Configuring SMB shares in OS X

Question

I'm at my wit's end trying to control SMB file sharing on my Mac. (OS X 10.5 Leopard).

I want to do something fairly simple: share a particular (non-home, non-Public) folder over my my SMB/Windows network with two users (accounts are local to my Mac), and share no other folders with anyone.

The instructions on the internet are fairly straightforward: add the folders to be shared to the File Sharing panel of the Sharing System Preferences pane:

..and ensure that I'm sharing through SMB:

However, when I actually try to connect via a SMB client (Windows XP in this case), the share does not appear. I see my home directory, "Macintosh HD", and my printers, but not the folder I just shared.

I ensured that the underlying directory had the proper permissions (since this seems to affect share visibility) and that the "Shared Folder" checkbox was checked:

...but this didn't have any effect.

I checked /etc/smb.conf but there was nothing obviously out of place there. I've also restarted smbd and rebooted.

What else should I be looking for?

Answer 1

Try setting a workgroup on the mac and the pc that is the same. On the mac it is set with system preferences for the network adapter. You could also try connecting by IP address instead of name.

Answer 2

That is the intended behaviour using OSX to share on SMB. The other folders will be unavailable, but the user must navigate to the folder they ARE allowed to access

Answer 3

I recommend you check out a program called SharePoints. It works perfectly on my server running Mac OS X! :)

Answer 4

My first guess was that the XP machine isn't supplying a username/password, so OS X is only showing it the "guest"-readable shares - but you say it's showing your homedir, so that musnt' be the case.

My second guess is that the Samba hasn't been restarted and so the daemon hasn't seen the new share. Turning off SMB sharing and then turning it back on should fix this.

My third guess is that it's something else.