10-01-2011, 10:00 PM

Hello All


I'm a lifelong Apple owner (Mac Classic was my first computer) and long time visitor of this forum yet first time poster.

I'm trying to hook up my mother's iMac and her Macbook so that she can share files. She's a PhD student who wants to be able to work on her dissertation on both computers when she's home without carrying a 50gb flashdrive with her in her home. I figured it should be pretty simple, add the folders she wants to share to her "shared folders" in system preferences and boom sharing galore. Wasn't that simple. I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing wrong even after some googling and poking around on here and the apple support page. Am I incredibly dumb or is there something I should be doing that I'm not? As of right now both machines are on different versions of leopard (10.5.X and 10.6.7) and I'm in the process of backing up both computers so I can upgrade b oth to lion but I didn't think that would make a difference. No matter how many files I "add" to the shared folders in system preferences only "Public Folder" shows up and even when I stick folders in there they are read only.

I just want her to be able to work on her dissertation on her imac, save it and open it up on her macbook and continue where she left off. Surely this is possible, but clearly I'm missing something.

Many thanks in advance for any info/links/help you can provide.

Thanks!!

10-01-2011, 10:07 PM

I'd recommend using something like Dropbox instead. I have a project that I'm working on and I work in Dropbox folders which automatically get updated on the iMac - so both the MBP and iMac have the same files available and sync automatically. It's great. Dropbox Link It's a perfect solution for what you're trying to accomplish.

10-01-2011, 11:12 PM

Thanks for the suggestion. My Mom's friend suggested it to her but I figured this would be easier...guess I was wrong! She already has a dropbox account so I'll give it a whirl.

I still feel like the sharing should work!! I'm wondering why it doesn't!

10-01-2011, 11:17 PM

Have you enabled file sharing in System Preferences?

10-01-2011, 11:49 PM

Hi there

Yes, I did and was able to share files successfully but the word docs were "read only" when she'll def need to read and write. I enabled the option to read and write docs but it still prompts me to save it as a new doc and reminds me it is read only. Kinda perplexing...

10-02-2011, 12:15 PM

Have you tried logging in as administator on the computer you are trying to share?
On the computer you are working from, click on Go> Connect to Server.
On the window that opens, you can click browse and you should see the other
computer on the network. When you double click on the icon, it should open
as guest. On the top right of the window, there should be a button:
Connect As.
Click on this button and make sure the radio button Registered User is selected.
Enter the administrator name and password for the computer you are connecting to. Hit Connect and you should be able to do anything on the
connected computer.
I use this connecting from iMac Lion to iBook.