Priacta

Perhaps you found a reason to get a cool new Macbook Air. Maybe you’ve dreaded the inevitable but finally bought that PC simply for it’s compatibility. Whatever the reason, you now face a major issue. Your network now has more than one operating system. If you don’t care about “Geeky” things like “File Sharing” or “Printer Sharing” then this may not be an issue for you. But when you care, you really care. In this tutorial, we’ll go step-by-step through everything required to properly set up a Mac/Windows based network. When it comes to setting up a network with multiple Operating Systems there are two major things to remember.

1. Network Configuration

The way your systems are organized behind your router is vitally important. Get it wrong and you just won’t be able to print or move files across the network.

2. Users Configuration

Believe it or not, your slick machines actually care whether or not you belong poking around in someone else’s system. We’ll go over the basics for setting up your users to make sure that they have the same configuration.

Pre-Setup :

With these two major topics in mind we’ll do some pre-setup to make sure that you can actually do what we want.

Prerequisites:

Windows Side:

• Windows XP or higher. (You CAN technically use something older than this but it can get complicated. The only question I have for you is: Why are you keeping that around? Upgrade! Trust me, it’s worth the $50 it’ll cost to get an XP tower at a yardsale.)
• Administrator Access
• Internet Access (For Printer Set-up)

Mac Side:

• Mac OS X (Tiger or Leopard is preferred but not necessary)
• Again, you will need administrative access
• Internet Access (For Printer Set-up)

Intro:

For this explanation I will be using Windows XP, Mac OS X Tiger(10.4.x) , Admin privileges on both, Belkin router, and a Canon Pixma MP830 printer. Although I give specific details for these systems, the principles here can be used to set up a general network with only slight variations.

Network Configuration

Depending on the number of systems on your network, you may need a larger router than the one you may have. Most routers have four slots on the back. “Piggybacking” systems on each other is heavily discouraged. You lose the integrity of the network IP addresses for each of your systems (Something we will discuss). With this in mind, make sure that each of your computers has their own unique IP address. For a Belkin router you would open up an internet browser and browse to http://192.168.2.1 . This usually changes dependent on your router.

Refer to your user guide to determine the exact address you should use. (NOTE: Your computer MUST be connected to your router for this step) Once in your router’s control panel look for your DHCP client list. This will show you all the devices behind your router and what their unique IP address is for your network. These IP addresses will be used to connect between your computers. If any of your systems do not show up in your DHCP client list, you do not have your network properly configured. This will need to be troubleshooted. Windows: Right Click on “My Computer” and select “Properties”. Move to the “Computer Name” tab. It should be listed under “Full computer name:”. For Mac: Open System Preferences. Go to “Sharing”. Your computer name is listed at the top.

Users

So you’ve got your network set up. What next? Users. You can only connect to a Windows computer from a Mac if the users on both sides have the EXACT same name and password. These are case sensitive.In Windows, right click “My Computer” and click “Manage”. And uber-cool window will pop up with all the information you ever wanted to know about your computer in it. Expand “Local Users and Groups” and then click the “Users” folder. There you have it! Instant access to all the users on your PC. Just right click any user and you can “Set Password” or Rename it. Voila! You’ve just unlocked the secrets of Windows Users! Things are a little different in your Mac. Open your system preferences and click “Accounts” Select a user and you can instantly change the name and password for any of them! Easy huh? (If you find some things grayed out or you can’t click some options, try clicking the little lock in the lower left hand corner. Put your password in and you’re ready to murder some usernames!)

Mac Set-up for printer and Network access

First off, don’t set up your printer on you Mac if you can avoid it. Think of your PC as a Highschool dropout with absolutely no lingual abilities. Meanwhile, your Mac acts as translator at the UN for 14 countries. If you put your printer on your Mac, your PC won’t understand what it’s saying and disregard it. Meanwhile, the Mac understands the PC when it tries to talk with it.

Getting your Mac to talk to Windows

Windowsese is not your Mac’s native language but it can speak it pretty fluently. Here’s what we need to do to let you Mac know that we want it to communicate with Windows. Open up System Preferences and go to “Sharing”. If it’s not already there, click on the “Services” button to show the active services for your Mac. You will need to select “Personal File Sharing”, “Windows Sharing”, and “Printer Sharing”. Before your Computer is willing to talk to Windows, you need to let it know which users want to talk. Select “Windows Sharing” and then click the “Accounts” button that appears to the right. A dialog box with your system’s accounts will appear. Every time you check an account it will ask for that user’s password. If you don’t have it, that user will be unable to talk to Windows. Better get those passwords… Or at least the people who know them. If everything has gone according to plan, your should now be able to view all shared files on your PC by opening a new Finder window and clicking “Network.” Open the network that you gave as your Workgroup name and browse to the PC you want. The Mac will now virtually mount the shared folder you choose onto your desktop. Open it! See? Now wasn’t that easy?

Getting Windows to look at your Mac

There’s essentially no setup required to browse your Mac now. Everything required to do so was done from the Mac. Browsing files is a little different though. Open “My Network Places” and select “”View Workgroup Computers.” Select any Mac Computer. A window will prompt you for a name and password. You MUST use this format: User:(Mac’s Name)/(User Name) Password: (The uniform password you had set up) You should now be able to browse your Mac from Windows! Congratulations! Now all that is left to be done is set up your printer.

Setting up the Printer

This is not as difficult as you might think at first. There are two major steps, but once you’ve completed them, printing across Operating Systems is as easy as clicking “Print”!

Mac Side

Step one is the hardest. Get the latest driver for your printer that is Mac compatible. In the case of the MP830, this is a little difficult. The driver supplied by Canon is buggy at best and never worked for me even once. Solution? Use the GutenPrint Driver pack for Mac. You can get it here. Install your driver. Now go to “System Preferences” => “Print & Fax” Click the + button to add a new printer. If the printer you are looking for is on the PC, you may need to click “More Printers” to find your printer on the Network. (Note: In order to find the PC printer, it must already be installed on the PC) Once your printer has been added, select “Sharing”. You should see your printer in the box at the center. Check “Share these printers with other computers” and then add a check mark to the printer.

Windows Side

Setting your printer up on the PC should be as easy as following the instructions for the printer. It probably came with a CD with the drivers on it. Follow the instructions in your user’s manual. Once it’s set up, it can be discovered by the Mac. OR You can attempt setting the printer up on the Mac directly and connect to it via the PC. On the PC, open your Control Panel and Click “Printers and Faxes” Right Click => “Add Printer” Follow the Wizard to find the printer on the Mac. Any number of things can go wrong here. Feel free to try it though.

Done!

That’s it! You should have at least one Mac and Windows PC on the same network with full Printer and File Sharing!