Hiding Shared Folders in Mac OS X 10.5

Dumb question: If I uncheck the Shared Folders option in System Preferences, will my computer even appear in Finder under Network on other peoples' Macs who are on the same network as me? Or will my computer simply show up, but those users won't be able to see any of my folders/files?
Basically, I just want to make sure my folders (and the contents therein) are kept visibly private/hidden from other users on my college's network, meaning I don't even want my folder/file names to appear. Is there a way to ensure this? I think some people are unaware that their files are accessible by random strangers, as I've noticed some confidential documents of others through my Finder and find it a little creepy.

If you uncheck it, than your computer will be visible to anyone, but they will not be able to see the files. There is no option to make your computer "invisible" to anyone on a network.
The people who see your computer in Finder will just see the Shared Folder, but they will not be able to access it.
~Christoph

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Show all shared folders on Mac?

I have a Windows PC. It has lots of shared folders. Suppose the name of the PC is "WinPC1". If I use a Windows laptop, I could easily see all shared folders by typing "\\WinPC1" in the address bar.
Now, I am using a Mac. I know I can add specific folders by adding the server as "smb://WinPC1/<individual folder name>", but it cannot map the root "smb://WinPC1". Suppose there are 100 shared folders, then I would have 100 mounted folders on Mac.
Is there any way to map the root folder, like in Windows PC? I mean I only want a mounted folder for the "smb://WinPC1", not "smb://WinPC1/docs", "smb://WinPC1/musics",... and so on.

G'day,
There are two issues here:
1) Browsing the shares available on a server (i.e. looking at the list of folders)
2) Connecting to a share (i.e. mounting the sharepoint).
I think what you are trying to do is 1).
You should be able to use Finder to browse any available server (without mounting the individual shares) by connecting on the PC name in the SHARED section of the sidebar.
Does the PC show up in the Finder sidebar? Does this help?

Problem connecting to shared folders on Mac from Windows PCs

I am having problems using windows file sharing SMB to share folders on my Mac with windows computers on the same network. I have added a folder in 'Sharing' in System Preferences, and added a user account with SMB set to 'on', but none of the windows computers in the network seem to be able to access the address that is stated.
I can access shared folders on the windows computers from my my Mac with no problems.
Can anyone offer any advice.

I got it to work. Instead of using share\username I instead used share\short name and it connected. However, it is not very obvious from the account preferences panel how to see or modify the short name. I just read that you have to right-click the account name in the account preferences panel in order to see this. I'll give it a try soon.

Enabling 'File Sharing' on my Mac allows my Macintosh HD and Boot Camp to be visible and writeable on my home network. How can I turn this off, so that only folders/files I share are visible?

So I've been trying recently to get my MacBook Pro connected to my home network. There are two other desktop computers in the household, and I'd like to be able to connect to their shared folders, as well as allow them to access shared items on my MacBook Pro. I think I've read all the documentation regarding this issue on the Apple Support site. I do have administrator privileges on my Windows 7 computer.
Issues connecting from PC to Mac
A couple of days ago, I enabled SMB File Sharing on my MacBook Pro, and in addition to the already shared Public folder, I added another that resides within Movies. Then I went to my Windows 7 PC, and under Network, my MacBook Pro appeared. I double-clicked on it (I cannot remember if I was asked to enter my Mac user credentials; I think I was), and I saw the two shared folders: Public, and the Movies folder.
However, today I went back to my Windows 7 PC, accessed my MacBook Pro, entered username and password, and in addition to the two shared folders, both my Macintosh HD and Boot Camp HD appeared as shared folders, both fully writable. However, under File Sharing on my MacBook Pro, only the two shared folders (Public and Movies) appear in the Shared Folders list.
How can I prevent my Mac from sharing my entire partitions? How can I configure it so thatonly the folders I select to share are actually broadcasted across my home network? Also, it would be ideal if I can access these shared folders from my Windows 7 PC without having to enter my Mac user credentials.
Issues connecting from Mac to PC
I have a user account on my Windows 7 PC with the same name as my Mac, but with no password. When I try to connect to my PC from my Mac, the enter credentials dialogue pops up and asks me to either log-in as a Guest, or enter my User credentials.
The Guest account is disabled on Windows 7, and I assume that's I'm not able to log in as Guest (if it is possible to connect as a Guest without having to enable the Guest account on Windows 7, please let me know). Leaving the password field blank on the enter credentials dialogue tells me that it's incorrect (even though I don't have a password on my Windows 7 account).
Is it possible to access shared files and folders on my Windows 7 PC from my Mac without having to create a password protected account? If not, is it possible to create a password for the sake of accessing shared files, while not requiring it to log in to the account? I'm sorry, I know this last bit more falls under the category of Windows Help.

Sharing files from a Mac to a PC is a different animal. I've never done it myself so you may want to repost a separate question on this topic.
From what I understand, in order to access files from a Mac on a PC, you must log in using your Mac username and password (no anonymous file sharing). Since this is not very desirable from a security standpoint, Apple recommends creating a separate user account on the Mac that is dedicated to file sharing. Give that account access only to the files/folders you want to share. You can then give that user account name and password to your Windows users.

Sharing folders for 2 users on the same mac

Hey
I have a Vista Virtual Machine (VM) created in VMware fusion and it is stored on a partition on my Bay 2 HDD in my mac pro. it all runs fine when i log in since i am the admin on the box.
I created a Standard user account for my wife. I want my wife to open up VMware Fusion and launch the Vista VM as she pleases to do her work under her account. So i went to sharing in system preferances and selected the folder that contains the VM in "Shared folders" and under "Users" i gave her account read & write permissions. When i log in as my wife and try to launch the VM it says she does not have permissions. I can browse to the folder without any issues. I get the same message if i were to double click the VM also.
I then logged in as the admin and gave her account admin privileges to see if that will fix the issue. when i log in under her account i still get don't have permissions. If she has admin privileges should't she able to have access to any folder on my mac?
The goal is to leave my VM on my Bay2 HDD and have both of us launch Vista VM using VMware fusion successfully from this location under both our accounts
What am i doing wrong here?
Thanks
Rpk

Admin permissions does not give you blanket rights to any file. It only gives you the ability to give yourself permission to access a file.
doogald is correct to observe that you have to give your wife permission to read and write to the files inside the folder, and not just read and write permissions on the folder itself. In addition, if your wife doesn't have at least read permission on the folders in which the VM folder is contained, all the way up to the root folder, then she may continue to have problems.
If VM Fusion will allow this, it might be best to move the folder which contains the VM to /Users/Shared. You will still need to ensure that your wife has read and write permission for the folder +and its contents+ but the purpose of /Users/Shared is to share files and folders. This way you won't need to manipulate your permissions beyond making sure the shared folders and files themselves are read-writable by you and your wife.

Upgraded 2 macs to Mavericks, can no longer access shared folders/files.

So I upgraded my Macbook Pro, and Mac Mini to Mavericks today, and previously when they were both on mountain lion I could access the shared folders/files and screen share with absolutely no issue whatsoever.
But upon updating to Mavericks today it all broke.
Both computers were running the OS X Server software on Mountain Lion, and I went ahead and purchased/installed the new edition of server that came out today.
I can see the other mac under the "Shared" option in Finder's sidebar, but when I try to open the other mac it says connection failed and offers to "connect as"
As I usually do, I connect as and it asks for the login credentials. I put in the same credentials as before, 150% sure they're right, in the text boxes that I used before, but it won't allow me to connect to the mac.
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they're the right credentials.
I thought it may have been just a wonky permissions error so I unshared the folders and reshared using the same permissions that had worked before.
I've been working on it for about 3 hours now so any help would be appreciated.

I upgraded my two machines - now when I access files on the "shared" storage array (a thunderbolt, pegasus array) across the network (ethernet) if I modify the file (for instance, a jpg) and then go to save I get a "you don't have permissions to etc...." and then when I just close the file without saving - it disappears from my file server permanently! even if I go to the machine hooked up to the array the file is "gone" - unbelievable. I have updated permissions where I can, deleted and added the sharing for users, tried SMB and AFP, and even downgraded the "sharing" machine back to OSX 10.8 where it was working fine but the client machine still is doing this where it can connect, see all the files, but as soon as I modify a file I get the warning and bam, it's gone forever....
Wow - this is a doozy. I don't have a fix but WARNING - watch out as you are working on this problem that your files are being vanished permanently.

Sharing folders in 10.8.3 to windows and macs PROBLEMS

I'm tryng to share folders from an 10.8.3 imac to users in my LAN (using bot mac and windows) I'm having this problem:
1) Mac users can access the share using afp:// but
when they create new folders the permission are: drwxr-xr-x so no other can write those folders
2) PC users can access the share using smb:// but
when they create new folders the permission are: drwx------ so no other can read/write/execute
all user belong to the same group and the shared folders are owned by that group
I have create a file /etc/launchd.conf with umask 002 reboot but nothing has changed
I THOUGHT THAT MAKING SHARES IN MAC SHOULD BE EASY BUT IT SEEMS SOO HARD :-)

I'm tryng to share folders from an 10.8.3 imac to users in my LAN (using bot mac and windows) I'm having this problem:
1) Mac users can access the share using afp:// but
when they create new folders the permission are: drwxr-xr-x so no other can write those folders
2) PC users can access the share using smb:// but
when they create new folders the permission are: drwx------ so no other can read/write/execute
all user belong to the same group and the shared folders are owned by that group
I have create a file /etc/launchd.conf with umask 002 reboot but nothing has changed
I THOUGHT THAT MAKING SHARES IN MAC SHOULD BE EASY BUT IT SEEMS SOO HARD :-)

Cannot access my mac shared folders

I know they switched to SMB2 file sharing, but now I cant access the "shared" folders on my mac from any other device. I dont have any other macs in the house. Everything else is Windows or Linux. Before the update to Mavericks I did not have any problem accessing files, but now it simply will not work. Has anyone found a fix to this? Is there a way to switch back to sharing with SMB1?

have you tried menu go/connect to server and then write smb://nome or IP of you computer ?
In application/utilities there is the network utility you can use it to ping the computer you want to access. does it work?
Best Regards.
Edilson

I have 2 Macs, connected to the same Wifi network. But sometimes, the shared computers does not appear on the left hand menu of the toolbar for me to access shared folders between the computers. Am I doing something wrong?

I recently bought a MacBook Air for work. Whilst at home, both my Macbooks are connected to the same Wifi network. Sometimes, the 2 Macbooks are connected and I can access the shared folders, which is great. However, every now and again, the connection seems to be lost. Is there something I need to set up so that every time both Macbooks are switched on and connected to my Wifi, it will automatically be linked?
Any help is much appreciated!

I have found with AppleTV that it is the IPV6 on the computer you want to access is the problem. The issue is that Homegroup on Win 7 or Win 8 requires IPV6 to work, but AppleTV won't work with IPV6. (So maybe double check you have IPV6 turned off)
So you have to make a choice - Homegroup or AppleTV.... but you can't have both, until Apple brings ATV up to date. (crazy that it does not recognise IPV6 - c'mon Apple!)
You can set up sharing individually in Win 7 or 8 and have the ATV access files that way.
Having said that, there is always the exception.. I have an old HP home server running Win8 and it services ATV - but is part of the Homegroup... have no idea why it works on both, but no other machine on the home network will talk to both ATV and Homegroup at the same time!

Sharing folders with 2 macs

I have an imac and a MBP connected on a wireless network. I want to see the full contents of the files(docs, photos, etc) on each machine from the other one and vise versa?. How do I do this?

See the following:
Mac OS X- About File Sharing
Mac OS X 10.5 Help- Sharing your computer with others on your network
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger - Networks & Sharing
Also, select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "sharing."

Other Macs Can't Connect To My Shared Folders...

I have 3 macbook pros in my house, all running 10.5.4 Leopard, and only one has this problem and I don't know why:
The other 2 computers can see my computer under "Shared" in the Finder, and clicking on it connects the computers successfully as "guests", but they can't see any of my shared folders. It is just empty. I am sharing my Public folder, and I have tried sharing other folders as well, but nothing will show up no matter what I try.
I can see the shared files on other computers fine, but no one can see my computers shared folders even though they can connect to my computer.
Thanks for any help...

Yes... I should add I have file sharing turned on with both AFP and SMB enabled. I also have the Firewall set to allow all incoming connections.
When the other computer connects to mine, in sharing settings, it shows one connected user connected, but that user can't see any folders on the computer no matter what I share.

Network shared folders appear as 'sharepoint'

Hello
I have 1 iMac and 2 windows 7 computers on my local small office network.
From the Mac I can see and access all shares on one PC, on the other, when I access via finder, the shared folders appear as 'sharepoint' and I cannot see any sub folders. I have checked settings on both PCs in the network centre and they seem identical.
Thanks if you can help. Regards

Hi, just an update...some of the problem is related to extensions. Some files have explicit extensions and others not. When I change the file extensions to an explicit extension (eg .pdf) then the file is fine.
However, there are no extensions on folders or folder aliases.
I've tried using chmod -x + file location/file name but that makes no difference to the alias, meaning that the Snow Leopard does not recognize the item as a short cut to another folder. Snow Leopard will only recognize the item as an alias if it's been created on a workstation running Snow Leopard OS. Very odd.
Phil

Shared folders slow to load in Finder

Been having this issue on multiple Macs in our office here. Many of us share folders on our machines for others to access on our network regularly. When the local user tries to open one of these shared folders, it will take considerably longer than others to load and show files. Example: Opening a non-shared folder will load and display nearly instantaneously. A shared folder will cause Finder to hang for 15-30 seconds before showing the contents. Once open, it will respond normally, but entering any subfolders will cause the same slow down.
We've tried repairing permissions multiple times with no improvements. The only solution seems to be to turn off sharing for these folders, which is not ideal. Any ideas?

I'm having similar issues, but with almost all previews. It's made using the finder almost impossible lately. It seems to work just snappy if I change the view to icon or list before I click on an files, but I really got used to working in the column view. I'm searching the forums now for more info.

Windows XP PC can't see shared files on Mac

Our Mac Pro running OS X 10.5.8 can access all the shared folders on our Windows XP PC. In addition, all our other Macs can access the shared folders on our Mac Pro.
However - the XP PC cannot access any shared folders on the Mac Pro!
Any ideas how to fix this situation, and allow the XP PC to access our Mac Pro's shared folders?

If your Mac Pro has FileVault on, your Windows XP machine will not be able to access the files, as FileVault disables SMB and printer sharing for Windows XP clients.
In case FileVault is not on, you could try temporarily disabling the Windows firewall and the anivirus and/or internet security suite on the WinPC, and see whether it can access the files on your Mac Pro.
Good Luck.

Sharing folders with Samba in Mavericks

Hi,
I've spent the whole afternoon trying to access some shared folders of my MacBook Pro from a machine running Ubuntu 12.04 using samba. is it possible? I read AFP is deprecated and SMB2 is going to be the standard protocol. I also read SMB2 is getting some compatiblities problems because it is unstable so far, and that a possible workaround is to force smbd to use the old SMB1. I have been succeed connecting from a Windows PC to the MacBook Pro using both protocols: SMB and AFP, but with a Ubuntu PC only with the second option. Again, is it possible to access my shared mac's resource using SMB? if AFP is pretended to disappear, how I will access my folders from a linux PC?
Thanks

Yes - the ability to share folders will be coming in a future release. Stay tuned!
thanks,
Todd

Hiding Shared Folders in Mac OS X 10.5

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