Question
How do I transfer files between Windows and macOS?
Solution
There are mulitple ways to accomplish this task. The first option detailed in this article involves sending files over a network; once the machines are connected, you can use either the Mac or the PC as the host. Other options include using a USB storage device (USB flash drive or hard drive), and using Microsoft OneDrive. Most affiliations at the University are aligible for 1 TB of storage space at this service hosted by Microsoft.
Via network using Windows as the host
- File sharing first needs to be enabled on the Windows machine. This process is different depending on the version of Windows.
- Windows 7:
- Go to Control Panel
- Choose Network and Sharing Center
- Choose Homegroup and Sharing options
- Change Advanced Sharing Settings
- Under the File and Printer Sharing section click "Turn on File and Printer Sharing"
- Save Changes
- Windows 8:
- Go to Control Pane l
- Choose Network and Internet
- Choose Network and Sharing Center
- Change Advanced Sharing Settings
- Under the File and Printer Sharing section click "Turn on File and Printer Sharing"
- Save Changes
- Windows 10:
- Go to Settings
- Choose Network and Internet
- Choose Network and Sharing Center
- Select "Change advanced sharing settings"
- Under the File and Printer Sharing section click "Turn on File and Printer Sharing"
- Save Changes
- Next, we need to connect to the Windows machine from the Mac. You can do this in one of two ways:
- Option 1:
- Open up a finder window, and on the left pane select "Network" under the "Favorites" or "Recent" heading
- If Network is not shown, click "Go" in the Menu Bar in the top left of your screen, and select "Network" from there.
- Find the name of the windows machine you wish to share with
- Click on the machine to bring up a folder view where you can drag and drop files to/from the shared folder
- Option 2 (more advanced):
- Select finder
- Click Go > Connect to Server (Shortcut for this is Command+K)
- Type in the prefix smb:// followed by the ip address or hostname of the windows machine. For example: smb://192.168.1.102 or smb://MyPC
- If you need to connect via IP address, (on the PC) simply click the wifi connection icon in the lower-left of the screen and click "Properties" next to the network you're connected to
Via network using macOS as the host
- File sharing first needs to be enabled on the Mac machine.
- Go to System Preferences
- Click on the Sharing category
- Click the check box next to "File Sharing"
- Click the options button
- Check the box next to "Share files and folders using SMB (Windows)"
- Important: Make a note of the address (IP or Hostname) of the Mac. It will be listed at the top of the sharing window
- Next, we need to connect to the Mac machine from Windows.
- Go to Start
- Use the Quick Search bar to type in \\ followed by the address of the Mac. For example: \\192.168.1.102 or \\MyMac
Using an external hard drive or USB flash drive
- When sharing files across different operating systems, it is important to make sure the media (transfer device) is of a file format supported by both platforms.
- Common filesystem formats are NTFS, HFS, APFS, exFAT, and FAT32
- NTFS has universal support on Windows. Macs are able to read this format, but cannot write files
- HFS and APFS have universal support on newer Mac operating systems, but Windows cannot access this format at any capacity
- exFAT and FAT32 are supported by both platforms, so this is recommended. FAT32 cannot support file sizes above 2 GB, so exFAT is preferred
- To format a device to a different filesystem, you must have all existing data backed-up to one of your computers, as it will be lost when the filesystem is changed
- For Windows:
- Search for My PC from your start menu
- Right-click the device of which you'd like to change the filesystem format
- Click format on the context menu
- Use the filesystem drop-down menu to pick your preferred format (exFAT)
- Proceed with the format by clicking Format on the bottom of the screen and confirming you're aware existing USB device data will be lost
- For Mac:
- Click the magnifying glass in the upper-right corner of the screen
- Search for and open DiskUtility.app
- In the left column, look for your USB drive beneath "External" and click it once to highlight it
- You may see a "partition" under the drive, but you can ignore this
- Click "Erase" in Disk Utility and select the preferred filesystem format (exFAT)
- The other settings shouldn't be important
- After confirming that the data on the USB will be deleted, you may exit disk utility
- Once you've verified that you have a filesystem format that is suitable for the transfer, simply transfer the files via the USB drive.
- Please be sure to safely eject/safely remove the drive before unplugging it
- For Windows:
- Right-click the icon of a USB drive in the system tray (lower-right corner)
- You may need to click the up-arrow to see it
- Click "Eject <your USB's name>"
- For Mac:
- Drag the USB's icon to the Trash
- The Trash icon will change to the ejection symbol
Using Microsoft OneDrive
- On the computer initializing the transfer, simply navigate to office.uoregon.edu
- log in with your full UO email address and password
- Find the blue cloud logo near the top of the page labelled "OneDrive"
- Click "Upload" near the top of the page and choose the File or Folder option depending on which you plan to upload
- In the small selection window that appears, you can select multiple files by holding the shift key (for a range), and the command key or control key for Mac and Windows, respectively
- In the upper-right corner of OneDrive, you will see "Uploading x item" while your files are being updated
- When this goes away, your files should be uploaded, but be sure to check your OneDrive's contents to be sure
- To download the files on your recipient device, repeat steps 1 and 2 above, then use the checkmarks to the left of the files you want to download to select them
- On the top of the page, simply choose "Download" and save them to the appropriate location on your device