Networking WINXP(Home) and Imac OS10.3

[LEARNER]

Have these 2 computers connected thru a Netgear DG814 Gateway. Internet connection works for both computers. Have set Norton Firewall on each computer to allow access of the other computer and can "Ping" the IP address of each Computer and so the connection between them seems OK. But I cannot "see" either computer on the other.. I have followed the instructions in various related manuals but cannot get the computers to share files. (The workgroup name is the same)
Can anyone help me, P.L.E.A.S.E ? have been at this for hours!!!
Thanks
Eureka!
Have managed to mount the PC on the Mac and access the PC files BUT still cannot "see" the Mac on the PC. Any more ideas, please?

 

[witeshark]

I found these detailed instructions -hope they help

 

[skinned]

Maybe...well it's worth a try.

This took me a few minutes of fooling, but in that time it drove me almost crazy. Now my filesharing has been running flawlessly for over a year. Samba has done much for the mac. But your problem sounds exactly like the one-way problem I had.

If you're using Windows XP, you may need to change your local security policy in Windows. You might wish to skip the rest of this paragraph first. To do this, go to the run menu and type "secpol.msc" and find " Network Access: Sharing and security model for local accounts" - and set to it classic. This keeps windows from insisting on trying to log in as "guest" (a silly defaut, IMO). This was the last hurdle I had to clear to get mine going.

But if you want to try before changing that, from the command line (which works much better than network browsing) using this syntax exactly, but without the <>'s

net use \\<yourmac name or IP> /user:<account on your mac> <password>

or don't specify <password> and it should prompt you for one. If you never want to have to enter a password, make sure your user names and passwords are EXACTLY the same on both machines.

The command line method is is the best way to troubleshoot the problem, because you actually get error codes in the console that you can look up using helpmsg. They might point you in the right direction. Otherwise, "the command completed successfully" will show up when the connection has been made. You should then be able to type explorer \\<yourmac name or IP> to browse the files. If the net use command works, chances are the policy is your problem. If you want to map the drive in windows from here, specify the drive letter here: net use X: \\<yourmac name>. Hope this is helpful.