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A collection of tips on accessing Windows file servers
Authored by: J^T on Jul 29, '04 03:32:09PM

The original article had its dashes and backslashes mangled during the editing process. Until robg gets a chance to fix the original post, here is the fixed version:

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:
  • The server address -- either a DNS name (server.xxyyy.company.com), an IP address, or (if you follow tip 8) a WINS name.
  • The share name -- the name of the "share point" the the server is serving the files under.
  • Your user ID -- your corporate Windows login ID.
  • Your Windows account domain -- where your user ID "lives" in the Windows world.
  • (For tip 8) The Windows resource domain for workstations in your region -- a grouping of Windows machine names. In small-scale environments, the Windows account domain and resource domain might be the same.
Read the rest of the hint for the tips...

The nine tips:
Note: these tips are written assuming a corporate intranet environment, but they'll work anywhere.)
  1. Get Panther (Mac OS X v10.3) -- earlier versions of Mac OS X have SMB functions, but Panther does it much better.

  2. 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.)

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. Here's how to convert UNC names to "smb:" URLs: Add "smb:" to the front and flip all backslashes to forward slashes. Example: \SERVER\SHARE\Folder1\Folder2\File.dat becomes smb://SERVER/SHARE/Folder1/Folder2/File.dat

  6. Use the smb URL scheme knowledgeably.

    • Basic format: smb://server/share
    • List all shares on a server: smb://server
    • Specify an Windows domain and user ID: smb://domain;user@server/share

    This 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)

  7. Use server favorites and aliases to save typing. (And use the smb://domain;user@server/share URL format for your favorites and aliases.)

  8. Set your Windows workgroup/resource domain and WINS server:

    1. Find out your Windows resource domain for workstations in your office and local WINS server address. (Ask your desktop computer support people.)
    2. Launch the "Directory Access" utility (in the /Applications/Utilities folder).
    3. Click the padlock icon in the lower left of the window and authenticate as an admin user.
    4. Select SMB, and press Configure.
    5. Set Workgroup to your Windows resource domain, and WINS server to your WINS server IP address, and press OK.
    6. Press Apply and wait for a few seconds.
    7. Restart your Mac.
  9. 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
    

Enjoy!
--J^T



[ Reply to This | # ]
A collection of tips on accessing Windows file servers
Authored by: osxfan57 on Oct 15, '04 11:01:53AM

I have no problem accessing Windows XP file servers. What I do have a problem with is browsing them in the Network sidebar in Finder (using 10.3.5) The only way I can connect to a shared Windows folder is command-K, which always works. The Network sidebar, however, only shows my own local server and ignores the Windows shared folders. Is there some other fix that will enable me to browse Windows folders from my Mac?

---
iMac 17, OS 10.3



[ Reply to This | # ]
A collection of tips on accessing Windows file servers
Authored by: drtofu on Apr 11, '06 09:42:05AM

Another tip is that if your windows user name has a space in it (like mine does), you can use the %20 encoding in the SMB url:

smb://user%20name:password@servername

I haven't gotten keychain to work with user%20name, however, so the password is plain to see in the SMB URL.



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