Cynthetiq

Question to the Mac tech folks, why can't I see a Mac on my home network via my XP machines and vice versa? I used to be able to see it. PCs are running XPsp3.

Mac is running OS X 10.5.8. The Mac is running iTunes 9.0.2 (though it is almost never actually running on the Mac), and the PC is running 8.0.2.20 because people were complaining about newer versions of iTunes.

Anyone have any suggestions?

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Redlemon

Why are you mentioning the iTunes? Are you trying specifically to share music?

(I don't cross-network, so I have no answers, just trying to help frame the question.)

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Cynthetiq

I believe that there's something with Bonjuour that maybe causing a problem since that's how I understand that Macs announce themselves to other machines. Bonjour got installed because of itunes. I am wondering if there's maybe a conflict in versions.

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Martian

You say you used to be able to see it. Was that last week, last month, last year? Have their been any significant hardware or software changes between then and now?

I rarely deal with Macs and no little about them, but when I have issues getting a linux box and a windows box talking to each other, my first avenue of investigation is always network topology. Windows Networking is incredibly fragile that way, and doesn't like subnets or anything that could potentially get in the way.

Discovery occurs on the network via broadcasting (UDP, I believe) and a restrictive firewall can cause problems as well.

EDIT -- Bonjour? That's Apple's zeroconf implementation.

My apologies; I may have jumped ahead a bit here.

What is it precisely that you're trying to do? Are you sharing files between boxen, streaming media, etc?

Windows file sharing is typically accomplished via SMB; specifically, Microsoft's 'extended' implementation of SMB that's typically referred to as Windows Networking (formerly known as Network Neighbourhood). I don't know what the Mac client for SMB is, but in *nix Samba is the generally accepted means of accomplishing this. Given OS X's heritage, there's a strong chance that it's exactly what you'll need, too.

These sorts of things can be difficult to diagnose without physical access to the boxen in question, but I can try to advise further. Important things to know is whether the different boxen on the network can ping each other, as well as a general overview of the network topology.

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ratbastid

You might not like this answer, because it's a little more Mac-ish than you'd probably prefer, but...

There's a Windows Bonjour client that if you installed it on your windows machines, would zeroconf right up with that Mac. Literally, no thinking involved, a magic piece of software from Cupertino handles everything. I believe it is doing SMB behind the scenes, but who cares. If I wanted to twiddle config files, I'd still be running Ubuntu on my desktop.

It's right here:
Bonjour for Windows

Cynthetiq

what's strange is I do have bonjour installed, it installed because of itunes, and then again because of Tivo desktop. Interesting, now that you mention it I couldn't see my PC with bonjour on the Tivo, but when I changed to the other option I was.

I'll try installing this possibly newer version of bonjour.

---------- Post added at 04:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:20 PM ----------

forgot to mention that the SMB was not active on the Mac for some reason so now can see Mac to PC.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Cynthetiq

Okay for my PC i had to uninstall the bonjour that was there. For whatever reason it was broken. Once I re-installed it, I could see it without issue. I'll check the Tivo now, and Skogafoss has to check her PC still.

thanks for the help.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.