Mac Pro 4,1 Bootcamp/OSX Sharing Problems

[Supersoberguy]

Hi, everyone. The situation is as follows:

I have a Late 2013 iMac running 10.9.5 as a media server and sharing folders with music and films on it into the home network through one router. All of the "native" Windows machines "see" and log in into the shared folders of the iMac with no problems. The problem is with my Mac Pro 4,1 (flashed to 5,1) that "sees" the folder in the "Network" but cannot log into it. The passwords and account names are correct, since I am able to log in from other machines.

I thought that the problem was with the Mac Pro itself, tried reinstalling the Bootcamp - didn't work. I also tried other Apple machines with Bootcamp on them, 15" rMBP 2015 and 13" MPB Late 2011, - they didn't log in either. However, all of these machines are able to connect to the iMac while being in OSX (Mavericks, El Capitan and High Sierra, accordingly).

I want to get rid off my "native" old PC that is now having problems with streaming high bit rate videos onto my home theatre system with decoding DTS, Dolby and other formats. I was thinking of getting a Mac Mini, for example, that has far less power consumption and the local store give it away dirt cheap.

Yes, I know there are ways to make Apple products to work with high definition audios both through HDMI and digital output, but I got used to using Windows as my HTPC for several reasons and would like to continue on using it on the future.

But the thing that bugs me at this point is the inability to use shared files from OSX in Bootcamp by itself and I would like to sort it out.

At this point I have no clue of the solution. Any troubleshoot will help. Or there may be other topic with similar problems and fixes, I'll appreciate the links and recommendations.

 

[yuzgen]

http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/08/share-files-from-mac-to-windows-pc/

 

[Supersoberguy]

http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/08/share-files-from-mac-to-windows-pc/

Thanks for the link, but that is completely wrong to what I am looking for. Please read my post more carefully. Cheers.

 

[yuzgen]

I'm having a hard time understanding your situation.

"the inability to use shared files from OSX in Bootcamp"

What does it mean? In short?
Whats OS do you have on the server?
What OS can't access files via network?

Edit: You mean MacOS can't access MacOS shares? Try command+k and type in the internal IP of the server. This is shown on the linked page too. Make sure you set an internal IP for your server.

Thanks for the link, but that is completely wrong to what I am looking for. Please read my post more carefully. Cheers.

 

[h9826790]

I'm having a hard time understanding your situation.

"the inability to use shared files from OSX in Bootcamp"

What does it mean? In short?
Whats OS do you have on the server?
What OS can't access files via network?

Edit: You mean MacOS can't access MacOS shares? Try command+k and type in the internal IP of the server. This is shown on the linked page too. Make sure you set an internal IP for your server.

If I read that correctly, OP means his Mac can connect to the iMac server in macOS but not Bootcamp Windows.

And his PC can do that. Therefore, the setup on the iMac side is definitely good for Windows.

However, I can't quite understand what "the inability to use shared files from OSX in Bootcamp" means.

A user can either share files in OSX or in Windows (Bootcamp). I don't know what is share files "from OSX", but "in bootcamp (Windows)".

 

[yuzgen]

There's a tick for Windows sharing. Then he should check that.

If I read that correctly, OP means his Mac can connect to the iMac server in macOS but not Bootcamp Windows.

And his PC can do that. Therefore, the setup on the iMac side is definitely good for Windows.

However, I can't quite understand what "the inability to use shared files from OSX in Bootcamp" means.

A user can either share files in OSX or in Bootcamp.

 

[Supersoberguy]

OK, since English is not my native language, but something that I've been speaking since 5, I will try to explain again in short.

My Mac machine being booted in Windows through Bootcamp cannot access iMac's shared folders. Bootcamp cannot log in into Maverick's shared folders. From my Bootcamp Windows I see the iMac icon in "Network" folder, but cannot access it, even though the account and passwords that I am typing are 100% correct.

Sorry for any inconvenience that I may have caused because of my language barrier.

 

[yuzgen]

OK, since English is not my native language, but something that I've been speaking since 5, I will try to explain again in short.

My Mac machine being booted in Windows through Bootcamp cannot access iMac's shared folders. Bootcamp cannot log in into Maverick's shared folders. From my Bootcamp Windows I see the iMac icon in "Network" folder, but cannot access it, even though the account and passwords that I am typing are 100% correct.

Sorry for any inconvenience that I may have caused because of my language barrier.

OK here are my Mac Mini's sharing preferences. It has a static IP and PC sharing is checked. You need to click options to get there. Teamviewer screenshots on my Android phone...

 

[bookemdano]

Edit: Nevermind my previous post. I just realized you're using Mavericks. It introduced SMB2 by default and was very buggy. Is there some reason you won't upgrade your iMac at least Yosemite, if not to High Sierra? Apple has improved SMB2 support in later versions of macOS so you really should get off of Mavericks unless you have a very compelling reason to stay on it.

You can force Mavericks to use SMB1 per the instructions in this article:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/mavericks-smb2-problem-and-fixes/

 

[Supersoberguy]

OK here are my Mac Mini's sharing preferences. It has a static IP and PC sharing is checked. You need to click options to get there. Teamviewer screenshots on my Android phone...

View attachment 774857 View attachment 774858

Ok, yuzgen, I have already set up everything perfectly in my iMac - every machine in home connects with no problems:

• Apple machines running any kind of OSX
• Native Windows machines (PC's) running Win 7, 8 and 10

But not Apple machine running Windows in Bootcamp.

Apple has improved SMB2 support in later versions of macOS so you really should get off of Mavericks unless you have a very compelling reason to stay on it.

The problem is not in the SMB or other sharing settings, for sure - I tried using the rMBP with High Sierra on it - the results were the same - I can connect to the shared folders from Apple machines running OSX, I can connect from PC's, but cannot connect from Apple machines running in Bootcamp.

Is there some reason you won't upgrade your iMac at least Yosemite, if not to High Sierra?

The ugly user interface? Since Mavericks was the last of the previous generation user interface. I hate the new outlook of the current, as they call it, macOS. Not the original OSX. *sigh* since the Jobs' death, everything Apple does with their machines just gets me off. It is just wrong from my perspective. Sorry for the off topic reply.

 

[yuzgen]

Try shutting down your Mac, plugging off completely for 30 seconds, booting directly into Windows.

 

[h9826790]

Try to force use only SMB 1 (but not 2 or 3) for the whole connection.

 

[bookemdano]

Well aesthetics aside, running Mavericks is a security risk since it's no longer being patched, but as you said that's off-topic since the problem at hand doesn't appear to be related to 10.9.

For troubleshooting cases like this I like to look for differences, no matter how insignificant-seeming. As you said, no problems from macOS. No problems with native Windows machines. But problems with Bootcamp. So the answer will come in figuring out the differences between the bootcamp computers and your native windows computers.

Start with the version--I assume it's the same? I know you said 7, 8 and 10 for the native Windows computers but what version of Windows are you running on the Macs via Bootcamp?

How about drivers? On the bootcamp installs, did you use Bootcamp Assistant to install all the Apple-provided drivers and helper app?

Do you have any exotic networking set up? e.g. VLANs, different subnets, ACLs, Port Aggregation, etc? For that matter, how are the computers all networked--via gigabit ethernet or are any on WiFi? Which ones?

Here's what I would do. Get a spare SATA drive and a Win10 installer USB disk (create one with the MS Windows media creation utility, not bootcamp assistant). On your Mac Pro, plug in both of those (remove all other HDDs) and boot with the option key held down. Choose to boot from your Win10 installer drive and set up a brand new installation of Win10 on your SATA drive. I believe the ethernet port drivers are built in, so before you do anything else (don't install any bootcamp stuff), connect it via ethernet to your LAN and try to access your rMBP's shared drive. Don't screw with trying to access your iMac until you've had success on High Sierra. The truth is that Mavericks SMB2 is buggy as hell. Even if ultimately it's not the problem you should eliminate it as a testing ground to reduce the number of variables.

Honestly, it'd have been better posting this in the Bootcamp forum since the problem is affecting all your Macs, not just your Mac Pro. You might be more likely to run across a bootcamp pro over there also.

 

[Supersoberguy]

h9826790 and bookemdano, thank you for your responses. I will try everything you said and will report ASAP, but this project would be on weekend at least.

it'd have been better posting this in the Bootcamp forum

Now I'm guessing, that this would've been an action with more sense in it... Will try to post my problem there as well.

 

[Supersoberguy]

It seems like my message a year ago was not posted so I'll necropost this to close. In the end, nothing worked. I could make Bootcamped Windows to use the shared folder only after clean installing Windows 7. I did not find any solution with the previous Win 7 in the end. Consider topic as closed.