, mapping to drive letters on a PC, and setting auto-connects at login on a Mac) with a fairly simple setup process.
I hope you enjoyed this guide to sharing files between Windows 7 and Snow Leopard, have fun!
Oh, and if you’re interested in learning how to share files between your Vista and Leopard machines, check out this article How to Share Files between Mac and PC — Leopard and Vista.
Thank you for your detailed instructions of connecting Snow Leopard to Windows 7, I have searched the net for hours and tried many different things but yours was the only one that made sense and worked the way it should.
Keep up the detailed instruction and thanks again for a novice to Mac World.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad the tutorial helped you out. I’ll do my best to keep them coming.
Have fun with your newly networked computers!
Mike
Most useful article that I managed to follow and make work immediately, so thanks!
The only area that was not exactly the same for me was the Windows 7 Advanced Sharing Settings which looked nothing like your picture, nor could I the system properties to change any settings. But, my Mac was listed on the Network in Windows 7 and I logged straight onto it.
Thanks again – these sort of articles are indispensable for novice Mac users like me.
This didn’t work for me. I’m trying to share files between windows 7, vista, and leopard. there really isn’t a specific guide for that. I assume that the steps are similar if not the same. I read both the vista and leopard and this guide, the shares don’t ever show up on either side, i.e. in each OS’s respective “network places” folder. I want to do it this way because flash drive sneaker-netting is annoying and old school especially when my flash drive is too small to fit all the files in one transfer. I’m in a CCNA program and about to graduate next term and I still can’t get this to work? That’s disgraceful.
I’ve been reading and there is a security and / or a compatibility issue with sharing between vista era computers and mac. Where one must disable the NTLM and make sure the windows computers use the older, now insecure, LM protocol. I wonder if this is because NTLM is proprietary and therefore apple can’t use it. Whatever the reason Mac and windows sharing isn’t secure and can’t be simply left on willy nilly which I’d love to be able to do or have a “button” on the desktop of the computers that when you double click it goes and turns on all the stuff you need to enable sharing, and turns it off when you’re done. The home premium edition is anything but premium. Because instead of giving the home users an easy solution they force users to go into the registry and edit it. I think their logic is that users are too afraid of computers to even use the applications they have let alone know what the registry is or does and how to work it let alone find the right key and know what to do once they get there. Thanks Microsoft for making Sharing files with Mac impossible on your OS meant for end users, who lets face it, comprise the majority. Now I have to go and buy a new “upgraded” version of windows 7 to get the secpol.msc that’s like buying the door to get the lock. Man this is a major pain!
http://windows7themes.net/how-to-share-files-between-mac-and-windows-7.html#comment-60590
ps See my comment on the bottom of the page
Thabks, Mike, but I have a problem. I’m trying to connect a mac mini at home with a Windows 7 laptop from my job, using my home wireless network. I followed your explanations, but my laptop has a domain name (for my work). I wouldn’t like to have to change my settings every day when I come home from “domain” to “workgroup” and then the opposite when arriving to the office in the morning… is there a solution for this?
Tks in advance