Every time I think I have my file sharing problem solved in my mixed Apple/Win network, it goes kaflooee. Here's what I have -- Win7/64, XPSP3, Macbook Pro, Nas (Synology.) The problem is with the Macbook's "Finder" show my Windows shares. All the win machines show all the shares and all work with file sharing. I can get the MacBook (Snow Leopard) to "mount" the shares by using finder's go->connect to service or by registering the Mac's password and user name in the Admin accounts on the XP or WIN7 machine. For a while, I got the Win shares to show up on the Mac by creating a guest account on all three machines and making sure all sharing boxes are checked and so forth. Yes everything is in the same Workgroup, yes "file sharing" is turned on on each machine. I even put the IP address in the WINS tab on the Mac. The only share that show us in Finder is my NAS and it shows up as a Mac Server because it is built to be both a Win and Mac server. And here is the strangest part of all. If I shut down everything, reset the modem and router (WTN160N) and turn on (IN THIS ORDER) the XP box, then the Win7 then the Mac, they are all there, all the guests. But if I just turn on the WIN7 box, it will not show up in Finder no matter what I try. And if I turn off the XP box, the Win7 share disappears. Maybe I set the network up wrong a long time ago (machines have come and gone). Maybe the Mac cognoscenti are correct -- there a bug in OX10.6 that is screwing up share in Finder because this worked well under Tiger. Maybe I have a "share slip" -- I made that up. Point is, I've read everything, tried everything and still can't get simple file sharing using guests accounts to show up in Finder. Win machines are fine -- everything appears in Network neighborhood etc. It's the bleeping Mac.

This sounds like a "Computer Browser" problem. Since you do not have a proper windows 2000/2003/2008 server serving as a WINS server. Set the Win 7 service for Computer browser to automatically start.

It worked. I had been setting the NAS as the master, which let me see all the shares on every machine, but the trade-off was the two HDs in the NAS could not be put in hiberation (which really extends their life). I must have searched for an answer to this for weeks. Thanks very much Mr. Vaughn. This is really an excellent site.