There are three services in Sharing preferences that are likely to need trouble shooting if problems occur: file sharing, firewall access, and Internet Sharing. For example, file sharing is a robust and easily-configured service, but because it "just works," it can be hard to know where to start troubleshooting. This section provides some guidance to direct your troubleshooting efforts. Troubleshooting File SharingIf users are unable to connect to your computer, try the following:
Troubleshooting the FirewallUsing the firewall protects your computer from potential exploits, and is essential in any network environment that is directly exposed to the Internet. However, it is designed to protect your computer by blocking access, and it can block network services that you want to share. If you share a service and it is not available to other computers on your network, check the firewall service. You can specifically open ports for services and programs to which you want to allow access, such as iTunes, iPhoto, or iChat. You can also open ports for network-aware games, or even to provide special access to particular services. Keep in mind that every open port is a potential source of intrusion into your computer. The ipfw.log file is very useful for troubleshooting firewall issues, because it can show all types of firewall usage, including denied port requests that might indicate some kind of attack. Troubleshooting Internet SharingIf you use the firewall, clients of your shared Internet connection may receive an IP address from your computer, but find that they cannot browse websites. Enable Personal Web Sharing in the Services pane of Sharing preferences to open a firewall port and allow computers sharing your connection to browse the web. MORE INFO Refer to Knowledge Base document 107653, "Mac OS X 10.2 or Later: Firewall Blocks Internet Sharing." Internet Sharing with WEP may not allow Windows wireless computers on the network. WEP has two methods to authenticate. Windows defaults to "Open," whereas Mac OS X uses "Shared." AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express Base Stations support both modes. Windows systems may be able to use "Shared" or "Auto/Both." Check the advanced configuration options in Windows wireless software. |