I have a number of friends who are making the switch from Windows to OS X, and I thought I’d pass along this simple step so they can easily access their Windows machines from their OS X systems.
Step 1) From Finder, choose Go / Connect to Server… (although, I almost always use the shortcut and press Command-K at the desktop)
Step 2) Enter the server address in this form
cifs://WORKGROUP;Walt%20Stoneburner@BOATANCHOR/C$
- Use cifs (Common Internet File System)
- Use :// …much like you do when you do http://
- Make sure the slashes go forward
- Specify the workgroup — you can find this by right clicking My Computer on the Windows box, choosing properties, and going to the Computer Name tab, then looking for Workgroup
- Be sure to put a semicolon a the end
- Specify your username, not your “full name” — you can find this by pressing Control-Alt-Delete and reading the “Logon information section: ‘…is logged in as BOATANCHOR\Walt Stoneburner‘”; press ESC as not to reboot.
- If you have any spaces substitute them with the hex code %20 as shown above.
- Use an at-sign and enter the machine name — you can find this by pressing Control-Alt-Delete and reading the “Logon information section: ‘…is logged in as BOATANCHOR\Walt Stoneburner'”; press ESC as not to reboot.
If you want, you can use an IP address instead of a machine name. - Then specify a forward slash, followed by the shared resource. C: is C$, D: is D$, and so forth.
Once you Connect, you can press the plus sign to remember this setting so that you’ll never have to enter it again.