Cant see MacBook in Windows Network

Question

I'm trying to access my MacBook from a Windows PC over the network. The computer is connected to the router, the MacBook is connected to a WAP, which is connected to a switch, which is connected to the router.

When I click on Network on the PC, the MacBook doesn't show up. It has done previously. Sometimes the Windows computer shows in the Finder sidebar and sometimes it doesn't.

How can I make the MacBook show in Network [Places] on the Windows machine? And how do I make the Windows machine stay in the Finder sidebar?

Answer 1

Another issue is you might not be in the same workgroup. To fix this go to

System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced -> WINS:

Make sure his Windows box is set the same. What OrangeBox suggested must be done as well.

Answer 2

In my experience there is no quickfix way to get windows and mac machines to always be visible in the others networks list.

The best thing you can do is enable Samba filesharing on your mac, then when you want to connect you just type smb:\\Jonathan's MacBook Pro (minus the quotes) into the address bar in Explorer (or into the run dialogue).

To Enable SMB sharing on your Mac:

1. Go to System Preferences > Sharing > File Sharing
2. Select Options
3. Tick Share files and folders using SMB (Windows)

This has always worked for me with networking windows machines in Mac environments.