How To Connect A Desktop To A Laptop Windows And Mac

If your Control Panel page has “Small icons” or “Large icons” in the top-right corner, skip this step.

IP address - Type in 192. 168. 1. 1 Subnet mask - Type in 255. 255. 255. 0

Go to the Network and Sharing center in the same way that you did on the desktop. Open the Ethernet properties, select Internet Protocol Version 4, and click Properties Check the “Use the following IP address” box at the top of the page. Type 192. 168. 1. 2 into the “IP address” field. Type 255. 255. 255. 0 into the “Subnet mask” field. Click OK twice.

You can also create a new folder to share.

Click Share in the top-left side of the window. Click Specific people. . . Click the drop-down arrow. Click Everyone Click Share Click Done when prompted.

Find the files that you want to share. Select the files. Press Ctrl+C to copy the files. Open the shared folder. Press Ctrl+V to paste the files.

You may have to scroll down through the far-left column of folders to access the desktop computer’s name.

You can also add files from your laptop to the shared folder if you want to access them on the desktop computer.

You can also use this method if both computers are connected to the same network using an ethernet cable, such as through a router or switch. The steps are similar in both Windows 10 or Windows 11.

File Explorer is the folder icon on the taskbar or in the Windows menu.

You can also share individual files instead of folders if you’d like.

By default, the file or folder is automatically shared with the owner’s account. If you sign in to both the laptop and the desktop using the same account, you don’t have to add any other accounts.

If you’re the owner of the file and plan to sign in with the same account on both computers, you don’t need to adjust permissions—you already have full permissions.

If network discovery and file sharing are not turned on, you’ll be prompted to turn these services on now. You can choose No if you’re currently on a private network, such as at home, or Yes if you want to enable file sharing over public networks (such as coffee shops and college campuses).

If this computer doesn’t have network discovery and file sharing turned on, you’ll need to turn it on now. Click the yellow bar at the top of the window, and then choose No if you’re currently on a private network, or Yes if you want to enable file sharing over public networks.

Repeat for all other folders you want to share.

You can choose Everyone to make the files available to anyone who connects to your network, or select a group to make the file available to everyone in that group.

The folder or file(s) are now shared.

Click Network under “Locations” in the left panel. After a moment, you’ll see the name of the other Mac in the list. Double-click the name of the other Mac. Click Connect As at the top-right corner. Log in to the other Mac using any active account. You can now drag and drop files between the desktop and laptop.

Transferring files over Thunderbolt is a lot faster than transferring files over Wi-Fi. [4] X Research source You can also visit https://support. apple. com/en-us/HT201736 to find out which Mac models have Thunderbolt 3 and 4 ports.

If one of your Macs has Thunderbolt 2 instead of Thunderbolt 3 or 4, you can use a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter.

If you don’t see this option, click the + below the list of connections in the left panel, select Thunderbolt Bridge from the “Interface” menu, and then click Create.

File Explorer is the folder icon on the taskbar or in the Windows menu.

You can also share individual files instead of folders if you’d like.

If you’re the owner of the file and plan to sign in with the same account on both computers, you don’t need to adjust permissions—you already have full permissions.

If you don’t see the PC, click All to display all shared computers first.

You can also create a new folder to share.

Click Share in the top-left side of the window. Click Specific people. . . Click the drop-down arrow. Click Everyone Click Share Click Done when prompted.

If you don’t see Go in the menu bar, open Finder or click the desktop to make it appear.

You can find the Windows computer’s IP address by opening Start, clicking Settings {“smallUrl”:“https://www. wikihow. com/images/d/d0/Windowssettings. png”,“bigUrl”:"/images/thumb/d/d0/Windowssettings. png/31px-Windowssettings. png",“smallWidth”:460,“smallHeight”:445,“bigWidth”:31,“bigHeight”:30,“licensing”:"<div class="mw-parser-output">

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\n</p></div>"}, clicking Network & Internet, clicking Status, clicking View your network properties, scrolling down to the “Name: Wi-Fi” section, and looking at the address to the right of the “IPv4 address” heading.

Check the “Registered User” box. Enter the desktop’s account username into the “Username” text field. Enter the desktop’s account password into the “Password” text field. Click Connect

Find the files that you want to share. Select the files. Press Ctrl+C to copy the files. Open the shared folder. Press Ctrl+V to paste the files.

Open Finder if it’s not already open. Click the Windows computer’s name on the left side of the Finder. Open the shared folder. Select the shared files. Click Edit at the top of the screen, then click Copy Select a folder in which you want to store the shared files (e. g. , Desktop). Click Edit at the top of the screen, then click Paste Items

Both the Windows and Mac computers will need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi or wired network to use this method.

Write down the IP address that you see under “File Sharing: On” that looks something like this: smb://17. 212. 167. 33. You’ll need this address to connect from the Windows PC.

Repeat for all other folders you want to share.

If you want to share with a Windows user who doesn’t already have an account on this Mac, you should create an account for that user and select it here. You can choose Everyone to make the files available to anyone who connects to your network, or select a group to make the file available to everyone in that group.

The folder or file(s) are now shared.

View menu and select Network. Select your current connection and click Advanced… Click the WINS tab. Enter the workgroup name from the Windows PC. If you don’t know it, go to Control Panel on the Windows PC, click System, and then click Workgroup. The default name is usually WORKGROUP. Click OK and then Apply.

Open File Explorer on the PC—it’s the folder icon in the taskbar or in the Windows menu. [8] X Research source Click Network in the left panel. If network sharing isn’t turned on, you’ll be prompted to turn it on now. Double-click the Mac and enter your login info. The files are now available.