File sharing between XP, Vista and OS X on a local network

By Craig Simms on 03 June 2008

Quick Access

You're a platform agnostic type of person. Maybe even just part of a family that swings several ways. Regardless, somehow you've ended up with a few different computers on your home network, all of them running different operating systems.

While they're on the network and can access the internet fine, getting them to share files amongst each other is more complicated than dancing the Macarena in a hurricane, and you often feel just as wounded and confused afterwards. Let's see if we can get things untangled.

For the purpose of this tutorial, we're going to assume that all your machines are already networked correctly, as that topic in itself is more vast than the scope of this article can allow. For operating system versions, we have used Windows XP Professional SP2 (using the Classic Control Panel and Start Menu), Vista Home Premium SP1 (using the Classic Control Panel) and OS X 10.5.2. Procedures may vary on other versions of the operating systems.

Please note that this tutorial considers all firewalls and VPNs are turned off — if you're running one, clearing permissions there is your responsibility. On with the show!

Topics: file sharing, local, network, osx, vista, xp, smb, how to, mac os x, os x, windows vista, windows xp

Related Articles

Comments (18)

  • norbert commented on 24/06/2009 21:51 Report abuse

    thank you, this worked. Final page about vista is what i was looking for. wth do you need to prepend the ip to the username microsoft? Unfortunaly now this user keeps using vista, that's a shame

  • Johnny commented on 23/06/2009 20:01 Report abuse

    A very nice tutorial, but i have one problem. i can't deselect 'use simple file sharing' because this option isn't there. Does anyone know how i can fix it...

  • Patski commented on 23/05/2009 09:53 Report abuse

    Thank you SO much for this excellent tutorial. Beautifully written and easy to follow. I'm running windows in virtualbox and was having real issues with slow apps using the virtualbox shared folders. You might add a bit about mapping a drive to your share - I had to do this to make the final link but that was easy after everything else. HUGE thanks!

  • iMurray commented on 12/05/2009 22:38 Report abuse

    A very helpful post... For some reason I didn't need to go into regedit to delete user from the login screen... That was a bonus. I added all my users via user management as advised. Then adjusted folder permissions accordingly. Worked well, I should have set the users to have their passwords change expire for that enhanced touch. Thanks again

  • vicky commented on 09/05/2009 23:14 Report abuse

    you can also visit this link for Vista and XP networking http://hubpages.com/_98321/hub/How-to-setup-LAN-between-XP-and-Vista-PCs

  • LlF commented on 22/04/2009 09:24 Report abuse

    this is the most complete and detailed how-to i find on the internet. iv searched a LOT, and with your how-to, iv finally got all my machines sharing like i wanted. i hope this page will not be deleted soon, ill prolly return here for future referance

  • MartyS commented on 13/04/2009 18:06 Report abuse

    chris phillips here is a comment off the subject though, you mention you use symantec . I assume you use it for your AV program . if I were you I would look into that choice, symantec is a reactive av program, in other-words in lets you infect your computer than attempts to fix the problem, why not use a program that asks you what you want to do before you infect your computer. For example you can eve use AVG for example, and its free offline an its a better program. there are there's out there so with a little research you can make your own choice. Also a little FYI I believe it was norton 2007 that had its source code stolen approx 6 months before the release so there was a vulnerability since the program was out before the release so the virus,malware an spyware people knew ways around it prior to its release. So in the 6 months left till release time they re wrote the source code , so how good of a job could they have done?

  • mikurej95 commented on 10/04/2009 10:49 Report abuse

    does anyone know how to reverse all this?? i did it and it pretty much screwed up my computer it taked FFOOOOOOOORRREEVVERRRR to get to the login screen

  • Sunshine... commented on 06/04/2009 00:46 Report abuse

    Well- I have gone through all the steps over and over. Each XP and VISTA can ping each other, and can see each other. My Vista can access my XP however my XP can not access my Vista. I get a message saying I don't have permission. The "password" has been disabled for printing and file sharing. I've even tried with the password enabled. Nothing... I can not even access the "Public" sharing file. I am on a wireless network. I know they can access each other because at one time they did until I need to reformat Vista, well then - now the networking doesn't work... Looking to contact Dell as my next step.

  • Chris Phillips commented on 31/03/2009 01:00 Report abuse

    One thing I forgot to mention - When Symantic services were still turned on, I was able to use the Symantic Network Map on my Vista machine to see that the XP was in my network.

Post your own comment

Submit

Enter your personal information to the left, or sign in with your Facebook account by clicking the button below.

Connect
Nokia E75 Email made easy. Find out why.
Your iPhone will be happier with Optus.

Must read