Airdrop inconsistencies (between older and newer MBP)

Joined
Jun 22, 2008
Messages
3,343
Reaction score
213
Points
63
Location
Forest Hills, NYC
Your Mac's Specs
15-inch Early 2008; Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo; Memory 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 10.7.5
Before I ask for help, let me just state that I've read the release notes for Airdrop, and already know that it will not work with some Mac's pre-late 2008. I bought my MBP in June, 2009, it's the 4.1 version, which I think was made in late 2008 (likely but I'm not positive). My wife's MBP was purchase almost exactly a year later than mine.

I did have to evoke some code in Terminal to even get Airdrop to show up at all, and so I'm sure this has everything to do with the issue. What is happening, is that I can see my wife's MBP, but she can not see mine from Airdrop.

I figured that I'd ask here first, before even going to "The Google", in case someone has the answer and wants to share it with us. I might not be the only person with this issue, is what I figured... That said, I'm off to the ol' G to try and figure it out.

I'll Be Bock.

Doug
 
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
6,879
Reaction score
191
Points
63
Location
Tucson, AZ
Your Mac's Specs
Way... way too many specs to list.
You did this one?


defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 1

I believe you need to do it on BOTH systems to make them visible to each other both ways. Keep in mind, this does change over all behavior of AirDrop, and it can be reversed by changing the bit to 0
 
OP
Doug b
Joined
Jun 22, 2008
Messages
3,343
Reaction score
213
Points
63
Location
Forest Hills, NYC
Your Mac's Specs
15-inch Early 2008; Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo; Memory 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 10.7.5
Yep, that's the one. Curious, how exactly will it change the overall behavior?

Doug
 
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
6,879
Reaction score
191
Points
63
Location
Tucson, AZ
Your Mac's Specs
Way... way too many specs to list.
Well, what it does is set it so that it will allow AirDrop to any connection, wifi or ethernet. So this could potentially mean you'd see more Mac's available (not necessarily a bad thing). It now also means the Mac's need to be on the same network, which I do not believe to be the case for default function (if I recall correctly, it creates an AdHoc network between the two).
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Just to add to what Mike said, I've got it running on a Mid 2011 iMac and an early 2008 MacBook. Both machines see each other OK and I've done a dozen or more file transfers without any problem.
 
OP
Doug b
Joined
Jun 22, 2008
Messages
3,343
Reaction score
213
Points
63
Location
Forest Hills, NYC
Your Mac's Specs
15-inch Early 2008; Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo; Memory 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 10.7.5
Just to add to what Mike said, I've got it running on a Mid 2011 iMac and an early 2008 MacBook. Both machines see each other OK and I've done a dozen or more file transfers without any problem.

Did you have to enable the command line hack on the 2008 MB?

Would this also mean that they will no longer create an adhoc network? And thanks, Mike.

Doug
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Did you have to enable the command line hack on the 2008 MB?

Yes, otherwise it will not work.
 
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
6,879
Reaction score
191
Points
63
Location
Tucson, AZ
Your Mac's Specs
Way... way too many specs to list.
Did you have to enable the command line hack on the 2008 MB?

Would this also mean that they will no longer create an adhoc network? And thanks, Mike.

Doug

From what I've read, yep that seems to be the case. That said, I have not yet upgraded my 08 from Snow Leopard (and have no plans to really), so I can't personally verify that. Should be easy to test though. Just remove the association with the network you're on (on both machines) and try it :)
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top