Share Mac files with Windows users

To let users connect to your Mac from a Windows computer, turn on file sharing and enable SMB sharing.

Set up file sharing on the Mac

On your Mac, choose Apple menu

> System Preferences, then click Sharing.

Select the File Sharing tickbox, then click Options.

Select “Share files and folders using SMB”.

In the Windows File Sharing list, select the tickbox next to the user account that will be used to share files with Windows users, enter the password for that user, then click OK.

Choose View > Network, select your active connection, then click Advanced.

Click the WINS tab, then enter the workgroup name used by the Windows computer.

If you don’t know the workgroup name, on the Windows computer open Control Panel > System and Security > System. (Windows computers normally use either WORKGROUP or MSHOME.)

Click OK, then click Apply.

Provide the information Windows users need

To connect to your Mac, Windows users need the network address for your Mac, and a username and password to use to log in to your Mac.

To find your Mac computer’s network address, choose Apple menu

> System Preferences, click Sharing, then select File Sharing. The address appears below the “File Sharing: On” indicator, and looks similar to this example: smb://17.212.167.33/.

Create an account on your Mac for each Windows user. To create accounts, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Users & Groups.

If you want to use an account that existed before you installed the latest version of macOS, you may need to reset the password for the account in Users & Groups preferences.

Because the passwords of user accounts used for Windows sharing may be stored in a less secure manner, turn off the account when it’s not being used. Before you turn off Windows sharing, turn off all the accounts you enabled. Otherwise, the passwords are still stored less securely.

How to wirelessly share files between a Mac and PC

If you use both a Mac and a Windows PC in your home, you might sometimes want to share files between them. Whether its photos, music, or documents, it’s actually fairly easy to set up file sharing between macOS and Windows so long as the two machines are on the same network. With just a few clicks, your Mac and PC can be talking to one another and swapping files. You don’t need any additional software, because everything is built into your Mac.

Here’s how to switch on file sharing between your Mac and PC.

How to share files between a Mac and a PC

Open System Preferences on your Mac.

Click Sharing.

Click Options…

Click Done.

Once you’ve done all this, you’ll be able to share files with your Windows PC while you’re on your shared local network. You’ll find any PCs on your network in the sidebar of any Finder window.

Questions?

If you have any questions about sharing files between Macs and PCs, lets us know in the comments.

Sharing Files Between Mac OS X and Windows

Popular belief is that Windows and Mac could not be more different and will never work well together. In a lot of ways, that’s true. There’s no native way to use most iCloud features on Windows, the filesystems often conflict in services like Dropbox due to a difference in naming—what’s hidden and what isn’t—and so on.

Despite all this, Apple still built OS X with a function that allows file sharing with Windows. It’s hidden in System Preferences, though, and most people don’t know how to use it. In this tutorial, I’ll show you the basics of sharing files with Windows using OS X’s native solution, as well as a few alternatives.

How File Sharing Works

Every computer has the ability to share files with another machine over a network, whether it’s a local area network (LAN) or wireless local area network (WLAN). The devices use the router as a connection point to transmit files to each other.

The term file sharing makes this technology sound limited—you can actually share entire folders with people on the same network as you. iTunes uses this technology to share your media library with other people on your network.

File sharing can often be a faster way to keep computers on your network updated with the latest files for a project. People usually use it with one platform or the other, not Mac-to-Windows or vice versa.

It can, however, be a better way to collaborate in the office or give files to a friend without a USB drive or any external hardware aside from a network. If you don’t have a network or the Windows machine you’re using doesn’t have Wi-Fi, you can always use a direct Ethernet cable instead.

Users and File Sharing

Before you proceed, it’s important that you know administrator accounts have access to the entire Macintosh HD.

On the Windows side, you’ll be prompted to log in to an account on the Mac for file sharing. If you use your administrator account, it will have access to everything on your computer. If you’d like to restrict the access, you can do so by adding a new user account and giving it access to those files. The Windows machine will then use its credentials and be sandboxed to those specific files and folders.

Adding a user account may be necessary if you need to keep some things private.

Another important note about administrator accounts in file sharing: they have read and write access. If you don’t want the Windows machine to have the ability to add, remove, or modify something on your Mac, ensure that you use an extra user account.

Setting Up Native File Sharing With Windows

Configuring Windows file sharing is a pretty straightforward process and only takes about five minutes. Below is a step-by-step guide to getting started.

1. Ensure you’re connected to the same network as the other computer(s).
2. Launch System Preferences, select the Sharing pane, and unlock it if need be.
3. Select File Sharing from the sidebar, but don’t check the box beside it just yet.
4. If you chose to use the user-based file sharing method, you’ll need to set which folders to share. Under the Shared Folders menu, add a folder you would like to share by clicking +, locating it in the file browser, and double-clicking it. There may be a delay when clicking + while the system loads settings. By default, your user’s Public folder will be the only thing shared. You can copy items into it to share them.
5. Click Options and check the On box beside your user in the Windows File Sharing box.
6. Check the On box beside File Sharing in the left pane to switch it on.

Accessing the Files from Windows

Once you’ve set up file sharing on the Mac, accessing it is the second part of the challenge. Once again, I’ve compiled a quick step-by-step guide to make sure you can access the files.

The whole process is pretty quick.

1. Launch Windows Explorer and click Network in the left pane. You may be asked to enable network visibility. You need to do this in order to access the files on your Mac.
2. Find the Mac. It may be named something different than it is in System Preferences. For example, my computer’s local network name is FluffyMittenBook, but it appeared as MACBOOKPRO–14D8 on the Windows machine. You’ll find the machine under the Computer section of the Explorer window.
3. Double-click the icon for the Mac. You’ll be asked for a username and password. These credentials will be the same as the ones associated with the user account from which you are sharing the files. To check the username, head to Finder and look at the name beside your home folder. Be sure to use the exact same name—it’s case-sensitive.
4. Upon successful authentication, the Windows computer will be granted access to the folders that you have shared on the network. If you logged in with an administrator account, you’ll see its public folder, home folder, and the Macintosh HD, along with any other folders you shared.
5. To test the connection with your Mac, try transferring a file from it to the desktop. If you have administrator access to the Mac in File sharing, you can also try transferring something to the Mac. These should be relatively fast, but it all depends on the speed of the router and computer WiFi cards.

OS X File Sharing Alternatives

It’s important to mention the other options available to Mac and Windows users. I’ve compiled a short list of the two best tools for the job below, along with a short description of why they’re useful. You may have your own preference, which you’re free to mention in the comments.

• Dropbox. I use this cloud-based service for everything from photo backups to large file sharing. Most people don’t know that it has local network sync as well, so you can transfer large files from one computer to another quickly if they’re near each other.
• Google Drive. This service is similar to Dropbox, but has more space for free and is powered by Google’s absurdly-vast array of servers. It has native apps available for both Mac and Windows, but unlike Dropbox it does not offer local network sync.

More Sharing

In this tutorial, I’ve described file sharing from Mac to Windows, common issues you may encounter, and some alternatives to the integrated options. For more on the topic, refer to “A Beginner’s Guide to OS X File Sharing”.

Set up Windows to share files with Mac users

To let users connect to a Windows computer from a Mac, you need to share a folder on the Windows computer.

Set up sharing on a Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10 computer

To share a folder, right-click the folder’s icon, then choose “Share with”. Choose “Specific people”, then follow the onscreen instructions.

You may need to disable the Internet Connection Firewall in the Advanced pane of the device’s properties. If you can’t disable the Internet Connection Firewall, make sure TCP port 445 is open. For more information, refer to the manual and onscreen help that came with the Windows computer.

You may need to restart the Windows computer after setting it up.

If you have never set up the Windows computer for sharing, open Network and Sharing Centre, then follow the onscreen instructions to set up a new network.

Set up sharing on a Windows XP or Windows Vista computer

To share a folder, right-click the folder’s icon, then choose Properties. Click the Share tab and follow the onscreen instructions.

You may need to disable the Internet Connection Firewall in the Advanced pane of the device’s properties. If you can’t disable the Internet Connection Firewall, make sure TCP port 445 is open. For more information, refer to the manual and onscreen help that came with the Windows computer.

You may need to restart the Windows computer after setting it up.

If you have never set up the Windows computer for sharing, open My Network Places, then follow the onscreen instructions to set up a home or small office network.

Find the information Mac users need to connect to a Windows computer

Mac users need the network address for the Windows computer, the workgroup name, and the username and password for the shared folder.

To find this information on a Windows 10 computer:

For the computer’s workgroup name and computer name, enter “view basic information” in the search field next to the Start button, then choose the Control panel result.

For the names of user accounts available on the computer, enter “view basic information” in the search field next to the Start button, choose the Control panel result, then click “Manage another account”.

For the Internet Protocol (IP) address, click the Wi-Fi icon in the system tray, click Network settings, then click Advanced options; the IP address is listed as the IPv4 address.

To find this information on a Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer:

For the computer’s workgroup name and computer name, open Control Panel > System and Security > System.

For the names of user accounts available on the computer, open Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts.

For the Internet Protocol (IP) address, open the Network and Sharing Centre, click View Network Connection, then select an active network connection. In the toolbar, click “View status of this connection” (you may need to click >> to see all the toolbar options). Click Details; the IP address is in the Value column next to “IPv4 Address”.

To find this information on a Windows XP or Windows Vista computer:

For the computer’s workgroup name and computer name, open the System control panel, then click the Computer Name tab.

For the names of user accounts available on the computer, open the User Accounts control panel.

For the Internet Protocol (IP) address, look in the Details pane of the Explorer. You may need to open the Network Connection control panel and select the connection you’re using. The information appears in the Explorer bar.

For detailed instructions on connecting to a Windows computer from a Mac, see Connect to a Windows computer from a Mac.

How to mount a Windows shared folder on your Mac

So you’ve made the switch to Mac, but kept your old PC, and now you’ve got both connected to your home router. How do you access your Windows files from OS X?

Sure you could set up an FTP or SSH server , but that’s overkill for a regular home network . Turns out that Mac OS X can connect to Windows shared folders very easily. Read on to find out how.

How to set up a home FTP server

If you’ve been following the the Lifehacker Home Server Series of articles, you know how to do…

Set up sharing on your PC. To get this going, make sure your PC is set up for file sharing . In Windows, choose the folder you want to access from your Mac, and right-click to get to its Properties dialog box. From the sharing tab, turn on sharing, and choose a name for the shared folder. (This is the name you’ll see on your Mac.)

If you try to use a name more than 12 characters long, Windows will warn you about some operating systems not being able to grok it. To be safe, stick with something less than 12. Here, I’m sharing the «My Documents» folder as «PC — My Docs.» Also, check the «Allow network users to change my files» if you want to save files to this share from your Mac.

Determine your PC’s IP address. You’ll need to give your Mac an address to look for this shared folder, so get your PC’s local IP address from the command line by running ipconfig . In my setup (shown below), that address is 192.168.1.102. Write that number down.

UPDATE: Several readers have pointed out that you can use your PC’s name versus its IP address to connect to it. Using the name is a better method than IP address because the IP can change if it’s assigned dynamically, but the name won’t unless you change it.

Connect to the server on your Mac. Now, on your Mac, from Finder’s Go menu, choose «Connect to Server.» Enter the IP address you just obtained from your PC, preceded by smb:// , as shown:

UPDATE: To use your PC’s name instead of IP address, replace the number with the name. So if your PC’s name is «MyWindowsBox», you’d use smb://mywindowsbox (not case-sensitive).

If it finds your server, you’ll get prompted to enter your network credentials — by default, your Windows username and password:

Once you’re in, you’ll get to choose which shared folder you want to mount on your Mac. In this case, we’re going to choose the «PC — My Docs» share: