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OS X and Windows 2000 Networking

In this article I will describe how I set up OS X and Windows 2000 to access shared folders and printers on Windows 2000.

This is relatively simple, although the Apple documentation makes it seem easier than it is. The task is complicated by seemingly non-standard URIs in OS X and required services on Windows 2000 that may not be running.

I will assume a working knowledge of configuring Windows 2000 and OS X using their GUIs, so this won‘t be a complete step-by-step for ’idiots’, but it should certainly give you a lot of help. Firstly we need to set up file sharing (even if you are only interested in printing, there are important steps you need to follow here).

You’ll need a network connection between the two devices. The following should work with either a Ethernet or WiFi connection. The following works for me on OS X 10.2.5 and Windows 2000 SP3.

  1. Setting up File Sharing
    1. On Windows 2000, go to Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services. Make sure that the following services are started and set to start automatically: Network DDE and Network DDE DSDM . These services seem to be needed for resolving names. Without these services running on Windows 2000, you will get an error number of –36 when trying to connect from OS X.
    2. Make sure you are sharing a folder on Windows 2000! When choosing the share name, make sure it is all one word (i.e. don’t use “Windows Shares Like Spaces”, use “UNIXDoesntLikeSpaces”). Be sure to set the permissions you’ll want to when sharing.
    3. On OS X’s Finder, use the Go -> Connect to Server… menu option. OS X will looks for machines on the local network. Alternatively, enter the URI to the machine you want to connect to in the form: smb://WORKGROUP;MACHINENAME/ where WORKGROUP is the name of the Windows workgroup the machine doing the sharing is part of and MACHINENAME is the name of the Windows machine doing the sharing.
    4. Click on the machine you want to connect to and OK the dialog. The network connection should be mounted on your OS X desktop.
  2. Setting up Printer Sharing
    1. Ensure that the printer you want to share is set up correctly on the Windows 2000 machine and that you can print to it from Windows.
    2. In Wiindows 2000, share the printer, again choosing a share name that is all one word (see step 1.2).
    3. On OS X, dowload and install ESP GhostScript and GIMP-Print (in that order) from here.
    4. Instead of using OS X’s Print Center, I have found it much easier to use the web-based ESP Printer Manager. Open a web browser and go to http://localhost:631
    5. Click “Do Administration Tasks” -> Add Printer
    6. Give the printer a name, describe its location and give it a description. Click Continue.
    7. Select Windows Printer via SAMBA. Click Continue.
    8. Enter the address of the printer as: smb://WORKGROUP;WINUSER@WINMACHINE/PRINTERSHARENAME where:
      WORKGROUP is the name of the Windows workgroup the machine sharing the printer is part of, WINUSER is the username of the user sharing the printer, WINMACHINE is the name of the Windows machine sharing the printer, and PRINTERSHARENAME is the share name of the printer. Click Continue.
    9. Select the make of your printer. Click Continue.
    10. Select the model of your printer. Click Continue.
    11. Click on Printers at the top of the page, and then click Print Test Page for the printer you just added. You should be able to print.

This document was compiled from various sources on the net including:

© Chris Rose