File sharing between OSX and WinXP

The shared folder on my WinXP desktop won't show up in finder. I'm trying to access them wirelessly from my Macbook Pro 13".

What I've done:
-Sharing is enabled on both computers.
-Folders have been selected for sharing.
-Both computers are in the same workgroup

This is really frustrating me, and I've searched this forum, but nothing seemed to help.

Do you have any kind of security software on the Windows XP machine? If so, you may need to configure the firewall to allow other machines to access the shares.

We just ran into an almost identical problem with another member who was using Norton 360 on his Windows machine.

I'm having a similar issue right now. After a fresh install of Leopard on my eMac and a fresh install of XP SP3 on my Sony, I could see folders and files on the Sony from the Mac. After a while, that is no longer the case. Now the Mac refuses to connect, it keeps saying Connection Failed in Finder. Also has a popup box saying Connection failed. The server may not exist or it is blah blah blah.

Both are in the same workgroup, and it was working. Any ideas? I kind of need the two to see eye to eye. The internet sharing still works properly, as I can use the internet on the Sony (shared from the Mac), just not browse shared folders.

anyone?

As cwa suggested, are you running Norton or some other Internet tools / Firewall on your Win machine.

I've had to deal with the same issue at the office and just between 10 Windows XP machines. We have the latest McAffee tools installed. One day everything works, the next day half the machines have no access to the local network but can all still get online. A reboot of all the machines in the office would sometimes correct the issue, sometimes not.

One time the Firewall had blocked java on one machine. Another time one had blocked Quicktime. Makes no sense, but unblocking those two items the local network was back up again.

We had no issue for several months after the install of McAfee. Out of the blue I spent over 2 months of fixing it and having it reappear for no apparent reason, the only real fix was turning the McAfee Firewall off on only two of the ten machines.

That doesn't surprise me Tom. McAfee's products have always been craptastic. I don't understand why anyone would run a third party firewall unless they really have a healthy distrust of the built-in Windows firewall (which is actually a derivative of ZoneAlarm, a very decent firewall) and/or they need very meticulous outgoing traffic monitoring.

I have no firewall, anti-virus, or any other software running that would interfere. I even disabled the Windows firewall.

Here is how I am setup:

Cricket wireless modem into my eMac via USB.
eMac to Sony via ethernet
eMac internet sharing enabled via ethernet and firewire

After first setting both machines up, I was able to connect into the windows machine's shared drives.
Now I cannot, but the Windows machine does still have internet access.

No anti-virus, no firewall, nothing. It just wont connect to the Windows machine anymore, gives the Connection Failed error.

Something I have noticed though....Leopard takes longer to see other machines than Tiger ever did, and Tiger never had these connection problems. I'm halfway thinking of going back to Tiger until I get my new iMac.....

P.S. As a former Windows user, and long time tech for residential, I wouldn't use McAffee or Norton if you paid me. My mom just recently bought a new HP and the first thing I did after setting it up for her was remove the Norton trial and install Nod32.

OnlyTimeWillTel said:

P.S. As a former Windows user, and long time tech for residential, I wouldn't use McAffee or Norton if you paid me. My mom just recently bought a new HP and the first thing I did after setting it up for her was remove the Norton trial and install Nod32.

Click to expand...

Since my job description doesn't involve IT, the boss doesn't come ask me about recommended software or the best way to do something up front. But, everyone knows who to ask when it doesn't work.

Don't have enough experience to help with your issue. The only Mac to Windows I've done is the single XP machine I have left in the house and it's worked without issue since I shared the folders I wanted on it 2 1/2 yrs ago. Never touched it again.

Check to make sure the Computer Browser service is started on your XP machine (Start => Run => Type: services.msc => Press Enter). If it's not, start it and see if the Windows machines shows up then.

Computer Browser is part of NetBIOS, which is the protocol Windows uses for broadcasting the presence of shared resources on small networks.

I'll check that once I get back home this weekend. I don't know why it would have turned off. Everything connected just fine on the fresh install, then stopped soon after.