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Get Leopard and Windows to work together

One of the major selling points for Macs and Mac OS X Leopard these days is their ability to work well in a largely Windows world. Apple Inc. offers two ways to accomplish this task: Leopard’s ability to share files and printers with Windows machines, and the ability of Intel-based Macs to run Windows using either Boot Camp (which is included free as part of Leopard) or third-party virtualization tools.

Although Leopard and Windows typically play well together, understanding some of the nuances for getting a new Mac to talk with your existing PCs — or getting the best experience running Windows on that new Mac — can sometimes be a little challenging. In this article, we’ll look at some of the details you should understand to get the best of both worlds.

When Leopard and Windows need to talk on a network

Our first set of tips relates to those situations where you have one or more Macs running Leopard that need to share files or other resources with Windows machines over a network connection. For the most part, these tips apply to home or small office environments.

Configuring network settings

On a Windows network, NetBIOS names, workgroups and Windows Internet Name Service(WINS) settings play a key role in communication among computers. As advanced Windows users know, the NetBIOS name for a computer establishes its identity on a network.

A workgroup identifies a group of computers that can communicate using SMB (short for Server Message Block), the native file and printer sharing protocol for Windows. In the My Network Places window, individual computers are displayed within the context of their workgroups.

This is possible because SMB supports the discovery of devices on a local network using broadcasts to determine which devices are available. Normally, one PC in a workgroup, typically the first one powered on, assumes the role of the master browser on a local network and maintains a list of available devices.

Workgroups are commonly used in home and small business environments, since they provide some organizational capabilities but don’t require a centralized server to manage them. A related feature in some larger environments is WINS, which provides a mechanism for enabling device self-discovery in environments where there are large numbers of PCs and other SMB devices, or where there are multiple network segments connected via a router.

For a Mac to participate in a Windows network, it must also have a unique NetBIOS name and be assigned to the same workgroup as the PCs with which it will interact. If a WINS server is used on a network, a Mac (like a PC) will need to know the address of that server.

In Windows, most of this information can be adjusted by choosing Control Panel –> System (or by right-clicking on My Computer in Windows XP or Computer in Vista and selecting Properties) to display the System Properties.

The Computer Name tab (or section in Vista) allows you to view a PC’s current NetBIOS name and workgroup. You can change the name and workgroup using the Change button (or the Change Settings link in Vista).

If a WINS server is used in a larger environment, the settings are generally configured by a network administrator and automatically provided to PCs or else manually designated in the Properties dialog on individual PCs by the IT staff.

In Leopard, all these options are located together and can be accessed via the Network pane in System Preferences. You set these options by selecting an active network interface (such as Ethernet or AirPort) in the list of available interfaces and clicking the Advanced button.

In the Advanced Network Options dialog, select the WINS tab and enter the appropriate information. You should observe the same naming conventions used by Windows PCs. As with many versions of Windows, Leopard will default to the name Workgroup for its workgroup if no other name has been specified.

Configuring these options appropriately on all your connected machines should help ensure that your Mac(s) and Windows PC(s) can communicate properly over the network.

Sharing files Mac OS X Leopard supports a number of different protocols for accessing shared files. The primary or native protocol for Mac file sharing is Apple Filing Protocol (AFP). This protocol has been developed and refined by Apple over many years.

Like SMB, HTTP and other common protocols, it is built on the same TCP/IP protocol suite that powers the Internet. Although some third-party software allows Windows computers to communicate using AFP, it is generally considered a Mac-specific protocol.

In addition to AFP, Macs come with the ability to access shared files on Windows PCs and servers using SMB (as described above), thanks to Apple’s implementation of Samba, an open-source version of SMB for Unix and Linux operating systems.

With the exceptions noted above in terms of specifying a NetBIOS name and workgroup, there is nothing special that needs to be done to enable Macs to access files and folders being shared by Windows. In fact, Macs will typically be able to see Windows PCs and servers out of the box.

If you want to share files on your Mac with Windows computers via SMB, however, there are a few extra steps to take. First, you will need to enable file sharing using the Sharing pane in System Preferences (as simple as checking the File Sharing checkbox in the list of sharing options).

Then you will need to explicitly choose to share those files using SMB by clicking the Options button. You can choose to share files using AFP, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and SMB.

If you choose SMB, you must also specify which users will be allowed to connect to the Mac remotely. This is because AFP and SMB differ in the encryption technologies used to store and transmit user password information over a network.

SMB supports a range of encryption mechanisms, some of which are specific to earlier versions of Windows and are less secure than the mechanisms used with AFP or with Windows XP and Vista. Thus, you must choose to allow each user’s password to be stored in the appropriate formats when you enable SMB support.

Sharing printers

In addition to sharing folders and files with Windows computers, Leopard can provide shared access to printers. The process of enabling printer sharing for Mac users is fairly simple.

Enable printer sharing as a whole by selecting the Printer Sharing checkbox in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. Then open the Print & Fax pane in System Preferences, select the printer that you want to share in the Printers list and select the “Share this printer” checkbox.

The only other thing you need to do to share a printer with Windows computers is to be sure that SMB file sharing is enabled (as outlined above), and the printer will be shared using SMB.