How to set up network file sharing on macos without sharing your username and password

Justin Pot has been writing about technology for over a decade, with work appearing in Digital Trends, The Next Web, Lifehacker, MakeUseOf, and the Zapier Blog. He also runs the Hillsboro Signal, a volunteer-driven local news outlet he founded. Read more.

Sharing files over the network is convenient, but not without risks. If you leave permissions open, anyone on the network can see all of your files, which isn’t ideal on large networks. But if you lock things down you’ll have to share your Mac’s user account with anyone who needs access to the files. That’s not ideal for all sorts of reasons.

This is why you should set up a Sharing Only user account in macOS. This is an account that exists entirely for accessing files on your Mac over the network. You cannot use this account to log into the Mac locally and run software, but you can use it to browse and grab shared folders. It’s the perfect way to share files securely over at network, without sharing your primary username and password.

Step One: Create a Sharing Only User Account

To get started, we’re going to create a Sharing Only user account. We’ve shown you how to set up multiple user accounts, and that’s basically what we’re doing here. Keep in mind that only Administrator accounts can create new user accounts: if you’re not an administrator, you’ll need to get on an account that is.

First, open System Preferences, then head to “Users.”

Click the lock at bottom-left to unlock the seeings.

You’ll be asked for your password, or fingerprints if you have Touch ID. After that the “+” and “-” buttons above the lock will stop being greyed out; click “+” to create a new account.

The top field is the most important one for our purposes: you need to create a “Sharing Only” account, so click that drop-down menu and click “Sharing Only.”

Once you do that, pick a username and password, then click “Create User.”

Unlike other accounts, Sharing Only accounts don’t really have any settings in the Users & Groups panel.

So long as it says “Sharing Only,” you’ve properly set up an account.

Step Two: Enable File Sharing

Next we’re going to enable file sharing over the network. Head back to the main page of System Preferences, then click “Sharing.”

In the left panel, ensure that “File Sharing” is enabled by checking it.

File sharing is now enabled! If you plan on sharing files with Windows computers, make sure you also click “Options” to bring up a few advanced settings.

Recent versions of macOS default to SMB, which is the file sharing format used by Windows. In order to log in from Windows machines, however, you need to enable Windows Files Sharing for the sharing only account you made in step one. Click the checkbox beside its name and you’ll be asked for your password.

Not that this is not asking for your administrator password; instead, type the password you gave your sharing only account.

Step Three: Set Up Specific Folders For Sharing

File sharing is turned on, now it’s time to share some files. Click the “+” button below the list of shared folders.

You will be asked which folder you want to share. Browse to your chosen directory, then click “Add”

Your folder will now be in the “Shared Folders” panel.

Click it, then click the “+” button below the “Users” panel.

Choose your sharing only account from the list, then click “Select.”

By default the account can read, by not modify, files. It’s probably best to leave it this way if you’re just sharing files, though you do have the option to change things up.

Congratulations: you’ve now set up a sharing account, and shared a folder with it! Repeat Step Three for any other folders you’d like to share.

Access Your Shared Folder From Another Mac

Accessing your shared folder from another Mac isn’t hard. Open the Finder, then head to “Network.” You should see your computer listed.

Click it, then log in with the Sharing Only account you made earlier.

If everything worked, you should see your shared folders.

You can now grab files from this Mac.

Access Your Shared Folder From Windows

We’ve shown you how to share files from macOS to Windows, and the steps above should basically work. On a Windows computer, open Windows Explorer, then head to the Network section. You should see your Mac listed.

Double-click your Mac, then enter the Sharing Only password you created.

You should then see your shared folders listed.

Here we can see, “How to Set Up Network File Sharing on macOS, Without Sharing Your Username and Password”

Sharing files over a network is convenient, but it comes with its own set of dangers. Anyone on the network can see all of your files if permissions are left open, which isn’t ideal on large networks. You’ll have to share your Mac’s user account with anyone who needs access to the files if you lock things down. For a variety of reasons, this isn’t ideal.

This is why, in macOS, you should create a Sharing Only user account. This is a network-only account that exists solely for accessing files on your Mac. This account cannot be used to log into the Mac and run the software locally, but it can browse and grab shared folders. It’s the ideal way to share files over a network securely.

Table of Contents

Step 1: Create a Sharing Only User Account

To get started, we’ll make a user account that’s only for sharing. We’ve already shown you how to create multiple user accounts, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do now. Keep in mind that only Administrator accounts can create new user accounts, so if you’re not one, you’ll need to log into one.

1. To begin, go to System Preferences and then to “Users.”
2. To unlock the seeings, click the lock in the bottom-left corner.
3. You’ll be asked for your password or, if you have Touch ID, your fingerprints. The “+” and “-” buttons above the lock will no longer be greyed out after that; click “+” to create a new account.
4. The top field is the most important for our purposes: you must create a “Sharing Only” account, so select “Sharing Only” from the drop-down menu.
5. After that, select a username and password before clicking “Create User.”
6. Sharing Only accounts, unlike other accounts, have no settings in the Users & Groups panel.
7. You’ve properly set up an account if it says “Sharing Only.”

Step 2: Enable File Sharing

1. Following that, we’ll enable file sharing over the network. Return to the System Preferences main page and select “Sharing.”
2. Check “File Sharing” in the left panel to see if it is enabled.
3. The ability to share files has been enabled! If you want to share files with Windows computers, make sure to click “Options” to access some advanced options.
4. SMB, the file-sharing format used by Windows, is the default in recent versions of macOS. However, you must enable Windows Files Sharing for the sharing only account you created in step one to log in from a Windows machine. When you check the box next to its name, you’ll be prompted for your password.

This isn’t asking for your administrator password; instead, enter the password you used for your sharing only account.

Step 3: Set Up Specific Folders For Sharing

1. Now that file sharing is enabled, it’s time to share some files. Below the list of shared folders, click the “+” button.
2. You’ll be asked to choose which folder you’d like to share. Navigate to the directory you want to add, then click “Add.”
3. The “Shared Folders” panel will now show your folder.
4. Then, below the “Users” panel, click the “+” button.
5. Select your only-sharing account from the drop-down menu, then click “Select.”

The account can read but not modify files by default. So if you’re sharing files, it’s probably best to leave it this way, though you do have the option to change it.

You’ve successfully created a sharing account and shared a folder with it! Step three should be repeated for any other folders you want to share.

Access Your Shared Folder From Another Mac

1. It’s simple to access your shared folder from another Mac. Go to “Network” in the Finder after opening it. Your computer should appear on the list.
2. After clicking it, sign in using the Sharing Only account you created earlier.
3. You should be able to see your shared folders if everything goes well.
4. You can now access the files on this Mac.

Access Your Shared Folder From Windows

We’ve already shown you how to share files from Mac to Windows, and the steps outlined above should work in most cases. First, open Windows Explorer on a Windows computer then navigates to the Network section. Your Mac should appear on the list.

1. Double-click your Mac, then type the password you created for Sharing Only.
2. You should now see a list of your shared folders.

You’ve been accepted! Take whatever files you require.

Conclusion

I hope you found this information helpful. Please fill out the form below if you have any questions or comments.

User Questions:

1. How can I share files without credentials?

Change advanced sharing settings > Enable Turn Off password protect sharing option in Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center. We can access the shared folder without a username or password by using the above settings.

1. Why won’t My Mac Let me zoom in screen?

To share your screen on macOS 10.15 Catalina, you must grant Zoom access to screen recording. This can be done in System Preferences. First, select Security & Privacy from the drop-down menu, then click the Privacy tab, scroll down to Screen Recording, and finally check the box for zoom.us.

1. How do I log into a shared folder?

On the desktop, right-click the Computer icon. Select Map Network Drive from the drop-down menu. Choose a drive letter for accessing the shared folder, and then type in the UNC path to the folder. A UNC path is simply a special format for referencing a folder on another computer.

1. Can’t access my Mac from Windows 10

1. How to make file sharing only accessible to Administrators?

On your Mac, use Users & Groups System Preferences to create “sharing-only” users to share files and folders with others on your network. You can limit access to your shared information and computer. Sharing-only users can access shared files remotely, but can’t log in or change settings on the computer.

If you’re an administrator, you can reset the password and change the picture of a sharing-only user. Learn how to set up a sharing-only user.

To change these preferences, choose Apple menu

> System Preferences, click Users & Groups , then select a sharing-only user in the list on the left.

Note: If the lock at the bottom left of the pane is locked , click it to unlock the preference pane.

Sharing-only user picture

Choose a user picture that represents the user. You can change the picture that appears next to your user name or another user’s name in the login window on your Mac. You can choose a photo from your photo library, take a new photo using the camera on your Mac, choose a Memoji or emoji, use initials in a monogram, and more. When you choose a picture or other image for your user login picture, the selected image is also displayed for your Apple ID picture and for your My Card in Contacts. See Change a user’s login picture.

Change the sharing-only user’s password and password hint. To use the Password Assistant, click the key next to the New Password field. See Tips for creating secure passwords.

To give a user permission to access your shared files or screen, you may need to change settings in the File Sharing, Screen Sharing, or Remote Management pane of Sharing preferences. See Set up file sharing and Share the screen of another Mac.

It’s easy to share files across a local network with macOS, including making a Time Machine volume available to other users. However, you don’t have to let everyone have full access to your Mac or completely lock them out. The Mac allows for sharing-only users that let you shape what they can see and do separately from your main account and other accounts on a Mac, as well as what guest connections may access.

In macOS there are three kinds of accounts via the Users & Groups preference pane:

• Standard, for users who don’t need higher-level permission on the Mac, like installing an update to macOS or installing apps for all users
• Administrator, who have all necessary permissions across the system for all tasks
• Sharing Only, who can only access a Mac via file sharing across a network

To make a Sharing Only user:

1. Open the Users & Groups preference pane.
2. Click the lock icon in the lower-left corner and authenticate yourself with Touch ID on equipped Macs or by entering an administrator password.
3. Click the plus (+) sign at the bottom of the user list.
4. From the New Account list, select Sharing Only.
5. Create a name by which the user will be displayed, an account name, password and hint.
6. Click Create User.

Now you can put this account to use in the Sharing preference pane:

1. Open the Sharing preference pane.
2. Select File Sharing in the Service list.
3. Select an existing shared item, like a folder or a volume, in the Shared Folders list. You can also drag an item in from the Finder or click the plus sign to select a folder or volume.
4. With a shared item selected, you can apply the shared user in the Users view. Click the plus sign, select the user, and click Select.
5. The user now appears, and you can set permissions, which include Read & Write, Read Only, and Write Only (Drop Box). (The last item lets someone drop items into a folder but not see the folder’s contents.)

Changes take place as you select them. In the example shown in the figure, I created a user named “GIF user”, and set that user up for allowing access to Time Machine volumes on my desktop Mac. Other users on my network log in using that user’s credentials and have access to no other of my files, but can perform automated Time Machine backups.

Other people on the network can connect via this account by selecting your Mac in the Locations list in the sidebar or choosing Go > Network in the Finder to find and double the entry for your Mac. They can then click Connect As, in the upper-right corner of the Finder window. In more recent versions of macOS, they then need to click Connect to continue. They then enter the credentials you provided to see available shared volumes and folders. They can then double click on any of those items to mount them and make them available on their Mac.

I’m trying to share my MacBook’s files via Samba sharing. I’ve set it up in Settings, but can’t connect to the machine from another computer!

On the other computer I set up the connection with the correct IP address, username and password. Then when I try to connect, it shows a dialog in which the server asks for password. Then I enter the correct password, and shows the dialog again and again. If I dismiss the dialog, the client shows a this message:

Logon failure: incorrect username and password

However I’m sure the username and password are correct. (If it matters, the client is just an android tablet with a samba client app. The same app handles Windows shares without any problem.)

Has anyone faced a similar problem?

My OS X version is Mavericks.

4 Answers 4

Samba passwords are managed separately from your regular account password. Have you set-up your user to enable samba sharing in the options menu? You need to do it once otherwise the login won’t work.

In the File Sharing preference pane tick the checkbox next to the user you want to enable file sharing for and a window will pop-up asking you to authenticate.

As soon as this is done you should be able to login from your android tablet.

UPDATE

The root cause of the issue might be that 10.9 uses a new SMB2 Stack completely written by Apple (SAMBA is not used anymore). Apple’s SMB2 implementation is not compatible with many other SMB2 NAS products on the market today while Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 work just fine. In short, it’s an Apple bug.

As a workaround you can force OSX to use SMB1 instead of SMB2 using a configuration file:

Open up the Terminal

Paste the following line followed by a return key (command should be one single line)

/Library/Preferences/nsmb.conf; echo “smb_neg=smb1_only” >>

A file called nsmb.conf is created in your home directory at the path

/Library/Preferences/

It adds the lines to force the use of SMB1 protocol instead of Apple’s SMB2 (this is slower but more stable)

You can share folders on your Mac with other people. This is useful if you are sharing resources such as documents with other people who are connected to your network and is ideal for transferring larger files.

You can share your folders with certain people or publically using the file sharing features in ‘>MacOS.

To set up file sharing, open your system preferences and double click ‘sharing’. Click the padlock on the bottom left of the screen, then enter your username and password. On the left hand side turn on file sharing.

Under ‘shared folders’, click the plus sign and select a folder on your mac you want to share. Click ‘add’. Now select the folder you just shared under the ‘shared folders’ section.

Select the users to whom you want to grant access. Under ‘users’ click the plus sign and select the name of the person you want to give access to your folder. Click ‘select’. This will create a username and password you’ll need to give the person so they can gain access to the folder.

Next select what access you want to give them: read only or read & write. Click the selector next to the name to change this. If you want anyone to be able to access the folder, set ‘everyone’ to ‘read & write’ or ‘read only’.

To share with other machines such as windows, you’ll need to enable SMB. To do this click ‘options’.

Click ‘share files and folders using SMB’. Then underneath select the account to use when connecting from another machine. When you attempt a connection from a windows machine, you’ll be prompted for the username and password you enter here.

Connect from another Mac

To connect from another mac, open “>finder, select the ‘go’ menu then click ‘connect to
There are various types of server. A web server hosts websites and serves web pages. A file server stores and serves files. A mail server stores email accounts and messages.’>server’.

Enter the name of the mac you’re connecting to.

Enter the username and password from the mac you’re connecting to.

Select the volume you want to connect to – ie the name of the folder you shared in the last section.

Connect from Windows

To connect from a windows machine type the mac’s machine name followed by the name of the directory you shared in the previous section.

Enter the username and password of the mac you’re connecting to when prompted.

Step One: Create a Sharing Only User Account.

To get started, we�re going to create a Sharing Only user account. Keep in mind that only Administrator accounts can create new user accounts: if you�re not an administrator, you�ll need to get on an account that is.

First, open System Preferences, then head to �Users.�

Click the lock at bottom-left to unlock the seeings.

You�ll be asked for your password, or fingerprints if you have Touch ID. After that the �+� and �-� buttons above the lock will stop being greyed out; click �+� to create a new account.

The top field is the most important one for our purposes: you need to create a �Sharing Only� account, so click that drop-down menu and click �Sharing Only.�

Once you do that, pick a username and password, then click �Create User.�

Unlike other accounts, Sharing Only accounts don�t really have any settings in the Users & Groups panel.

So long as it says �Sharing Only,� you�ve properly set up an account.

Step Two: Enable File Sharing

Next we�re going to enable file sharing over the network. Head back to the main page of System Preferences, then click �Sharing.�

In the left panel, ensure that �File Sharing� is enabled by checking it.

File sharing is now enabled! If you plan on sharing files with Windows computers, make sure you also click �Options� to bring up a few advanced settings.

Recent versions of macOS default to SMB, which is the file sharing format used by Windows. In order to log in from Windows machines, however, you need to enable Windows Files Sharing for the sharing only account you made in step one. Click the checkbox beside its name and you�ll be asked for your password.

Not that this is not asking for your administrator password; instead, type the password you gave your sharing only account.

Step Three: Set Up Specific Folders For Sharing

File sharing is turned on, now it�s time to share some files. Click the �+� button below the list of shared folders.

You will be asked which folder you want to share. Browse to your chosen directory, then click �Add�

Your folder will now be in the �Shared Folders� panel.

Click it, then click the �+� button below the �Users� panel.

Choose your sharing only account from the list, then click �Select.�

By default the account can read, by not modify, files. It�s probably best to leave it this way if you�re just sharing files, though you do have the option to change things up.

Access Your Shared Folder From Another Mac

Accessing your shared folder from another Mac isn�t hard. Open the Finder, then head to �Network.� You should see your computer listed.

Click it, then log in with the Sharing Only account you made earlier.

If everything worked, you should see your shared folders.

Access Your Shared Folder From Windows

On a Windows computer, open Windows Explorer, then head to the Network section. You should see your Mac listed.

Double-click your Mac, then enter the Sharing Only password you created.

You should then see your shared folders listed.

Modern versions of OS X allow you to share files securely with another individual without creating a new user account for them. Instead, authentication gets handled by the individuals Apple ID, and a separate password is set to allow that Apple ID to share files and folders on your Mac.

This can be preferable to creating a new user account if you only wish to share some files and you don’t want to provide a user with complete login access to the Mac. Additionally, it can be an easy way to allow a user with an already existing Apple ID and iCloud login to get quick network access to the Mac.

How to Share Files On Mac OS X Without Creating A New User Account By Using Apple ID’s as Network Logins

Using Apple ID’s as network sharing logins is a two step process in OS X, first it must be enabled, and then an Apple ID must be used during a network login event. We’ll show you how to do both.

How to Set an Apple ID as a Valid Network Sharing Login

This taps into the systems Address Book to approve file sharing access:

1. Open System Preferences from the  Apple menu
2. Click on “Sharing” and be sure that “File Sharing” is enabled, as shown by the checkbox next to it
3. Under “Shared Folders”, select an existing folder or add a new folder that you wish to share
4. Under “Users” click the + plus button
5. Select “Address Book” and find the person whose Apple ID you wish to use as a valid share login, then click “Select”
6. Set a password and close out of Sharing

With that set up the user can now connect to the specified shared directory using only their Apple ID, they do not have an actual user account on the Mac and they could not log into it for purposes other than file sharing.

The login procedure using an approved Address Book entry is the same as connecting to any other shared Mac, just remind the connecting user their password will be different.

Connecting to a Shared Network Mac with Apple ID as the Login

Now that the Mac is ready to accept a valid Apple ID as a network login from the allowed user, it’s as simple as connecting to the network share as if it were a standard server connection event on Mac OS X:

1. From the OS X Finder, pull down the “Go” menu and select “Connect to Server”
2. Select “Registered Guest” and enter the Apple ID as the name – or, in new versions of OS X, check the ‘Use Apple ID” option and enter the approved Apple ID from the list to login to the network Mac
3. Use the password that was set by the user in Sharing rather than the Apple ID password, then connect as usual

You can assign as many Apple ID’s as necessary to a shared directory, and you could also assign different Apple ID’s to different folders.

This will even work for someone connecting to a shared Mac from a PC, the only requirement is a valid Apple ID, either from iTunes, the App Store, or from elsewhere in the Apple ecosystem. It does not work with Remote Login and SSH, however.

This requires OS X Yosemite, Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, or any modern version of OS X on the Mac, and obviously the Mac must have iCloud, and the user to login must have a valid Apple ID / iCloud login too.

Remember, the Apple ID is the same login as that which gains access to the App Store, iTunes Store, iCloud, and much more, serving as the general gateway login to your Apple experience. If you forget that Apple ID, you’ll need to recover it.

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Windows XP lets you share folders on your office network either without password protection or with it. The Simple File Sharing option, enabled by default, shares folders on your PC with others in the same work group without password protection. This is convenient for your coworkers who would otherwise have to memorize passwords. Turn this option off, and Windows XP requires a password to access shared folders. You can mix PCs on your network, giving free access to shared files on some folders and password-protected access on other folders to suit your needs.

Turn Off Password Protection

Click the “Start” button, then click the “My Computer” icon.

Click the “Tools” menu and select “Folder Options.” You will see a tabbed window of settings.

Click the “View” tab. Scroll down the list of options until you see “Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended).”

Click the check box to enable simple file sharing. When you do, other users in the same network work group can open your shared folders without providing a password. If your login screen has a password, this is still in force.

Turn Off Sharing

Click the Windows “Start” button, then click the “My Computer” icon.

Locate a shared folder on your hard drive. The icon shows a hand holding the folder.

Right-click the shared folder. Windows shows you a menu of options. Click “Sharing and Security.” You will see a multitabbed window of options.

Click the radio button “Do Not Share This Folder.” Click the “OK” button. This disables all sharing for the folder. You can still access it as before, but no one else on your network can see or open it.

Turn an external hard drive into a network drive to access your files, even when your computer is turned off.

Are you running out of space on your computer? If the only way to access your photos, videos, songs, and files is to keep your PC constantly running, a network drive may be the best solution. Through a network drive, you can keep all those files on a hard drive, access them even when your computer is turned off, and make them accessible to the entire household.

A Network Attached Storage (NAS) device is another option for storing files on a home network, and one that provides more features and capabilities. However, a network drive can be a less expensive and simpler approach if all you need is quick and convenient file storage, and you already have the right type of drive. Here’s how to set up and use an external hard drive as a network drive in both Windows and macOS.

Set Up a Drive in Windows

Find Your IP Address

If you choose to use a wired external hard drive, plug it into your router’s USB port. From there, use your browser to sign into your router’s firmware, typically via an IP address of 192.168.1.1. If that address doesn’t work, and you don’t know your router’s IP address, open a command prompt and type ipconfig. Look for the entry for Default Gateway and the number you see is your router’s IP address.

In Windows 10, you can also go to Settings > Network & Internet > Status and click the View hardware and connection properties link. The next screen will display details for your different network connections. Again, look for Default Gateway to find your router’s IP address.

Customize Your Drive

After logging into your router, check for an entry for USB storage. You should see the external drive listed. Typically, you can edit the settings for the drive to change its name and drive letter and set up a password for accessing it. Save any changes and then exit your router’s firmware.

Using a Wireless Hard Drive

With a wireless hard drive, make sure it’s fully charged or running off external power. Fire up the drive and follow the instructions in the manual to set up a wireless connection between it and your computer or mobile device. You will likely need to install and open the software for the drive if you want to change the name or establish passwords for access.

Ready to Go

After setting up your new network drive, you can now use it just like any other drive. You can create folders, copy and move files, or retrieve any stored photos, videos, and songs. Only now the drive is active and available at all times, letting you and anyone else in the household access it from any PC, Mac, or mobile device.

Map Network Drive

If you’ve created folders on the drive, you can also map a drive letter to a specific folder from File Explorer or Windows Explorer, depending on the version of Windows you run. In Windows 10 and 8.1, select This PC > Computer > Map network drive. On Windows 7, it’s Computer > Map network drive.

From the Map Network Drive window, choose the drive letter you wish to use. Check Reconnect at sign-in if you want to map the drive each time you log into Windows. If you set up a username and password for the drive different from the ones for your Windows account, check Connect using different credentials. Then either type the UNC path for the drive and folde—e.g., \\drive\folder—or click the Browse button.

Using the Browse option, click the name for the network drive and then click the folder for which you want to create the drive mapping and click OK. Enter the username and password for your network drive, if necessary. Your new drive mapping should now show up. Click Finish to close the Map Network Drive window.

Now click the new drive letter in File Explorer or Windows Explorer, and you’ll be able to access that folder to view and work with the files contained within.

Set Up a Drive in macOS

To find the IP address of your router on a Mac, click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner and select System Preferences. Go to Network > Advanced > TCP/IP. The router’s address appears on this screen. Sign in to the router, then look for the USB storage entry. Edit the settings for the drive, if necessary. Save any changes and exit your router’s firmware.

After setting up your network drive, you can then map a letter to a specific folder from your Mac. To do this, click the Go menu and select Go to Server. Either type the UNC path for the network drive and folder or click the Browse button.

With the Browse option, click the name for the network drive, and then click the folder for which you want to create the drive mapping. Click the Connect As button and enter the username and password for your network drive, if necessary, and click Connect.

The mapped network should now appear under Locations in the left pane of the Finder window. From there, you can move it to the desktop as well.

To permanently mount the network share so that it’s always available, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups, select your user account, and click Login Items. Click the plus (+) button, then select your network share and click the Add button.

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“The cloud”. That nebulous (pun intended) place, somewhere “out there” in internet-land that stores your files, photos, music, and more, so you needn’t worry about getting access to to your digital files anywhere at any time. Sounds great! And it is. However, there are some dark aspects of “the cloud” that may make you think twice about putting sensitive documents or photos on just ANY server. For instance, computer crackers stealing sensitive data can happen to large corporations as easily as small ones. “The cloud” may sound like it’s some large, ethereal thing, but in reality, there are real physical servers and hard disks that YOUR data is being stored on. And that data is administered by a person.

A person with flaws and foibles in charge of your personal finance information, medical history, or racy photos. I’m not trying to disparage computer admins of the world (I used to be one!). There are certainly extremely competent, ethical, and well-trained people managing your information on thousands of computers. However, there is an option available if you are privacy- and security-conscious and that option is to set up your own personal file server. One that integrates seamlessly with your Mac, iOS, and even PC. Securely sharing files on your own local network with family friends or in a small office is made easy with macOS Server. Here’s how!

Set up macOS Server

If you haven’t already done so, download and install macOS Server and optionally enable remote administration for easier setup.

How to set up file sharing on macOS Server

We’ll be seeing up the file server for local network access. In a later tutorial, we’ll show you how to connect to your home remotely via VPN and access your file server.

1. Launch the Server App.
2. Select File Sharing under the Services listing.

Click the “+” under Shared Folders to add a new folder to share. Apple recommends using a separate hard drive to share your files from. However, you can create a New Folder on your main Macintosh HD if you are lacking a second hard drive.

Click the new folder and click the Edit button.

Click the OFF/ON button to start the service.

Your server is ready for local network connections!

How to connect to your personal file server

Now that your server is ready, you’ll need to connect your Macs and iOS devices to get access to the data stored on your files.

Connect your Mac to your macOS File Server

1. Launch Finder.
2. Click your macOS Server computer under Shared in the menu on the left.
3. Click Connect As.

Enter your username and password from your file server and click Connect.

Connect your iOS device to your macOS File Server

1. Launch Settings.
2. Select Mail.
3. Select Accounts.

Select Add Account.

Enter your username and password and tap Next. You’ll be prompted to accept the macOS Server Identity Certificate.

Tap Continue.

Tap Save.

You can now access your file server from an iOS app that has built in file server access support. For example, you can open up the Pages App and select or save files by selecting Locations and tapping on OS X Server.

Is it worth it? Your thoughts?

You may be wondering if all of this is worth the hassle of setting up the server, setting up file sharing, setting up your client devices, backing up your own files in case your file server goes down, etc. And for most people, it isn’t worth the task. You can simply choose Apple’s iCloud for a small fee to take care of all of that.

However, if you want true control over your data, your privacy, and your security, this is the way to go. With this minimal configuration, you’ll not have remote access to your files (yet!), but that remote access will be added with a future tutorial on connecting and configuring a secure VPN connection to your macOS Server! Those are my thoughts. What are yours? Tell us in the comments below!

Synced folder type: smb

Vagrant can use SMB as a mechanism to create a bi-directional synced folder between the host machine and the Vagrant machine.

SMB is built-in to Windows machines and provides a higher performance alternative to some other mechanisms such as VirtualBox shared folders.

SMB is currently only supported when the host machine is Windows or macOS. The guest machine can be Windows, Linux, or macOS.

» Prerequisites

» Windows Host

To use the SMB synced folder type on a Windows host, the machine must have PowerShell version 3 or later installed. In addition, when Vagrant attempts to create new SMB shares, or remove existing SMB shares, Administrator privileges will be required. Vagrant will request these privileges using UAC.

» macOS Host

To use the SMB synced folder type on a macOS host, file sharing must be enabled for the local account. Enable SMB file sharing by following the instructions below:

• Open “System Preferences”
• Click “Sharing”
• Check the “On” checkbox next to “File Sharing”
• Click “Options”
• Check “Share files and folders using SMB”
• Check the “On” checkbox next to your username within “Windows File Sharing”
• Click “Done”

When Vagrant attempts to create new SMB shares, or remove existing SMB shares, root access will be required. Vagrant will request these privileges using sudo to run the /usr/sbin/sharing command. Adding the following to the system’s sudoers configuration will allow Vagrant to manage SMB shares without requiring a password each time:

» Guests

The destination machine must be able to mount SMB filesystems. On Linux the package to do this is usually called smbfs or cifs . Vagrant knows how to automatically install this for some operating systems.

» Options

The SMB synced folder type has a variety of options it accepts:

smb_host (string) – The host IP where the SMB mount is located. If this is not specified, Vagrant will attempt to determine this automatically.

smb_password (string) – The password used for authentication to mount the SMB mount. This is the password for the username specified by smb_username . If this is not specified, Vagrant will prompt you for it. It is highly recommended that you do not set this, since it would expose your password directly in your Vagrantfile.

smb_username (string) – The username used for authentication to mount the SMB mount. This is the username to access the mount, not the username of the account where the folder is being mounted to. This is usually your Windows username. If you sign into a domain, specify it as [email protected] . If this option is not specified, Vagrant will prompt you for it.

» Example

The following is an example of using SMB to sync a folder:

» Preventing Idle Disconnects

On Windows, if a file is not accessed for some period of time, it may disconnect from the guest and prevent the guest from accessing the SMB-mounted share. To prevent this, the following command can be used in a superuser shell. Note that you should research if this is the right option for you.

» Common Issues

» “wrong fs type” Error

If during mounting on Linux you are seeing an error message that includes the words “wrong fs type,” this is because the SMB kernel extension needs to be updated in the OS.

If updating the kernel extension is not an option, you can workaround the issue by specifying the following options on your synced folder:

Replace “USERNAME” and “PASSWORD” with your SMB username and password.

Vagrant 1.8 changed SMB mounting to use the more secure credential file mechanism. However, many operating systems ship with an outdated filesystem type for SMB out of the box which does not support this. The above workaround reverts Vagrant to the insecure before, but causes it work.

In the remote server configuration, a server runs on another computer (a remote host). To access files on the server, use FTP/SFTP/FTPS protocols.

To configure access to the server in this setup, you need to specify the following:

Connection settings: server host, port, and user credentials.

The server configuration root folder and the URL address to access it.

Correspondence between the project root folder , the folder on the server to copy the data from the project root folder to, and the URL address to access the copied data on the server. This correspondence is called mapping .

Specify the name, type, and visibility of a server configuration

Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Build, Execution, Deployment | Deployment .

Alternatively, from the main menu, select Tools | Deployment | Configuration. .

In the left-hand pane that lists all the existing server configurations, click and select the server configuration type depending on the protocol you are going to use to exchange the data with the server.

FTP : choose this option to have PyCharm access the server via the FTP file transfer protocol.

SFTP : choose this option to have PyCharm access the server via the SFTP file transfer protocol.

FTPS : choose this option to have PyCharm access the server via the FTP file transfer protocol over SSL (the FTPS extension).

In the Create New Server dialog that opens, type the name of the connection to the server and click OK . The Create New Server dialog closes and you return to the Connection tab of the Deployment node.

Click on the toolbar to have PyCharm silently apply the current configuration in the following cases:

Manual upload and download of files without choosing the target host.

You can also click the Default Deployment Server widget in the PyCharm status bar and select the desired server or server group from the popup menu.

Use the Visible only for this project checkbox to configure the visibility of the server access configuration.

Select the checkbox to restrict the use of the configuration to the current project. Such configuration cannot be reused outside the current project. It does not appear in the list of available configurations in other projects.

When the checkbox is cleared, the configuration is visible in all PyCharm projects. Its settings can be reused across several projects.

Specify user credentials defined during registration on the host

For FTP and FTPS servers , specify the registration mode:

To login in a regular mode, specify the login in the User name field.

To enable anonymous access to the server with your email address as password, select the Login as anonymous checkbox.

Specify the way to authenticate to the server:

For FTP server , type your password and select the Save password checkbox to have PyCharm remember it.

For SFTP server , choose one of the created SSH configurations, or click and create a new configuration as described in Create SSH configurations.

For FTPS server , specify your username and password. In the Advanced settings area, choose the security mechanism to apply.

Choose Explicit to have the explicit (active) security applied. Immediately after establishing connection, the FTP client on your machine sends a command to the server to establish secure control connection through the default FTP port.

This method is selected by default.

Choose Implicit to have the implicit (passive) security applied. In this case, security is provided automatically upon establishing connection to the server, which appoints a separate port for secure connections.

Note that this method is considered deprecated, and using it is discouraged.

Enable connection to the server and specify the server configuration root

For FTP/FTPS servers , specify the host name of the server to exchange data with and the port at which this server listens. The default value for the FTP/FTPS port is 21 .

For SFTP servers , the values specified in the selected SSH configuration are used.

In the Root path field, specify the server configuration root relative to the root folder on the server. This folder will be the highest one in the folder structure accessible through the current server configuration.

Do one of the following:

Accept the default / path, which points at the root folder on the server.

Type the path manually or click and select the desired folder in the Choose Root Path dialog that opens.

Click Autodetect . PyCharm detects the user home folder settings on the FTP/SFTP server and sets up the root path according to them. The button is only enabled when you have specified your credentials.

In the Web server URL field, type the URL address to access the server configuration root. The server configuration root is the highest folder in the file tree on the local or remote server accessible through the server configuration. For in-place servers, it is the project root.

Both the HTTP and the HTTPS protocols are supported.

Click in the field to make sure that the specified server root URL address is accessible and points at the correct Web page.

Map local folders to folders on the server and the URL addresses to access them

Configure mappings , that is, set correspondence between the project folders, the folders on the server to copy project files to, and the URL addresses to access the copied data on the server. The easiest way is to map the entire project root folder to a folder on the server. The project folder structure in this case will be repeated on the server, provided that you have selected the Create Empty directories checkbox in the Options dialog. For more details, see Configure synchronization with a Web server and Customize upload and download.

Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Build, Execution, Deployment | Deployment .

Alternatively, from the main menu, select Tools | Deployment | Configuration. .

Click the Mappings tab.

In the Local Path field, specify the full path to the desired local folder. In the simplest case it is the project root.

In the Deployment Path field, specify the folder on the server where PyCharm will upload the data from the folder specified in the Local Path field. Type the path to the folder relative to the server configuration root .

If the folder with the specified name does not exist yet, PyCharm will create it, provided that you have selected the Create Empty directories checkbox in the Options dialog. For more details, see Customize upload and download.

In the Web Path field, type the path to the folder on the server relative to the server configuration root . Actually, type the relative path you typed in the Deployment Path field.

Overloading the deployment destination by configuring nested mappings

You can configure separate mappings for a specific folder under your project root to have the contents of this folder synchronized with another location on the remote host.

Suppose you have configured the mappings as follows:

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1. Overview

A Samba file server enables file sharing across different operating systems over a network. It lets you access your desktop files from a laptop and share files with Windows and macOS users.

This guide covers the installation and configuration of Samba on Ubuntu.

What you’ll learn

• How to set up a Samba file server
• How to share files across a local network

What you’ll need

• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
• A Local Area Network (LAN) to share files over

If you have everything ready, let’s dive straight into the installation process on the next step!

Originally authored by Aden Padilla.

2. Installing Samba

To install Samba, we run:

We can check if the installation was successful by running:

The following should be its output:

3. Setting up Samba

Now that Samba is installed, we need to create a directory for it to share:

The command above creates a new folder sambashare in our home directory which we will share later.

The configuration file for Samba is located at /etc/samba/smb.conf . To add the new directory as a share, we edit the file by running:

At the bottom of the file, add the following lines:

Then press Ctrl-O to save and Ctrl-X to exit from the nano text editor.

What we’ve just added

• • comment: A brief description of the share.

• path: The directory of our share.

  read only: Permission to modify the contents of the share folder is only granted when the value of this directive is no .

  browsable: When set to yes , file managers such as Ubuntu’s default file manager will list this share under “Network” (it could also appear as browseable).

  Now that we have our new share configured, save it and restart Samba for it to take effect:

  Update the firewall rules to allow Samba traffic:

  4. Setting up User Accounts and Connecting to Share

  Since Samba doesn’t use the system account password, we need to set up a Samba password for our user account:

  Note
  Username used must belong to a system account, else it won’t save.

  Connecting to Share

  On Ubuntu: Open up the default file manager and click Connect to Server then enter:

  On macOS: In the Finder menu, click Go > Connect to Server then enter:

  On Windows, open up File Manager and edit the file path to:

  Note: ip-address is the Samba server IP address and sambashare is the name of the share.

  You’ll be prompted for your credentials. Enter them to connect!

  The File sharing feature allows you to share a USB storage device that’s connected to the router, (USB Drive or mobile Hard Disk Drive) to other wired or wireless users on the same network.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

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  For macOS Catalina 10.15 and Big Sur 11, Apple features additional security for cameras, microphones and screen sharing. The following steps apply for macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or higher.

  To check if you have one of these versions on your Mac, click the Apple menu in the top-left corner, then select About This Mac. The window identifies which macOS version you have.

  
  

  If you have macOS Catalina Version 10.15 or Big Sur Version 11, then these instructions are for you.

  If Microsoft Teams prompts you for access

  Upon first time use, Microsoft Teams may request access to your camera, microphone and screen.

  Follow these steps if prompted for camera, microphone or screen sharing

  1. When sharing your microphone and camera in Teams for the first time, you may see these prompts.

  Click OK in both prompts to grant access to the microphone and camera.

  When attempting screen sharing in Teams for the first time, you may see these prompts.

  From Microsoft Teams: “We need permission to share your screen. Go to Security & Privacy > Screen Recording to give permission and start sharing.”

  From macOS: “Microsoft Teams would like to record this computer’s screen.”

  Click either the “Security & Privacy settings” button on the Teams prompt or the “Open System Preferences” button on the macOS prompt.

  The Security & Privacy window opens. (You can also reach this window from Apple menu > System Preferences. Then click Security & Privacy then click Privacy tab.) In the lower left of the window, click the padlock icon to make changes. Enter your Mac’s administrator username and password.

  

  The padlock unlocks and you can make changes. Check the checkbox next to Microsoft Teams to allow screen sharing and capture.

  

  You are prompted to quit Microsoft Teams and restart Teams to enact this change. If you can quit Teams now, select Quit Now.

  

• Close the Security & Privacy window. The next time you launch Microsoft Teams, you will have access in place to share and record your screen.

Trouble with Teams sharing your camera, microphone or screen?

Occasionally, neither Microsoft Teams nor macOS prompts to share your camera, microphone and screen. That means Teams cannot access the camera and microphone and cannot screen share. Without these permissions in place, your Mac may show a spinning wheel in Teams. You can manually set up access by following these steps.

1. In the top-left corner of the Mac Desktop, click Apple menu then select System Preferences.
2. The System Preferences window appears. Click the Security & Privacy icon.

The Security & Privacy window opens. Click the Privacy tab.



In the lower left of the window, click the padlock icon to make changes. Enter your Mac’s administrator username and password.



In the left column, click the Accessibility section. If Microsoft Teams is not listed on the right side, click the plus sign and add Microsoft Teams. Then check the Microsoft Teams checkbox.



Click the Camera section. Check the Microsoft Teams checkbox.



Click the Microphone section. Check the Microsoft Teams checkbox.



Click the Screen Recording section. Check the Microsoft Teams checkbox.



Quit Microsoft Teams and reopen Teams to enact these changes.

Questions?

Please contact the IT Services Help Desk for questions about Microsoft Teams.

I have set up file sharing on both my macOS Mojave and Windows 10 computer.

So far, I can access the Windows shares from the Mac and vice versa.

The problem is that, on the Window 10 system, I can’t see the Mac icon automatically listed as a network location in Windows Explorer, even though I can access the Mac’s shares if I manually enter their UNC path in the address bar.

Is there any way to have Windows remember the Mac’s address and display the Mac icon?





2 Answers 2

Is there any way to have Windows remember the Mac’s address and display the Mac icon?

Actually, the way this works is that the PC doesn’t remember the Mac’s address but the Mac continually broadcasts its presence on the network and, if everything is set up properly, the PC will see this and list the Mac in Explorer under Network.

Most likely problem: workgroup name mismatch.

The most likely problem here is that the Mac and PC have two different workgroup names.

If these names do not match, then the PC will not list the Mac under Network in Explorer.

On the Mac, go to System Preferences , Network , Options , WINS . This is most likely blank right now. Change it to “Workgroup”.

On the PC, check the workgroup in System settings: Windows + Pause/Break , or Windows + X , Y , then scroll down and click on System info . Change this field to “Workgroup” also. The workgroup name can be anything you want, it just needs to be identical on your Mac and PC.

Public folders in OS X are shared by default, and can sometimes be a potential security problem, but can easily be disabled or better secured if needed.

When you create a user account in OS X, the system will create default share points for the account, so if you enable file sharing you can access your data with little additional effort, if any. Most of these shared locations, such as the home folder, are specific for the user itself; however, in addition to these the system will make the user’s Public folder and its enclosed “Drop Box” folder more openly available to other users on the system.

While access to these folders is limited to the users on the system by default, if you have enabled the Guest account for any reason, then you might unintentionally give strangers access to your system. This is especially true if you are on a work or public network (such as an open Wi-Fi hotspot at a cafe), where there might be many random people connected to the same network.

At public Wi-Fi hot spots, its quite easy to browse other systems. In this case, an individual’s MacBook Air had the Guest account enabled, allowing anyone to copy files into the user’s Public folder (click for larger view). Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET

Some networks offer additional security against this by blocking file sharing activity, but most do not. Therefore, you have four options available to you for securing file sharing on your system:

1. Disable the Guest account
   Since the Guest account is the means by which you allow non-account-holders access to your system, disabling it in the Users & Groups system preferences should prevent anyone from simply logging on to your system when it’s available on the network. Unless you need to provide public access for any reason, then it’s a good idea to keep this account disabled.
2. Disable file sharing
   Of course if you do not use file sharing, you might want to consider disabling the service altogether. This can be done in the Sharing system preferences, where you can simply uncheck the box next to File Sharing to disable it.

This option has the benefit of keeping your current File Sharing and user setup configurations intact, so you can prevent access when in a public area, but then enable it when needed, to allow access when on a known and trusted network (such as that at your home). Options for securing publicly accessible folders are to disable File Sharing, remove the public share point, or set its permissions so the Everyone group has “No Access” (currently shown with Read Only access here). Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET
Remove unneeded share points
The next option is to simply remove the Public folder share points. Often these are not needed since the only ones logging into your system are the local users. By disabling the Public shared folders, you can keep Guest access enabled but prevent it from having file sharing access.

To remove these share points, go to the Sharing system preferences and select the File Sharing section. In here, you will see the shared folder list, which will by default only include the Public folders for each account on the system. To remove them, simply select them and click the minus button, followed by confirming the changes.

In addition, you can perform this step using the OS X command line, which can be done by running the following command in the OS X Terminal application:

sudo dscl . -delete “/SharePoints/FULL USER NAME’s Public Folder”

In this command, replace the “FULL USER NAME” part with the full name of the account in question, so for instance if my account’s name is “Topher Kessler” with my login as “tkessler,” then I would use the following command:

sudo dscl . -delete “/SharePoints/Topher Kessler’s Public Folder”

Note that the name of the share point in this command should reflect the “Shared Folders” names listed in the File Sharing system preferences, so you can use that as a means for confirming the proper SharePoint folder name to use in the command. You can also do this by running the following command to list all share points on the system:

dscl . -list /SharePoints

While the use of the command line might seem redundant to the System Preferences, it can be beneficial if you are configuring a system remotely using an SSH connection.

• Secure share points
  While removing the share points is one option, securing them is another. Most automatic share points in OS X will be secured, but to do so for the Public folders, you simply need to deny access to the “Everyone” group. To do this, select one of the Public folder listings in the File Sharing system preferences, and in the list of users you should see an Everyone group. Set this group from its default “Read Only” status to “No Access,” and when done for all folders you should be good to go.

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

DU Wiki

Visit the DU Wiki page for more information

Network Shared Drive and Zephyr Drive

Shared folder access needs to be explicitly requested by your immediate supervisor on your behalf by submitting a request by clicking here.

If you are on DU’s campus you must be connected to Eduroam or ethernet (wired internet) to access the Zephyr and shared drives.

Connections outside of the DU network require a secure VPN connection . VPN setup instructions can be found here for Mac OSX and here for Windows computers.

Windows 7 and 10 instructions can be found below.

Mac OS X

While in Finder, navigate to “Go” and “Connect to Server…”, or use the keyboard shortcut “Command + K”.

Department Share Drives

In the “Server Address:” field, type in the path using the syntax:

smb://shares.du.edu/*share type*/*share*

*share type* being the share drive type (such as divisions, research, group, project, etc).

*share* being the name of the specific shared folder that you are connecting to.

If you are unsure of the folder path, type in smb://shares.du.edu/ and then click connect to look for the folder (you will not be able to access folders you do not have permissions to) or contact the IT Help Center by phone at 303.871.4700 or online at https://support.du.edu.

Zephyr Drive

For Zephyr drives, use the path below and replace the X with the 3rd digit of your DU ID.

smb://zephyr.du.edu/home/87X_/firstname.lastname

If you are having issues connecting to a shared drive or Zephyr drive please try to use cifs instead of smb. If you are having problems connecting to your Zephyr drive using the path above, please try smb://shares.du.edu/zephyr/87X_/firstname.lastname or cifs://shares.du.edu/zephyr/87X_/firstname.lastname.

Another path is smb://shares/divisions/ and used with your du\firstname.lastname (without @du.edu at the end) and PioneerWeb password.

If you want to save the connection for later use click on the plus + icon.

Then click “Connect.”

Make sure the option for “Registered User” is selected. The name field will already be filled in with your computers username, please remove this and enter your DU email address and PioneerWeb password to login. If you are unable to login please try both firstname.lastname and DU\firstname.lastname in the name field. If you are still unable to login, please click cancel and restart the process but use different a different path as explained earlier.

If you encounter a screen or error message not covered by this article, or if you have any questions, please contact the IT Help Center by phone at 303.871.4700 or online at https://support.du.edu.

Windows 7

Click on the Start button, then right click “Computer” and select “Map network drive…”

Select a Drive letter to use. If you are connecting to your Zephyr drive please use Z. If you are connecting to other shared drives please use any other letter but Z.

Department Share Drives

In the “Folder:” field, type in the path using the syntax:

\\shares.du.edu\*share type*\*share*

*share type* being the share drive type (such as divisions, research, group, project, etc).

*share* being the name of the specific shared folder that you are connecting to.

If you are unsure of the folder path, type in \\shares.du.edu\ and then click browse to look for the folder (you will not be able to access folders you do not have permissions to) or contact the IT Help Center by phone at 303.871.4700 or online at https://support.du.edu.

Zephyr Drive

For Zephyr drives, use the path below and replace the X with the 3rd digit of your DU ID.

\\zephyr.du.edu\home\87X_\firstname.lastname

Check the box “Reconnect at sign-in” if you want the shared drive to stay on your computer permanently.

If you are logged into your DU account on a DU owned computer uncheck the box “Connect using a different user name”. If you are not logged into your account or using a non DU owned computer check the box “Connect using a different user name.”

Click “Finish” and your shared drive should now be shown under “Computer” in the file browser.

If you encounter a screen or error message not covered by this article, or if you have any questions, please contact the IT Help Center by phone at 303.871.4700 or online at https://support.du.edu.

Windows 10

Right click on the Start button, then click “File Explorer”.

In the new window, go to This PC if that is not the default. Then under the Computer tab click on Map Network Drive.

Select a Drive letter to use. If you are connecting to your Zephyr drive please use Z. If you are connecting to other shared drives please use any other letter but Z.

Department Share Drives

In the “Folder:” field, type in the path using the syntax:

\\shares.du.edu\*share type*\*share*

*share type* being the share drive type (such as divisions, research, group, project, etc).

*share* being the name of the specific shared folder that you are connecting to.

If you are unsure of the folder path, type in \\shares.du.edu\ and then click browse to look for the folder (you will not be able to access folders you do not have permissions to) or contact the IT Help Center by phone at 303.871.4700 or online at https://support.du.edu.

Zephyr Drive

For Zephyr drives, use the path below and replace the X with the 3rd digit of your DU ID.

\\zephyr.du.edu\home\87X_\firstname.lastname

Check the box “Reconnect at sign-in” if you want the shared drive to stay on your computer permanently.

If you are logged into your DU account on a DU owned computer uncheck the box “Connect using a different user name”. If you are not logged into your account or using a non DU owned computer check the box “Connect using a different user name.”

Click “Finish” and your shared drive should now be shown under “This PC” in the file browser.

Product support for: VersaLink C405

Article Id: x_vlc400_en-O4289 | Published: 05/09/2018

NOTE: This solution requires knowledge of the network on which the printer is installed and may require the assistance of a System or Network Administrator.

NOTE: It may be necessary to ensure that the correct primary network type has been selected. If the printer is connected using the optional wireless network adapter and is connected to a wireless network, then confirm that the primary network type is set to Wi-Fi. If the printer is connected with an Ethernet connection, then set the primary network type to Ethernet. If both are connected properly, then either selection can be used. See the Related Content for additional information.

Create a Shared Folder to be Used as a Scan Filing Location for Scanned Documents

1. Control click on an empty space on your desktop.
2. Select New Folder.
3. Enter a name for the folder (for example scans).

Enable File Sharing

1. From the Apple menu.
2. Select System Preferences.
3. Click on Sharing.
4. Check the box next to File Sharing.
5. Click on Options.
6. Check the box next to Share files and folders using SMB.
7. Check the box next to the account you want to enable sharing.

NOTE: If prompted with the Authenticate window message of “To enable file sharing using SMB for ‘xxx’, enter the password for that account”, type in the password and click OK.

• Click Done.
• Click on the [+] below the Shared Folders column. A Finder window will open.
• Browse to the folder you created to be used as the filing location.
• Select the folder (example scans).
• Click Add.
• Verify the account that you selected in step 7 has Read and Write privileges in the Users column.

  NOTE: To assign a user Read & Write privileges, click on the up and down arrows of the user in the Users column and then select [Read & Write].

• Press Command – W to close the Sharing window.

How to Find Your Computer’s IP Address

You can setup scanning using the IP address of your Mac.

NOTE: For clients that require a constant IP address, you can either manually configure a static IP address, or assign a reservation on the DHCP Server. Reservations are permanent lease assignments that are used to ensure that a specified client on a subnet can always use the same IP address. Consult the manufacturer’s documentation for the device that is acting as your DHCP Server to see if reservations are supported.

To Find the IP address of Your Mac

1. From the Apple menu.
2. Select System Preferences.
3. Click on Network.
4. Select a service that uses DHCP (such as Ethernet or Wi-Fi).
5. The IP address is listed under Status.
6. Press Command – W to close the Network window.

Configure the Filing Destination

Note: If you have configured security settings on your device, you will need to login as the System Administrator. For additional information see the Related Content.

1. Access the printer’s Embedded Web Server (Web Interface) and login as System Administrator, if needed. For additional information see the Related Content.
2. Click on the Address Book.
3. Click on Add Contact.
4. Enter First Name, Last Name and Company (optional) in the fields provided.
5. Click on the ” + ” next to Network (SMB).
6. Click on IPv4 for Type.
7. Enter IP Address: Port in the fields provided. The default SMB port is 139.
8. Enter the Share name in the Share field (this is the share name of your folder you created, example scans).
9. If necessary, enter the scan path for the Document Path.
10. Enter Login Name (the user name used to log into the Mac) in the Login Name field.
11. Enter the password (the password used to log into the Mac) and retype password in the Password and Retype Password fields.
12. Click on OK twice.

Set the Primary Network on the Device

To Set the Primary Network

1. Click on Connectivity.
2. Click on Wi-Fi.
3. Click on Common.
4. Click on Primary Network.
5. Click on Ethernet or Wi-Fi.
6. Click on OK.
7. Click on Restart Later or Restart Now.

Test Scanning Setup

Perform a Test Scan

1. Load the original on the document glass or in the document feeder.
2. Press the Home button, then select Address Book.
3. Select your name in the address book list.
4. Select the filing path.
5. Touch Scan in the upper right hand corner.

Follow this guide to connect to file shares and network drives from Windows and macOS.

Many resources are stored on network file shares for collaboration, security, and data protection. Connections to these network resources are possible from most common operating systems both on and off campus.

If connecting to a network file share on campus, the wired network and IllinoisNet wireless will provide the network security requirements for establishing the connection. If using an off-campus internet connection, a Technology Services VPN connection is required before the network file share can be mapped.

Connecting to EWS Home Directories

For instructions connecting to your EWS Windows home directory, please see EWS Labs, Remote access to your EWS Windows home directory.

For instructions connecting to your EWS Linux home directory, please see EWS Labs, Remote access to your EWS Linux home directory.

Windows 10 for Windows File Servers

1. If using an off-campus internet connection, a Technology Services VPN connection is required before the network file share can be mapped.

2. Open the Start Menu by selecting the Start Button and then type This PC. Click and open This PC.



3. Select Map network drive.



4. A Map Network Drive window will appear. Select a Drive letter and a Folder path.

• For Drive: select a drive not already in use on your computer.
• For Folder: your department or IT support should provide a path to enter in this box. An example for format would be: \\file-server.engr.illinois.edu\fileshare
  • For EWS Windows, connect to: \\ad.uillinois.edu\engr-ews\YourNetID
• To connect automatically each time you log in, check the Reconnect at logon box.
• Check Connect using different credentials.
• Click Finish.



5. A Windows Security box will ask for login information for the network file share.

• For most College of Engineering resources, you will use: UOFI\YourNetID as the username, where “YourNetID” is the NetID you use for logging in to other campus resources. The password will be your UOFI Active Directory password. (These will be the same credentials you use to log into your UOFI Exchange Email account if you have one.)

6. If the connection is successful, a drive for the network fileshare will appear.



For computers on Windows operating systems earlier than Windows 10 like Windows 7, the above steps should still be applicable except for Step 1 where This PC may need to be replaced by Computer in the search menu.

Mac OSX for Windows File Servers

1. If using an off-campus internet connection, a Technology Services VPN connection is required before the network file share can be mapped.

2. Open a Finder window.

3. The Finder menu will appear at the top of the screen. Select the Go menu, then click Connect to server.



4. A Connect to Server window will appear.

• In the Server Address: box, enter the path to the file share, prefixing the path with smb:// and using forward slashes in the path (/). Your department or IT support should provide you with this information. An example of the format would be: “smb://file-server.engr.illinois.edu/fileshare”. For EWS Windows, connect to: \\ad.uillinois.edu\engr-ews\YourNetID
• If you wish to save this path for future use, click the + after entering the path to save it in the Favorite Servers: box below.
• Click Connect.



5. An SMB File System Authentication window will appear.

• For Name, enter your campus NetID.
• For Password, enter your UOFI Active Directory password. (These will be the same credentials you use to log into your UOFI Exchange Email account if you have one.)
• If you have a box for Workgroup or Domain, enter “UOFI”.



6. If the connection is successful, a drive for the network file share will appear in Finder.

Windows File Sharing, aka Server Message Block (SMB), is the standard client-server protocol used by Windows to share resources over a local network. SMB is available on all Windows computers and can be easily setup by the home user. SMB can also be accessed by other operating systems, which makes SMB the most commonly used network protocol to access content on a NAS or other remote hardware.

Note: SMB v1 is not supported in Kodi. SMB v2 or higher must be used.

This page will detail how to add a network source to Kodi using SMB. It assumes you have already correctly set up your SMB network. If you have not set up your SMB network, a Google search will return numerous online guides. The following links may help also.

Once SMB is implemented and the Source folders containing your media have been given Read/Write permission the Source folder(s) can be added to Kodi

Two methods are available, the first method being the simplest.

From the Browse for new share window (image 1 in both sections), select one of the following methods:

2.1 Windows Network (SMB)

When SMB v1 was deprecated by Microsoft due to security reasons, it was no longer possible to browse SMB shares. Instead it required you to add the specific IP Address or Device Name followed by the path to access shares. (detailed in the next section)

As of Kodi v19.1, the WS-Discovery protocol was implemented to allow browsing SMB shares again. [1] [2]

WS-Discovery is enabled by default on all Windows 10 installations and is well supported from Windows 7.

To add a share using this method, select Windows network (SMB) from the Browse for new shares list, then browse to the required Source folder.



Image 1- Select Windows network (SMB) from the Browse for new shares list.



Image 2- Continue to drill down until the required Source folder is located, then select OK.

2.2 Add Network Location

If the previous method is not available to you, then Shares can still be manually added using either the IP Address or Device Name method.

IP address If using the IP Address method, ensure you reserve a DHCP address (static IP) for your NAS or other hardware. This ensures that your router will always allocate the same IP address to the server. If you choose not to do this, then you may find that the router has allocated a different address to your NAS and Kodi will no longer be able to access the media files. To reserve a static IP address, log into your router and add the MAC address of the hardware to the Reservation list in your Router. If you do not know the MAC address, you should see it in the list of connected clients. Device Name If using Windows PC’s you can use the Device Name of the PC. The Device Name can be found in your Windows PC under Settings > System > About.

Note: Choose either Step 4 (IP Address) or Step 5 (Device Name), not both



Image 1- Select Add network location. from the Browse for new shares list.



Image 2- Select Windows network (SMB) for Protocol.
Then select Server Name.



Image 3- Type in either the IP Address or the Device name of your server.



Image 4- Using IP Address
4.1 Browse is not supported.
4.2 In the Shared folder section, type in the name of the folder to add.
Add the drive letter eg f/Movies.
4.3 If your share requires a Username and Password enter them in the appropriate sections.
4.4 Select OK



Image 5- Using Device Name
5.1 Browse is not supported.
5.2 In the Shared folder section, type in the name of the folder to add
The drive letter is not required.
5.3 If your share requires a Username and Password enter them in the appropriate sections.
5.4 Select OK



Image 6- Your share should appear in the Browse for new share list.
The share will show either the IP Address or Device Name depending on which method you used.

I’ve finally got our new Mac Mini (running Snow Leopard, not Lion) configured as a file and print server for the legal office and it’s great except for the fact that when I mark folders open for sharing, sometimes we find that folders within that folder [ed note “subfolders”] are still blocked from access. This is upsetting some of the paralegals and making my life hell. How do I fix this without having dozens or hundreds of sharepoints?

Making your life hell? I’d say “sue ’em” but if you’re in a law firm, well, that’s rather convoluted. Better is to fix the problem, I imagine. In fact, according to Plessy vs. Taylor, 1993, the party of the first part should always… um…. yeah, let’s just get to the solution, shall we?
What you’re experiencing is often a consequence of taking folders from user accounts and adding them to a shared file server (or actually opening up a personal computer’s account for others on the network to share): by default user folders are set up so that only the account owner has access to the data, no-one else.
It’s not hard to fix, but it’s a bit tedious because you have to go folder by folder to change the settings. Mitigating that, it’s often the case that the parent folder is all you need to change when there’s an entire “tree” of files and folders inaccessible.
Let me show you the basics and you’ll see how to fix things on your server too.
First off, this is probably what your paralegals and other users are seeing when they connect to the server and peruse the folder list:


Here it’s the folder “Movie Library” that’s closed down, which is why the tiny red circle appears over the folder icon. Click on it and you’ll just get an error:

Definite bummer, definitely frustrating!
To fix it you’ll need to be on the server (or connected to it as the administrator). Find the folder that’s shut down and use either the command File -> Get Info… or right-clicking on the folder and choosing “Get Info…” or using the Cmd-I shortcut. One way or another, you’ll get there!
Here’s what I see with my Movie Library folder:

If you can’t see the information on the bottom of this narrow window under “Sharing & Permissions”, then click on the small grey triangle to its left which will make this information appear. The key entry is for “everyone” in my case, but you might have a group or two set up. Either way, “No Access” is a locked door and no-one in that class is going to be able to proceed.
To fix it, click on the tiny up/down arrows adjacent to the closed permission. A menu pops up with all the options available:

There’s no reason that remote users need to change or update the files in my Movie Library, so I’ll chose “Read Only”.
Now when I look at that same set of folders back on the client computer, all is good:

That’s it. Go through the folders on your server that are closed off and you should be able to fix everything with your shared file server in just a few minutes. Problem solved, no lawsuits. Amazing. 🙂

Beginning with macOS Catalina 10.15, Apple introduced new security controls to better protect your computer. For example, apps are now required to ask your permission before accessing your webcam, microphone, or recording/sharing your screen. This has a direct impact on Microsoft Teams as all of these settings must be allowed to use MS Teams at its full capacity.

To configure your security settings for MS Teams, please do the following:

1. Check your macOS version – the following steps are only available in macOS 10.15 Catalina and macOS 11 Big Sur. To check your macOS version click the menu in the top-left corner, then select “About This Mac“.
   • If you’re running macOS 10.15.x or macOS 11+, continue on:
     
2. Click the menu in the top-left corner, then select “System Preferences…“. From the window that appears, select “Security & Privacy”
3. Click the padlock in the lower-left corner of the window. Enter your computer username and password – this will allow you to make the necessary changes.
4. You’ll need to allow MS Teams to access your Camera, Microphone, Accessibility, Files and Folders, and Screen Recording. To do this, select the item from the left column, scroll through the list of applications, and make sure that Teams is checked.
   
5. Repeat this process for:
   • Camera
   • Microphone
   • Accessibility
   • Screen Recording
6. Quit and relaunch Microsoft Teams for these changes to take effect.

Troubleshooting

Teams isn’t listed in the Screen Recording settings

We’ve seen several instances where attempting to enable Screen Sharing from a meeting fails, but doing so from a chat works. Once you’ve done this via a chat, screen sharing will also work from within a meeting.

1. Quit all open applications and reboot your computer. (don’t skip this step!)
2. When the computer has finished its reboot, open Microsoft Teams and start a Chat with a colleague (not a meeting). From the upper-right corner of the chat window, select the Screen Share button.
3. You should receive a prompt asking you to adjust the Screen Recording settings for Teams. Click the Security & Privacy settings button.
   
4. From the Security & Privacy window – click the padlock in the lower-left corner and enter your computer’s password (if prompted). From the left menu, select Screen Recording, you should now see Microsoft Teams listed. Make sure Teams is enabled by checking the checkbox.
   
5. You will be asked to quit and relaunch Teams, you should be able to share your screen now!

I’ve tried everything else and I still can’t share my screen

If none of the options above have worked for you, it it worth trying to reset your computer’s screen sharing permissions.

1. Click the Spotlight magnifying glass in the upper-right corner of your Mac.
2. From the search bar that appears, enter “Terminal”. Select the Terminal application from the list of search results.
3. A Terminal window will appear. Enter the following command into the Terminal window.
4. You will be asked to enter the password to your computer. NOTE: As you type your password, the cursor will not move, but it is still typing. Press Enter after you’ve finished typing your password.
5. This process will have reset your computer’s screen recording settings. Please reboot your computer and try the steps listed in the toggle above: Teams isn’t listed in the Screen Recording settings

Check out Sharing Files Between Users On the Same Mac at YouTube for closed captioning and more options.

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