Macs and Windows PCs can see each other on the network, with no special software (or talent) required. In fact, you can go in either direction. Your Mac can see shared folders on a Windows PC, and a Windows PC can see shared folders on your Mac.
It goes like this.
Suppose you have a Windows PC and a Mac on the same wired or wireless network. Here’s how you get the Mac and PC chatting:
On your Windows PC, share some files.
This isn’t really a book about Windows networking (thank heaven), but here are the basics.
On a PC with Windows 8 or Windows 10, there may be nothing to it. All your personal files probably come preshared. You can skip to step 2.
If step 2 doesn’t seem to work, then maybe your PC files aren’t already shared, and you have some reading ahead of you:
Just as on the Mac, there are two ways to share files in Windows. One of them is super-simple: You just copy the files you want to share into a central, fully accessible folder. As long as nobody has turned off the Guest access feature, no passwords, accounts, or other steps are required.
In Windows Vista, that’s the Public folder, which appears in the Navigation pane of every Explorer window. (In Vista, there’s one Public folder for the whole computer, not one per account holder.)
In Windows 7, there’s a Public folder in each library. That is, there’s a Public Documents, Public Pictures, Public Music, and so on.
Note
There is no system of Public folders in Windows 8 and later—but if you upgraded your PC from an earlier Windows version, the Public folders are still there and work the same way.
The second, more complicated method is the “share any folder” method, just as in OS X. In Vista, you right-click the folder you want to share, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, click the Sharing tab, and turn on “Share this folder on the network.”
In Windows 7, use the Share With menu at the top of any folder’s window; in Windows 8 or later, use the Share tab on the ribbon at the top of any Explorer window at the desktop.
Repeat for any other folders you want to make available to your Mac.
On the Mac, open any Finder window.
The shared PCs appear as individual computer names in the Sidebar (Figure 12-14).
(If you work in a big company, you may have to click the All icon to see the icons of their workgroups— network clusters. Unless you or a network administrator changed it, the workgroup name is probably MSHOME or WORKGROUP. Double-click the workgroup name you want.)
Tip
You can also access the shared PC via the Connect to Server command, as described on Connection Method B: Connect to Server. You could type into it smb://192.168.1.103 (or whatever the PC’s IP address is) or smb://SuperDell (or whatever its name is) and hit Return—and then skip to step 5. In fact, using the Connect to Server method often works when the Sidebar method doesn’t.
Figure 12-14. Click the PC’s name in the Sidebar (bottom). If it’s part of a workgroup, click All and then your workgroup name first. Next, enter the account name and password that you’d enter if you were seated at the PC—your regular login password (top). When you click Connect, you get to see all your PC files in the Finder window.
Click the name of the computer you want.
If you’re using one of the simple file-sharing methods on the PC, as described above, that’s all there is to it. The contents of the Shared Documents or Public folder now appear on your Mac’s screen. You can work with them just as you would your own files.
If you’re using one of the “shared folder” methods, read on.
Click Connect As.
This button appears in the top-right corner of the Finder window. Now you’re asked for your name and password (Figure 12-14, top).
Note
In Windows 8 and later, there are two ways to log into a computer—two kinds of user accounts. You can sign in with a Microsoft ID (which is just like an Apple ID) or with a regular local account. (Microsoft pushes you very hard to use a Microsoft ID; many features of Windows won’t work without it.)
If you’re trying to connect to a Windows account with a Microsoft ID, be sure to use that as the account name in this step (it looks like an email address), along with the corresponding password. If you enter the account’s human name, you won’t be able to connect.
Enter the name and password for your account on the PC, and then click OK.
The contents of the shared folder on the Windows machine appear in your Finder window, just as though you’d tapped into another Mac (Figure 12-14, bottom). The icon of the shared folder appears on your desktop, too, and an Eject button (
) appears next to the PC’s name in your Sidebar.TROUBLESHOOTING MOMENT: When the Mac Doesn’t See the PC
Are you having trouble getting your PC’s icon to show up in your Finder’s Sidebar?
Now, you can probably connect to the PC using the Mac’s Go→Connect to Server command, but the Sidebar would be a lot more convenient.
And the problem is probably that the Mac doesn’t know anything about Windows workgroups.
Even a lowly home PC is part of a workgroup (a corporate cluster), whether it knows it or not. And until your Mac is part of that very tiny club, it won’t be able to see your PCs, and they won’t be able to see it.
So if you’re having no luck with this whole Mac-PC thing, try this. First, find out what your PC thinks its workgroup is. (It’s usually either WORKGROUP or MSHOME.) Windows 8 and later: Right-click the Start-menu icon (
); from the shortcut menu, choose System. Scroll down if necessary to see the workgroup’s name.Older Windows versions: Click Start, and then right-click Computer. From the shortcut menu, choose Properties. In the resulting info screen, you’ll see the workgroup’s name.
To find out the Mac’s idea of its workgroup, open System Preferences→Network. Click the connection you’re using (like Wi-Fi or Ethernet)→Advanced→WINS.
Now you see the peculiar controls shown here. Make sure that the Workgroup box shows the same name as the one on the PC. Click OK, and then click Apply.
Now your Windows PCs should show up in the Sidebar, like magic.
If they’re still not showing up, then your PC’s firewall software is probably turned on. Make sure it’s turned off—and turn off your Mac’s firewall, too (The Firewall). You can’t do much connecting if there’s a virtual wall between the computers.
From here, it’s a simple matter to drag files between the machines, open Word documents on the PC using Word for the Mac, and so on—exactly like you’re hooked into another Mac.
Cross-platformers, rejoice: OS X lets you share files in both directions. Not only can your Mac see other PCs on the network, but they can see the Mac, too.
On the Mac, open 
→System Preferences→Sharing. Click File Sharing (make sure File Sharing is turned on), and then click Options to open the dialog box shown in Figure 12-15.
Figure 12-15. Prepare your Mac for visitation by the Windows PC. It won’t hurt a bit. The system-wide On switch for invasion from Windows is the first checkbox shown here, in the System Preferences→Sharing→File Sharing→Options box. Next, turn on the individual accounts of people you want to allow to connect from the PC. You’ll be asked to enter their account passwords, too. Click Done when you’re done.
Turn on “Share files and folders using SMB.” Below that checkbox, you see a list of all the accounts on your Mac. Turn on the checkboxes to specify which Mac user accounts you want to be able to access. You must type in each person’s password, too. Click Done.
Now you’re ready to open your Mac files on the PC.
If your PC has Windows Vista, then choose Start→Network; if it’s Windows 7 or later, then expand the Network heading in the Sidebar of any desktop (File Explorer) window. If you’ve sacrificed the proper animals to the networking gods, your Mac’s icon should appear in the network window, as shown in Figure 12-16, top.
Double-click the Mac’s icon. Public-folder stuff is available immediately. Otherwise, you have to sign in with your Mac account name and password; Figure 12-16, middle, has the details.
In the final window, you see your actual Home folder—on a Windows PC! You’re ready to open its files, copy them back and forth, or whatever (Figure 12-16, bottom).
Figure 12-16. Top: Double-click the Mac you want to visit from your PC (Windows 8.1 is shown here). Middle: Type your Mac’s name and password. (If you’re using Vista or earlier, it’s more complicated. Enter your Mac’s NetBIOS name in all capitals, or its IP address, and then a backslash, and then your Mac account short name. You can find out your Mac’s NetBIOS name—what Windows calls it—on the Network pane of System Preferences. Click Advanced, and then WINS.) Turn on “Remember my credentials” if you plan to do this again someday. Click OK. Bottom: Here’s your Mac Home folder—in Windows! Open it up to find all your stuff.
The direct Mac-to-Windows file-sharing feature of OS X is by far the easiest way to access each other’s files. But it’s not the only way. Chapter 6 offers a long list of other options, from flash drives to the third-party service Dropbox.