If you want to share files with other people ( and who does n’t these days ? ) , you’re able to always commit the file via east - mail or iChat . But it ’s far more efficient just to give your pardner shared access to the file , folders , and volume on your Mac and let them get the files themselves .
Unfortunately , OS X has n’t always made file sharing easy . Tiger and predate versions of Mac OS go lacked some filing cabinet - sharing feature — such as the power to partake folders as networked volume — found even in Mac OS 9 ; plus the tools you used to configure data file sharing were n’t always as straight as they should have been .
Sharing Preference Pane : In Leopard ’s Sharing predilection superman , you could specify which folders and volumes you want to share , with whom , and how . The good news is that in Mac OS X 10.5 , Apple has dramatically improved the tool you practice to share all kinds of resources from your Mac across local networks and the cyberspace . And some of the bountiful — and handiest — of these melioration are in the elbow room Leopard lets you share files , brochure , and volumes . In the communion preference pane , you could now specify which folders and volumes you need to share , which users get what kind of access , and which file - sharing protocol they ’ll use , all with drag - and - driblet ease . Here ’s how it works .
Sharing Preference Pane: In Leopard’s Sharing preference pane, you can specify which folders and volumes you want to share, with whom, and how.
What to share
To set off , launch System Preferences , select the share pane , and choose File Sharing in the Service lean .
At that point , you ’ll see two windows : Shared Folders and Users . As the name implies , you use the first one to share full folder and volumes . you may add a brochure or intensity to the Shared Folders list in two ways : sweep it from the Finder into the Shared Folders windowpane , or press the plus - sign ( + ) button and navigate to the booklet you need to share .
you could choose to divvy up any mounted volume — including a disk persona — that is n’t itself a connection book . you could share the entire volume or any directory within it . By default , this leaning already admit your public folder .
Guest Accounts: You can give guests the ability to log in to your Mac or restrict them to shared folders only.
Note that you’re able to also share folders and volumes in the Finder by pick out an detail , choosing File : Get Info , and select General : Shared Folder .
Whom to share with
In previous version of Mac OS X , if you want to partake Indian file with someone , you had to coiffe up a new chronicle , with its own alone login and parole . In Leopard , the process is much simple .
Now you may bring or remove users and groups in the Users list . To remove one or more masses , you select a user or group and select the minus ( - ) push button . To add together users , you press the plus button ; when you do so , you ’ll see a lean of users and chemical group in the Accounts preference pane . You ’ll also see an entranceway for your Address Book ; you may choose any contact , come home on Select , and lay out a password , create a Sharing Only chronicle .
you’re able to create wholly new users by clack on the New Person clit in the unlabeled dialogue box that come along when you tap the plus release . Any new users you create here will also appear in the Accounts predilection pane as Sharing Only users . ( The Guest explanation is n’t listed here because it ’s included as part of the special Everyone group , and is not available otherwise . )
monition : Do not remove or modify the default users for the startup volume or for special folders like System or Library . Doing so could disable Mac OS X and require a boot from the startup videodisk and a misstep through Disk Utility ’s Repair Permissions tool .
Leopard lets you configure file memory access for sure special classes of user , as well as for the people in your Address Book and Accounts tilt .
Guest Accounts : you may give guests the power to lumber in to your Mac or restrict them to shared folders only . If you front at the Accounts preference pane , you will see a substance abuser named Guest . This history allow other people use your Mac without compromise the surety of your own account . But it also gives them password - costless access to bulk you choose to share . So if you select the Guest exploiter in the Accounts preference pane and start the Allow Guests To Connect To Shared Folders option , anyone with web admittance to your Mac will be able-bodied to get at your shared folder without having to provide a password . ( The Guest account ca n’t get at file via FTP . )
you’re able to also coiffe up a new history type : Sharing Only . As the name implies , a Sharing Only account has distant admittance to shared booklet and volumes on the Mac on which the news report is go down up , but no login privileges on that Mac .
you’re able to create Sharing Only users in the Accounts preference pane by produce a new account and selecting Sharing Only from the New Account drop curtain - down carte . you’re able to also create a new share-out Only user from the File Sharing pane by clicking on the positive button under the Users list ; by default , that newfangled drug user will be allow Sharing Only privileges . ( share Only substance abuser can get at remote volume only via Apple Filing Protocol [ AFP ] , not FTP or Samba . )
you could select any folder or volume that you added in Shared Folders , and coiffure specific access rights that correspond to user or groups of drug user . When you select a share detail , the Users name to its right fills with any existing license . For a folder in your home directory , you are usually listed along with the special Everyone user , which set access for all account on the computer , include the Guest substance abuser .
you’re able to specify one of four kinds of approach rights — read only , read - write , write only , or no access code — via the drop - down menu to the right hand of the drug user or group name . Read - write access devote substance abuser complete creative and destructive rightfulness to all data file in the share brochure . user with read - only entree can view files and pamphlet , but they ca n’t change them . With write - only admittance , they can copy document into the folder , but they ca n’t view its capacity . ( That ’s why Apple helpfully appends the phraseDrop Boxto the Write Only introduction in the menu . )
Drop boxes are useful when you ’re endeavor to let people submit information but choose to give them no other access to the organisation . By nonpayment , Mac OS X sets up a share Public pamphlet in each drug user ’s home directory : the pamphlet is set to translate - only position , and a Drop Box folder inside Public is set to write - only status .
How to share
With permissions for access arrange , you now need to pick out the method — and protocol — you use to divvy up files . Leopard , like Tiger and Panther , offer up built - in support for AFP , FTP , and Samba .
Leopard improves tremendously on old versions of OS X by making all three services accessible from one central emplacement . Unfortunately , you ca n’t specify what you want to share according to each share-out protocol . The permissions you grant to any given volume , folder , user , or grouping ride out the same no matter which share communications protocol you expend .
To assign how a given resource will be divvy up , sink in on the Options button in the File Sharing pane and take the protocol you want .
Typically you ’ll need to use AFP when sharing among Mac user . Previous implementations of AFP used unencrypted passwords , which create a security hazard , but this is no longer the case . Unfortunately , that means some older system may not be capable to touch base to your Mac if you ’re using AFP . Also , if systems that are n’t yet using Mac OS X seek to get in touch to a Leopard AFP server , you ’ll have to enable AppleTalk on the user interface over which you ’re share . ( Go to the web predilection pane , select the appropriate adapter and then its AppleTalk tab , and turn that option on or off ; mark that only one adapter can have AppleTalk active at a time . )
Samba is the honorable option if you ’re sharing files among mixed Mac , Windows , and Linux or Unix systems . Samba passwords are stored with sapless security than those used for Mac OS X. But to work even this weaker encryption , a malicious hacker must have access to the Samba password file cabinet ; countersign in passage ca n’t be cracked by any known mean .
FTP offer the most unexclusive access to your files , but that ’s not inevitably a good thing : Leopard tolerate any full user account to connect via FTP without paying tending to the Shared Folders list of approachable shared volume and folders . FTP users can pass over all mounted drives to which they have at least read - only permission .
FTP does n’t encrypt countersign at all , so it ’s unsuitable for use on any public connection . You could apply inviolable FTP ( SFTP ) , which uses solid encoding , but it is n’t integrated into Leopard ’s File Sharing service . Instead , you enable SFTP by turn on the Remote Access service . SFTP lacks the constellation alternative of FTP , so all physically join local intensity are shared .
How to access files
Once you ’ve set up Indian file sharing , other users can get at your Mac by selecting it from the Shared inclination in the Finder . By default , Mac OS X will unite as a Guest . If you want to connect as a non - Guest user , clack on the Connect As button and enter the appropriate user name and countersign . resource shared in Samba , whether from another Mac , a PC , or a Unix boxful , show up with a Windows blue - screen - of - decease image ( very witty , Apple ) . AFP icon correspond to the specific Mac model .
To connect to a waiter outside your local connection , pick out Go : tie To Server from the Finder . Enter an IP address , a sphere name , or even a Bonjour name to connect to AFP server . ( Not all IP addresses are publicly reachable outside the local web ; see “ Back To My Mac ” for a result to that trouble . ) For SMB or FTP , precede the name with smb:// or ftp:// , severally . For FTP , you’re able to also use a stand - alone single file - transfer course of study .
With both local and remote connection , Leopard no longer shows the mounted volumes on the screen background by nonremittal . select Finder : Preferences and press General , and then select Connected Servers to show networked volumes on the desktop .
Screen sharing
Just as Leopard has made file sharing round-eyed than ever , it has made concealment sharing — which lets you see and even control someone else ’s Mac screen , or vice versa — possible without any third - company package .
Giving access to your system is unsubdivided : Launch System Preferences , select the Sharing pane , and select Screen Sharing in the Service list . To limit access to specific people , press the Only These Users button , and pick out which users can remotely control the blind ; users must then enter their Mac OS X passwords for access code .
Accessing a remote system of rules is a bit trickier . Leopard offer five ways to do so .
The FinderOver a local mesh , any computer that has Screen Sharing enabled advertises that fact via Bonjour . Open any Finder windowpane , and pick out the waiter from the sidebar ’s deal list . If Screen share-out is enabled , a Share Screen release should appear . select that and figure the appropriate substance abuser name and password for that computer .
iChat AV 4Select a buddy , and the Screen Sharing release will ( or wo n’t ) light up , depending on whether that contact has Screen Sharing enabled .
get across on that button , and you ’ll be offered the selection to partake in My Screen WithBuddyor Ask To ShareBuddy ’s Screen .
InternetUsing the Screen Sharing programme in /System / Library / CoreServices , infix the IP address or domain name of the remote system , and you ’ll be propel for login selective information .
VNC on Tiger or Other PlatformsTo approach a Leopard system from Tiger , you ’ll necessitate a VNC client;Chicken of the VNCmay be the best choice .
On the Leopard system , rick on VNC access by pick out the Screen Sharing overhaul in the Sharing preference pane and tick on the Computer configurations button . Select VNC Access and enter a parole to allow VNC utilization .
Leopard users can access remote VNC organization directly through the Screen Sharing program or via the Finder sidebar ’s Shared list using Bonjour , for those systems that support Bonjour .
In the Tiger system that you ’re make accessible , go to the Sharing taste pane and select Apple Remote Desktop . tap the Access Privileges button , and pick out which users to enable by select their names and then select Control .
Back To My Mac
Once you ’ve done that , uncommitted Back To My Mac systems should come along in the Finder sidebar ’s Shared mathematical group . The services available on that particular computer — File Sharing and/or Screen Sharing — should show up when you select the remote estimator . Shared folders should appear mechanically ; clicking on Share Screen should n’t require a separate countersign entry .
The glitch in Back To My Mac is that it can have a toilsome time accessing Macs that connect to the Net through router and Wi - Fi al-Qa’ida station . If the Mac you ’re trying to access does n’t have a publicly approachable IP name and address , you need to configure the router it ’s sit behind . If you ’re using an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express router ( any version ) , that means enabling connection Address Translation Port Mapping Protocol ( NAT - PMP ) . On other routers , it means turning on Universal Plug and bid ( UPnP ) .
On router without either feature , embrasure mapping might allow you to create a tunnel between the router and a single computer on the gateway ; Apple has a Knowledge Base clause on how to make that work .
[ Glenn Fleishman is the author ofTake Control of Sharing Files in Leopard(TidBits Publishing , 2007 ) . ]
