Windows servers use a Microsoft-proprietary network protocol called SMB to provide file services. Mac OS X 10.1 and later can act as a SMB client. There are five items of data that are crucial in the SMB world:
server.xxyyy.company.com), an IP address, or (if you follow tip 8) a WINS name.The nine tips:
Note: these tips are written assuming a corporate intranet environment, but they'll work anywhere.)
Get Panther (Mac OS X v10.3) � earlier versions of Mac OS X have SMB functions, but Panther does it much better.
When creating your Mac OS X account, set your "Short Name" to your corporate user ID in lower case. This can save you much typing later! (You can only set your short name when you create your Mac OS X account. If you already have something else, remember this tip for next time you set up a machine.)
Use Finder's "Connect to Server" function with a "smb:" URL, rather than trying to browse to the server via the Network folder. Browsing is unwieldy and very slow in a large-scale corporate environment.
When responding to the "SMB/CIFS Filesystem Authentication" box, CAREFULLY read all the values. They all look very similar and are easily mis-read. A very common stumbling point is the domain name � in some environments it defaults to something that's close, but not quite correct.
Here's how to convert UNC names to "smb:" URLs: Add "smb:" to the front and flip all backslashes to forward slashes. Example: SERVERSHARE\Folder1\Folder2\File.dat becomes smb://SERVER/SHARE/Folder1/Folder2/File.dat
Use the smb URL scheme knowledgeably.
smb://server/sharesmb://serversmb://domain;user@server/shareThis last format is the best format to use to add a share to your favorites or make an alias.
Example: smb://DOMAIN;userid@server.xxyyy.company.com/SHARE � connect to the share (DNS name for server)
Example: smb://DOMAIN;userid@server.xxyyy.company.com � list the shares
Example: smb://DOMAIN;userid@SERVER/SHARE � connect to the share (WINS name for server)
Use server favorites and aliases to save typing. (And use the smb://domain;user@server/share URL format for your favorites and aliases.)
Set your Windows workgroup/resource domain and WINS server:
Advanced trick � use a ~/.nsmbrc file to get the Windows account domain to default correctly. Place a text file called .nsmbrc in your home folder with the following two lines. Change the "workgroup=" value to your Windows account domain.
[default]
workgroup=DOMAIN
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20040726234611279