Why doesn't my MacBook automatically see my PC?

This is something that has been bugging me for quite a while now.
Is there a reason my MacBook can't automatically see my PC? In order to access the file shares on my PC (running Windows 7 RC) I have to use the "Connect to Server" menu option. Connecting to the server manually works just fine, but everything I've read suggests I shouldn't have to do that; my PC should just appear in the sidebar.

I have seen many of these posts and wonder about the cause. I don't have PC on my network, so I can't troubleshoot. I can only offer my observations:
If I go to a hotel and connect to their network, I can see multiple PCs in the Shared section. They are not using the same workgroup as I, so that's not the solution. Generally, I cannot connect to them as they are password protected, but they are advertising themselves on the network. I also do not have SMB sharing turned on, so you shouldn't need it to see the PC, but that also could be the connect issue.
There is a problem with some default 'Automatic' network configurations that don't allow you to change the WINS workgroup. I have fixed that on my machine and entered my own, unique workgroup. It could just be that you need a workgroup, and if you haven't created a new network config and are still using the default Automatic, then that could be it.

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Why doesn't my MacBook Air see a connected printer on the wireless network?

For some reason my MacBook has come up with a case of the stupids. I have been able to print out to my Canon printer before, but now it doesn't see it. The printer is on our wireless network and can be seen by our iPad, and iMacs but doesn't appear on the MBAir. I have reinstalled the drivers, rebooted the system and when I go to the Preferences to look at the Printers/Scanners there is nothing there. Pressing the + button comes up with a screen with nothing in the default area. The Air is connected to the wireless network and operates fine with the internet and other operations.
What can I do to fix this?

Hello gregfrommi,
After reviewing your post, I have located an article that can help with printing in Yosemite. It contains a number of troubleshooting steps and helpful advice for the issue you are experiencing:
OS X Yosemite: Printing troubleshooting
Check the network
Open Network Diagnostics, then follow the instructions to make sure you’re connected to the network.
If you’re using a Wi-Fi network and there are multiple Wi-Fi networks available, your Mac and the printer might be on different networks. Open the Wi-Fi menu in the menu bar, then try choosing a different network.
To see if the printer you want to use is on the same network as your Mac, open Printers & Scanners preferences (choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Printers & Scanners), then click Add . If the printer doesn’t appear in the list of available printers, your Mac might be on a different network.
If you know the printer’s IP address (for example, 192.168.1.100), you can try adding it as an IP printer. For more information, see Add or remove a printer.
If your printer is connected to a Time Capsule or AirPort base station, disconnect your printer from the Time Capsule or base station, then reconnect it.
Make sure you have the latest software
Make sure you have the correct version of your printer’s software (also called its printer driver).
If you’re using a printer that another user is sharing, make sure you’re both using the same version of the printer software. To find out which version you’re using, open Printers & Scanners preferences (choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Printers & Scanners). Select the printer in Printers & Scanners preferences, click Options & Supplies, then click General. Note the driver version.
If you’re using a network printer or a printer attached to your Mac, make sure you have the latest version of the software for the printer. If you still have problems, try different printer software for your printer.
If you’re using an AirPrint-enabled printer, you can check with the manufacturer to see if there’s a firmware update for your printer model.
Replace a corrupted printer queue window
If none of the previous solutions work, the printer’s queue may be corrupted. Open Printers & Scanners preferences (choose Apple menu > System Preferences > Printer & Scanner preferences), then delete and set up your printer again.
If you still can’t print, reset the printing system.
Print documents
Reset the printing system
Add or remove a printer
Thank you for contributing to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
BobbyD

Please help!! why doesn't my macbook automatically connect to my wireless router??

it use to automatically connect. this problem started about 2 weeks ago. everytime i wake it up, it searches for a while and fails. i have to do a diagnostic everytime to make it connect. i even changed my SSID to something original because i heard it would help, but the problem still occurs

Danny ..
everytime i wake it up, it searches for a while and fails
See; Symptom: The network connection drops unexpectedly > Wi-Fi: How to troubleshoot Wi-Fi connectivity

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If you erase the MacBook Pro and made a clean install, see this document: OS X: About OS X Recovery http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
Restoring iLife applications after Internet Restore of OS X
If your computer came with OS X Lion or later and you erase your hard disk and install OS X, you can download iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand from the Mac App Store.
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There is no local data roaming or call roaming in the U.S. as a subscriber with AT&T. Wherever AT&T has coverage in the U.S. is included.
AT&T does not own all the towers in the areas where they have coverage in the U.S. AT&T calls this "off net usage"
The following was copied from AT&T's wireless service agreement.
+If your minutes of use (including unlimited services) on other carrier networks ("off-net usage") during any two consecutive months exceed your off-net usage allowance, AT&T may, at its option terminate your service, deny your continued use of other carriers' coverage or change your plan to one imposing usage charges for off-net usage. Your off-net usage allowance is equal to the lesser of 750 minutes or 40% of the Anytime Minutes included with your plan. AT&T will provide notice that it intends to take any of the above actions, and you may terminate the agreement.+

Why doesn't my macbook support ny camera Sony DSC-WX300 as it used to?

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Were you importing them into Aperture or IPHOTO - or were you using Sony Software?
I have A Kodak Easy Share - when I purchased a new mac - did not install the Kodak software - just switched to using IPHOTO to do the import.
-- Reason I stopped using the software - it was easier to export all of the photos I chose to keep out of Iphoto onto desktop for Photoshop editing and filing.

Why doesn't my MacBook finish connecting to the ISP? It is very slow to load graphics if it does connect.

Why doesn't my MacBook finish connecting to the ISP? It is very slow to load graphics if it does connect. This happens with ethernet or wifi.

Timothy ..
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If you are using Safari, empty the Safari cache then quit and relaunch Safari and try loading an image.
And make sure there's enough free space on the disk to load images.
Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon on your Desktop then click Get Info.
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Check Capacity and Available. Make sure there's at least 15% available disk space.

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Why doesn't my macbook air detect my new iphone 5S?

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The warranty entitles you to complimentary phone support for the first 90 days of ownership.
If you bought the product in the U.S. directly from Apple (not from a reseller), you have 14 days from the date of delivery in which to exchange or return it for a refund. In other countries, the return policy may be different. If you bought from a reseller, its return policy applies.

Why doesn't the Macbook Pro's battery life last?

Why doesn't the Macbook Pro's battery life last anywhere near 5 hours, as advertised? This is my second one and it lasts 2. It's false advertising, and Apple doesn't seem to making a big deal or know anything about it, which i'm sure they do. Since their general practice is to deny problems exist in all their products, i'm here to make it known that the most recent Macbook Pro has a severe battery issue and it needs to be addressed.
I'm running OS X 10.8.3, Bluetooth is off, and haven't installed any third party software.

My MacBook Pro is over a year old and still gets 2.5 to 5 hours, depending on how intensively my application activity is hitting the CPU and disk. Remember that battery life depends on usage and component loads. You could get 1 hour editing HD video since it would hit all cores and slam the disk constantly, or 8 hours in a cabin in the woods with wifi and Bluetooth turned off, only writing text files, and with the backlight turned down and no disc in the drive. You should check Activity Monitor to make sure you don't have some processes using unusually high amounts of CPU for long periods of time (like browser tabs running Flash ads in the background, chewing up CPU and battery power without even being seen).
Like mende1 says, there are not huge numbers of Mac users getting only 2 hours, or the world would have heard about it by now and MacBook sales would be down. If you are only getting 2 hours there is something going on local to your machine or usage habits.
Terry Mele wrote:
Since their general practice is to deny problems exist in all their products
That's not strictly true. Apple has often announced updates or repair/exchange programs to address various problems that had come up over time. Maybe not always, but it does happen. They also have often helped me and my friends when we brought in Macs that were out of warranty and had problems. They had no legal obligation to work on our Macs for free, but they did anyway.

Why doesn't my MacBook Pro have this MacBook feature????

I noticed that on my new black MacBook, under the System Preferences>Trackpad menu in system prefs, there is the option to "Use two fingers" on trackpad to simulate a double-click. This is brilliant from Apple, but Why doesn't my 2.0Ghz MacBook Pro have this option in the Trackpad preferences??
My MacBook was signficantly cheaper than my MacBook pro. I wonder if we can expect this feature to be active on our MacBook Pros as well as the MacBooks. Seems like a dumb thing to leave off the high end laptop...
Please Apple, Please activate the Two Button trackpad click on our macbooks via Software Update.

I'm not sure if this will make you feel better or worse, but check out my thread about the issue here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=488829&tstart=0
To sum it up: I was in the Apple store a few days ago and I played with a 15" MBP that HAD the right-click w/ 2 fingers feature, which I thought was strange since people on here said it didn't exist on the 15" ones. Apparently, the machines in the store (or at least some of them) are running a newer build of OS X, either a newer 10.4.6 than we have access to, or a pre-release developer version of 10.4.7. Regardless, it seems 10.4.7 will add this feature, as was mentioned by a developer in that thread above who has the pre-release version of it and confirmed that his 15" now has that feature.
So:
Good news - it will work eventually, when they release 10.4.7.
Bad news - you can't get it right now unless you're an ADC member.

Why doesn't my MacBook air (bought in Sweden) keyboard look like the ones in USA?

Hello!
I'm really curious about this. Why does my new MacBook Air bought 2013 in Sweden have different keyboard from the MacBook air keyboard in USA?
Shouldn't it be the same keyboard. I mean it's still apple. Please help me find out this.
The American version
and this is how my keyboard looks
Thank.
Regards
Dallia

Dallia ~ A least it doesn't look like my Mom's keyboard:

Why doesn't my macbook keyboard or mousepad work?

sometimes my keyboard and mousepad simply stop working. I used to think it was because maybe it was overheating but leaving my macbook alone by itself for a few hours with the lid closed doesn't get it to work. since it simply gets stuck there I'm forced to hold down the power button and restart it. This has been the only thing that's been allowing me to use my macbook. I have to restart it for the keyboard and mousepad to work. Unfortunately the rate at which I've had to do this has been increasing. Today I've had to restart it 4 individual times which I know is awful but I have no other option. It's over a year old so I would have to probably pay massive amounts of money to fix it but I'm really annoyed with the situation. I'm a student and I can't keep having to restart my macbook in the middle of my studies.
I don't know what's been prompting this, there's no particular trend. It just happens when I'm watching a lecture, taking a quiz, or on facebook. My macbook hates me and it does so randomly. Why is this happening and is anyone else having this problem?

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Step 1
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter "BOOT_TIME" (without the quotes) in the search box. Note the timestamps of those log messages, which refer to the times when the system was started. Now clear the search box and scroll back in the log to the last boot time after you had the problem. Select the messages logged before the boot, while the system was unresponsive or was failing to shut down. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V. Please include the BOOT_TIME message at the end of the log extract.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don’t post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
Step 2
Still in Console, look under System Diagnostic Reports for crash or panic logs, and post the entire contents of the most recent one, if any. In the interest of privacy, I suggest you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if present (it may not be.) Please don’t post any other kind of report—it will be very long and not helpful.

Why doesn't my MacBook air connect to wifi in a different country?

I've moved from France to Australia and my MacBook Air and iPod won't connect to wifi, but my iPad will.
Why is this - I've tried to change the settings but no luck.

i recently changed the carrier
Contact the carrier to make sure you imputed all their information correctly.
Read your routers user manual, call their customer support department or visit their website for further support.
Other things to try - Change your router channel. Sometimes this is all you will have to do.
Power cycling the router. Read the router's user manual or contact their tech support for instructions.
System Preferences/Internet & Network/Network
Unlock the padlock
Locations: Automatic
Highlight Airport
Click the Assist Me button
In the popup window click the Diagnostic button.
System Preferences/Network- Unlock padlock. Highlight Airport. Network Name-select your name. Click on the Advanced button. Airport/Preferred Networks-delete all that is not your network.
Place a check mark next to "Remember networks this computer has joined." Click the OK button and lock the padlock. Restart your computer.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1920 Mac OS: How to release and renew a DHCP lease
No internet connection (wireless)
Check to see if an extra entry is present in the DNS Tab for your wireless connection (System Preferences/Network/Airport/Advanced/DNS).
Delete all extra entries that you find.
Place a check mark next to "Remember networks this computer has joined."
Other resources to check into:
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Investigate your network connections
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Check the status of your network connections
How to diagnose and resolve Wi-Fi slow-downs
Pv6 troubleshooting
What Affects Wireless Internet?
Solutions for connecting to the Internet, setting up a small network, and troubleshooting

Why doesn't my MacBook automatically see my PC?

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