OS 9 / OS X.2 File Sharing

This is a quick, terse walkthrough of screenshots taken under OS X 10.2.8 and OS 9.2.2 to set them up for mutual file sharing using a crossover cable. (This procedure appears almost exactly the same for OS 8.5 and OS 8.6 systems. The control panels used are almost identical, and differences seem cosmetic.) If you already have successfully set up a home network with a router or hub, you can use these instructions for an existing network instead. If you prefer to see the screenshots for OS X 10.3 Panther instead, see my OS X 10.3 walkthru here.

Another excellent resource is to simply type "file sharing" into OS X's Mac help (Finder's Help menu.)

Pertinent AppleCare KnowledgeBase articles

OS 9 / OS X File Sharing

You will need to connect the two Macs together in a network. A direct Mac-to-Mac ethernet cable, a hub, switch, or router can be used, though this page does not assume a router or concurrent Internet connection. Here's an Apple KBase article that covers tha basics and has links to both OS X and OS 9 info. (If you are running a cable directly between two Macs, see this article to see if a cross-over cable is necessary for your Mac model. New Macs with 100BaseT ethernet have autosense that can work with either a straight-through or a cross-over cable. Older 10baseT Ethernet Macs will need a crossover cable.)

If this is a temporary set-up and you change your existing network settings, remember to make a note of what the old settings were so you can restore them when you are done. With OS X you may wan to make a new Network Location for these temporary settings to it's easy to go back to the current settings.

Try this process on the OSX system:

On the OS 9 system:

(This procedure appears almost exactly the same for OS 8.5 and OS 8.6 systems.)

On the OS 9 system:

On the OS X system:

Good Luck!


You can check the rest of my home network config info here.

If something above seems missing, confusing or down-right wrong, you can eMail me as car1son at my .Mac account. (Please be specific at what point things went wrong and how they went wrong.)

Good luck!