Tip on using Bonjour for windows file sharing

Jun 20, 2006, 11:59 AM

mac_tweaker
Junior Member

Join: Jun 2006
Posts: 7

Tip on using Bonjour for windows file sharing

If you turn on Windows Sharing on your Mac and then connect to your Mac from your Parallels Windows installation, then every time your Mac's IP address changes, Windows will no longer see what you are sharing and you have to reconnect by typing in the new IP address. This will happen if say, you move your laptop between work and home or home and a coffee shop, etc.

This tip lets you use your Mac's Bonjour address instead of the IP address. The Mac's Bonjour address is always the same regardless of your machine's IP address or how you are connected to the internet.

Make sure Windows Sharing is on:
* Open System Preferences and go to the Sharing preference pane.
* Make sure Windows Sharing is checked.
* Click on the Accounts... button and make sure your user name is checked.
* At the top of the Sharing pane, you'll see the "Other computers on your local subnet can access your computer at somename.local" but instead of somename, you'll see your own machine name. Remember this address or click Edit... to change it.

Install Bonjour for Windows (if you've installed this before, you can skip this step):
* Start up your Parallels windows 2000/2003/XP installation.
* Go to http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bonjour and download "Bonjour for Windows 1.03" from the bottom right of the page.
* Run the Bonjour installer.

Use your Mac's Bonjour address from Windows:
* Open a new Explorer window and type the equivalent of \\somename.local, by replacing somename.local with your machine's .local address from above.
* You should be prompted for your user name and password and after logging in you'll be able to see your Mac's home directory (as well as all of your printers)

Optional Steps:
* On you Mac, you can also download SharePoints http://www.hornware.com/sharepoints/ and share other folders besides your home folder.
* In Windows you can right click on your Mac's home directory (or any other folder shared with SharePoints) and select Map Network Drive... In the dialog that comes up, if you check "Reconnect at logon", you won't need to keep reconnecting to the shared folder.

Cheers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mac_tweaker

I can't use Shared Folders because they are case sensitive (see http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=13595), so I'm forced to use windows file sharing.

Because I switch between two separate office and home networks with different IP addresses, my windows share would break every time I switched.

Here's the solution I've found: I installed Bonjour for Windows 1.03 from this page http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bonjour/

Now I can use my mac's .local address (mymacbook.local) instead of an IP address. I can switch between networks just fine because the .local address stays the same regardless of the machine's IP address.

Hope this helps others in the same situation.

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Tip on using Bonjour for windows file sharing