Hi Daniel, Hi Matt, I guess it all boils down to just what you are trying to achieve and how you want to setup the new iMac and use it with the 2 older iMacs.
As Daniel says, and as I previously mentioned, you can certainly setup file sharing to work between different computers, different user accounts etc. I frequently use file sharing between my account on one computer and Georgie's account on another computer. But I have also encountered lots of problems when using different computers where I (inadvertently) ended up with MY account having the same login details but different User IDs on different computers - which is Matt's current situation. It is a while since I was doing all this - so I don't remember exact details/problems - but I think the basic problem boils down to that when the Mac looks at ownership and permissions for a file/folder it considers each User ID as a separate user - so if I set up the same two user accounts on two different computers, say Admin & User, but do it in a different order on each then I end up with the situation where User ID 501 is Admin on one computer and User on the other computer - and vice-versa. When things go wrong you can end up with Admin seeing & owning his own stuff on one computer but User's stuff on material that has come from the other computer - and vice-versa - and not being able to see/access stuff that he thinks belongs to him but now doesn't (I haven't really explained that too well, but it is a real pain when it happens) Each computer setup works fine on its own and, when sharing, you login using the correct details for the relevant account - so you can get access to the account with the same user name/password but different User ID. Then if you want to copy a document to your computer it will be given the correct permissions with you as owner. I don't really remember but I think the problems I had may have been either when I had a computer die and I was moving stuff from a clone to the new computer or when I had one computer in target mode and tried to move stuff. Not sure if it is relevant but I also use Dropbox & OneDrive to keep a lot of user files/folders the same across different macs. Anyway, all I know is once bitten.... So now any new computer gets: 1 a basic admin account User ID 501 2 my main user account User ID 502 3 if it is a computer that Georgie will use, she gets User ID 503! This consistent system seems to work for me. I am not sure exactly what Matt's setup is with regard to the different user accounts on each iMac, how they were setup and how he uses them - but the problems he described rang enough bells for me to deduce that his main user account on his new iMac had a different User ID to his same account on the older two iMacs.... YMMV Cheers Neil On 18/05/20, 16:59, "Daniel Kerr" <wamug.org.au-wamug-boun...@lists.wamug.org.au on behalf of wa...@macwizardry.com.au> wrote: Hi Matt I haven’t followed all of this thread so someone may have mentioned it. But a few things to check and adjust, as some of the later systems changed the type of File Sharing protocols in the background. On the newer iMac, go to System Preferences - Sharing. Click on File Sharing Untick File Sharing for the time being, so it’s not on. On the right hand side, click on “Options” Tick on Both "Share files and folders using SMB" and “AFP" (and you can tick your account under Windows File Sharing if you really want to as well). Then click Done. Then you should find it automatically ticks File Sharing on for you. Repeat the process on the older iMac as well. Then close System Preferences and restart. (Just to refresh the settings). Then log in using either the Side bar or Go menu - Connect to Server. - Browse. Log in to the other Mac, ensuring you’re using both the same name (either Full name or shortname) and the computer password of the account you’re logging in to. (You can tick the box to save this if you want to, so you don’t have to type it all the time). You should then find you can copy files. The details used are important. User details as log as correct (and different UserID) should make sharing fine. I share files between various computers at home, and if I share to my son’s computer (which has a different UserID, different username and different password). And I can log in fine with no issues moving files around all the computers. (Most are the standand ID501 as they were all set as new, but I have one machine that has 3 different UserID’s and I can log in to all of them and move a file no problems. Hope that helps. Kind regards Daniel Sent from my iPhone XS --- Daniel Kerr MacWizardry Phone: 0414 795 960 Email: <daniel AT macwizardry.com.au> Web: <http://www.macwizardry.com.au> **For everything Apple** NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion and as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of MacWizardry. Any information provided does not offer or warrant any form of warranty or accept liability. It would be appreciated that if any information in this email is to be disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the author be requested. > On 18 May 2020, at 8:52 am, Matt Falvey <mmfal...@bigpond.net.au> wrote: > > Hi Alan, I tried the screen sharing method and I was able to get it to work, but found it very awkward. In that to save a file to the second mac I had to make sure that the file was visible in its location in finder and on the screen on the first Mac, so that could be reflected on the screen of the second. So I could then copy it from that initial finder to the storage location on the second screen. > > What I am hoping to achieve is to be able to just be able to go Save As and an image of the files on the HD of the second mac opens up and I can select which folder to store the file in without having to actually go to that Mac. > > Thanks for your help. > > Matt. > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 15 May 2020 12:17:50 +0800 > From: Alan Smith <sma...@iinet.net.au> > To: WAMUG Mailing List <wamug@wamug.org.au> > Subject: Re: iMac not connecting to other iMac's > Message-ID: <0159a081-97ca-42ba-9c39-ba4a48f97...@iinet.net.au> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Hi Matt > > Have you read the official Apple help file to ?Share the screen of another Mac?? > > https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/mac-help/mh14066/mac > > I also have three Macs of various vintages. Initially I a few problems with stability with the 3 Macs all sharing at the same time. Works perfectly with any combination of two. > > Cheers, > Alan > > >> On 15 May 2020, at 11:54 am, Matt Falvey <mmfal...@bigpond.net.au> wrote: >> >> Hi, I have three iMacs (one is a recent second hand one - 2013 HD) and I am trying to transfer documents from one to the other. All show up as ?Shared? on the side bar of the finder window. >> >> With the two older iMacs when I click on the 2013 HD icon in Shared the window in the next column opens and states the HD name and ?Connection Failed? and I have the option Connect As and Share Screen. When I try Connect As and try to connect as the Registered User using the Name and Password, it reverts to the previous screen, with the Connection Failed. >> >> (The two older iMacs connect to each other.) >> >> If I go to the 2013 HD finder window and click on either of the other two HD?s they connect straight away and I am able to transfer files to the respective computer. >> >> I have also have a problem with the new 2013 HD, which was posted last week, with hindsight this may be associated to this problem and that is that when I try to save files to one of the other iMacs I get a message ?The document ?xxxxx.pdf? could not be exported as ? xxxxxxx.pdf? as You don?t have Permission. To view or change permissions select the item in the Finder and choose File > Get Info. Which needless to say doesn?t work. >> >> So it seems as if for whatever reason the other two are communicating inwards with the 2013 HD but something is stopping it from being able to connect outwards. >> >> I would be grateful if anyone has any ideas or solutions to share. >> >> Thanks >> >> Matt. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>