Networking Windows to Mac OS X 10.4.5

Question

I am really sorry to ask a question that I bet has been asked 100's of times here.
I'm failing completely in getting my Windows XP machine to talk to my Mac OS X machine.
Believe me I've surfed and surfed, read docs that I could find, looked at help extensively, changed settings, rebooted ad nauseum. And I am sophisticated technically.
I am glad to describe the scenario in gory detail but before I do that I thought I'd ask for the best online references, troubleshooting guide, etc to get Windows and OS X to work together. Not the basics but the subtleties and tricks.
Any references? Thanks!
Pito
Briefly: I have an XP Laptop and a G5 OS X 10.4.5
I've used 'Directory Access' to enable windows sharing.
I ensured that the two machines have the same 'workgroup'
I've even created a brand new workgroup in case there was some corruption
I see the workgroup in the network browser on Windows, but no machines appear in it. Same thing on the Mac. So they are talking enough to know the name of the workgroup
I've ensured that there are matching account names and passwords on the two machines, and even created a new account on each to make double sure.
I rebooted often between these operations
I can ping between the two computers
I cannot connect in either direction, even if I use the //ip address/folder syntax
I've spent at least 4 hours on this
HEEEEEEELP! ? Anyone have any pointers? Thanks!

Answer 1

After weeks of research I finally got this up and running in 10.4.5. Yes as uncomplicated as Apple professes this is, it’s not. I could login from any remote machine, LAN or WAN, and get in via Anon FTP, FTP, AFS, and SMB. But then .5 started failing badly and it all went away and in that I have gone back to 10.4.4 and have to set it all up again. Of which I have, from what I can tell/remember, it’s all done, but . . . . . no complete joy, not yet.
Also in 10.4.5 I had Alias’ of remote Windows machines in my dock that in 10.4.4 all I had to do was click and the volume would open if I had saved the password. In .5, I would get a login window, input the info, click connect, and get nothing. No error, no window, nothing. Once back in .4, one click and connected. Using the Network icon in a window, I have found that if you change the Workgroup to the specific workgroup name in Directory Access – SMB/CIFS, all it did was to take away gateways that often led to nowhere and leave me with only that which was actually there. Such as me and the other visible machines. In .4 I would click on the connect button under the globe in the box and get the authentication message and since I have the password stored, the volume mounts. In .5, authentication window makes my put in a password and upon connect I get an error saying that the alias is damaged asking if I wanted to fix or delete it, which you can’t do.
Also .5 had access problems with the Public Folder. People could not take from it nor leave in the Drop Box, even though these functions are supposedly default.
I have done the preliminary setup, as stated in this post, but things aren't working as they did. I have all the proper settings in the appropriate places, have made SharePoints using “SharePoints”, enabled FTP in the NetInfo Manager – which is not there by default, I have all the necessary ports properly forwarded (this is in the router so no changes here), as I said this worked before, although it was intermittently, and now things are not responding as they should or did for the brief while in .5.
I can get in from my LAN machines no problem. I even get a login when I should for every attempt. Whereas, in .5 you would only get a login once for every time the remote machine was restarted. Somewhere your password would be retained, thus negating a login. But I can only get in via WAN using: \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.
No access now through:
SMB://IP (this has never worked and I think it's actually just \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, which has worked)
FTP://name@IP (Home Directory Access)
FTP://IP (Public Folder)
I read somewhere that Apple cripples or is making it harder to do this for security reasons. I think it's a bunch of bunk. They advertise “seamless” connectivity. Well where is it? I have headed to the Apple Store several times to test remote Apple connectivity and to talk to a Genius, but have a strange feeling that this will not be fruitful.
Something is very strange here and by all of what Apple says should be a breeze to setup and have work. No breezes here.
So to sum it up . . . in .4 LAN connectivity works for all machines. WAN, I haven't fully tested from a remote location. In .5 it all worked for a brief moment then stopped. I would venture to guess that your problem is OS 10.4.5. I have volumes of notes on the failings of .5. I'm waiting to verify them in .4 before I post them all. By then hopefully, .6 will be out and all will be well. I hope.
I hope that my ramblings might shed some light on your efforts.