Be Excellent To Each Other

Goddamn it! I've spent more hours than is healthy trying to get my Mac and laptop to do something that should be very simple by now, which is file share over an ad hoc wireless connection. I've lost track of the number of websites offering useless advice (to the extent of suggesting one clicks buttons that simply do not exist!), I knew -- knew! -- I should've come here first, although not having networks to fail to set up you were probably all sensibly tucked up in bed (not together, mind, because you wouldn't without telling me... would you?)

So, techno-peeps, I could do with some advice or at least pointing in the direction of a guide that refers to this universe rather than parallel one. Is this Mac<->PC thang actually possible or am I stuck transferring files physically via USB key? We're talking OSX 10.5 to WinXP here.

For the record I have:
-Set up an ad hoc network on the Mac, joined by the PC
-Set up a workgroup on the PC
-Switched on Windows sharing on the Mac for my public folder
-Tapped my PC workgroup name into the WINS field in Mac networking prefs
-Excepted file sharing from the firewalls of both computers
-Split the side of my head open. No really.

So far, no network drive in the Finder and, on the PC side, only an access error when double-clicking the workgroup icon in My Network Places. Most perturbing.

EDIT: Oh it turns out they can communicate via the router, which would normally be preferable but as Sky's wireless routers putter out such a widdly weak signal it would mean working across two rooms (the Mac's connection is wired y'see). I need ad hoc working so they can sit next to each other.

I'd like to know this too. Sometimes when I try to connect to one Mac from another it gives me a shared drive like it should, other times it throws up an entirely different screen, asks for workgroup nonsense and doesn't work.

I know nothing about macs, but the one thing that leaps out is that I can't think why you would want to configure a WINS, and don't see that using the workgroup name would be of any help.

File sharing aside, can you ping one from the other?

When I did it I used Samba for the share. And that was at the MAC end. It ended up as a drive viewable on the PC.

Heh, I've left them sharing via the router for now and the Mac still can't ping the PC despite merrily swapping files around.


I just did a search for samba share (not connecting the dots and wondering if it was an application!) and turned up a page that looks potentially useful -- it explains how to connect to a server, which might've been the missing piece of the puzzle only I was using SMB for ad hoc also and my PC never appeared as a network drive (hence it probably won't appear on the browse list for server connections). Maddening that it works fine via the router but not peer to peer (which you'd think might be simpler).