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johnybgood

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Mac will not connect to Windows Small Business Server

I have a SBS with several XP PC's connected and all works fine.  Just bought a Mac with tiger 10.4.10 OS, network works fine and I can access data on the shares on the PC's but alas not on the server, when I try and connect to the server it asks for a login name and password as part of the SMB/CIFS File System Authentication process, when I enter name and password (I know these are correct as I log on using these credentials from the PC's.) it says 'The alias "server name" could not be opened, because the original item could not be found'
Being my first encounter with Mac I am struggling here, any answers please.
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budchawla
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johnybgood

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Thanks for that link, I spent a few hours following the instructions and altering the system but to no avail!  The only server it can find is the apple.local server. Other short cuts for the server are invalid.

I can ping the SBS server on the MAC and get a reply both by name and IP address but it does not seem to recognize it in finder.  Can anyone think of anything else?
Ah... are you using a .local extension for your domain?
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Jeffrey Kane - TechSoEasy
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Hi Bud
Yes I am using a .local extension, it was set up by the original equipment suppliers like that and I don't know how to or indeed what the ramifications are of changing it so I am trying to work round it.

John
Hi,
The links I provided above and the initial document (as Jeff pointed out) should provide you with enough information to get going...
You can't change the SBS's domain name without a complete reinstallation.  That's why you need to just modify the Mac's DNS settings.

Jeff
TechSoEasy
Thanks for that Jeff, saves me time looking in that direction. I keep going back to see what I have missed as it aint workin yet!!!
John
John,
Did you follow all the steps? And still no joy?

How about the workaround from http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20021212074234953 this page, to manually put an entry into the hosts file for the Mac... far from elegant, but if you've got only 1 Mac then it may be enough, or may temporarily get you going until you figure out what's going on...