Transfer files from Mac to XP

I am not sure where this belongs so forgive me if this is wrong.

Basically someone wants me to transfer some data from her iBook G4 to a XP based pc.

I read a site that told me all I need to do is connect a straight cable between the NIC on each machine and the mac will auto detect the pc and then I can transfer the files to the shared folder on the PC. All I can say is yea right.

Does anyone know of a way to do this? I have a cross cable as well as a switch and some straight cables.


Thanks

I'm pretty sure you just connect them. My friend got an Intel iMac and transferred files between his pc like that. I'm not positive though; he might have had to do something to get it to work.

I am just not sure how to set up the network. The PC displayed that it only had limited connectivity....

To connect 2 seperate NICs in 2 seperate computers you need a crossover cable... at least that's how the 90% of the computing world does it. Whether your mac needs it or not, I dunno.

Either buy one (expensive) or else convert your cat 5 cable to a crossover cable. Google it.

crossover cables aren't exspensive.

as for transfering files, i would just share a folder on the pc and connect to it with the mac and send over the files. SMB must be disabled for this to work though.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;887429

I have a crossover cable, I also have several switches and so on. None of this worked.

I guess I should list what I tried so I can cut to the chase.

Tried a straight cable as told in several tutorials. MAC---PC
Pc listed limited connectivity.

Tried a crossover cable as you would need with 2 PCs Mac><PC
Still limitided connectivity on the pc.

Tried a switch with 2 straight cables. MAC---[]---PC
all seemed fine other than the fact I could not see either machine from the other....

Does anyone have any experience with this....????

Here is the easiest way to do it.

Connect both computers to a switch/router/hub

Go on the Mac, and in System Prefrences, go to Sharing, make sure the Windows Sharing is enabled.

Once you do that, turn off the PC, turn off the MAC.

Turn on the PC and let it get into windows.

Turn on the MAC... Go to the HDD on the desktop, and on the left side, click Network

It SHOULD show the PC there, it will either be called 'WORKGROUP' or 'MSHOME'

if you are using a router, from the PC you can access the MAC via the IP address

example - \\192.168.1.100 or something like that. Type the Username and Password of the Admin on the MAC, it will show all the files in his home directory.

Its alot easier then it sounds, I do it every day of the week.

Thank you

I will let you know

The part I said about disabling SMB was bad info. That was on older version of OS X.

The above description looks right. Thats how it works for me.

What I do for my iBook and PC with XP:

on the mac:
open preferences, select sharing, and click the windows sharing box

on the pc:
right click my computer, select 'map network drive',
type in \\macipaddresshere\usernameformac
select the 'login as different user' or something to that effect, and put in your mac username and password.
Press ok, and you should have mapped a network drive to your pc that lets you access your users folder on the mac.