Network Computers Disappeared in Macintosh HD

I'm a recent Mac convert after 20 years on a PC. I'm an IT guy, not a tech newbie by any stretch. I love my new MacBook Pro. But I'm stumped...

Since I set this computer up, I was able to access my windows PCs on my home network with no problem. They would appear in the Macintosh HD in the left column. I could click on them and see the accessible folders. Browse, open files, whatever I needed.

Now, all of a sudden with no changes that I am aware that I made... the computers that once appeared in that left column in the Macintosh HD are gone. I can't figure out how to get them back or how to access the computers on my network.

I'm great at solving Windows wierdness... but I have no basis to even begin to figure this one out. Can somebody help?

- Nathan

I'm having exactly this problem. I find a lot of Google results for forums where somebody has asked this same question... and there is never any reply. Does ANYONE have any idea how to fix this? It's very inconvenient when this interferes with my job. Like all day today.

Well if you wanna access the files from the PC on a Mac you need to have folders shared which by what you said, you did. On the other hand, if you want to share vice versa, I would go into Network Preference, then Sharing Preferences, and then File Sharing. Finally under options, I would click on SMB sharing, which is the protocol which share the file from mac to pc. Also, in my experience, you usually need to enter the Username and PW of the target machine you want to access.

Try this.
Go to "Connect to Server" (Command+K) under "Go" on the menu bar, and type in your target machines address (I think it has to be formatted smb://192.XX.XX.XX, if not switch out smb for afp). Try it manually in that sense. If it works, then add it to your login items so it can start up automatically.

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