How can you tell if BSD Subsystem is installed in Mac OS X?

Hi Mac experts,

I would like know how to tell if the BSD Subsystem has been installed when
Mac OS X was installed by somebody else on a Mac.

If you wish to know why I have that question please read on. The deeper
question is about Mac OS X and Windows file
sharing.

I have PC experience and little Mac experience.

At the bottom of this email is a full set of instructions for enabling
Windows file sharing on Mac OS X.

They come from http://macos.about.com/library/weekly/aa070203a.htm

In part, the instructions are:


TO ENABLE WINDOWS FILE SHARING...

From the Finder, select: Apple Menu > System Preferences.

Click on the Show All icon to ensure all preferences are visible.

Click on the Sharing icon.

Click on the Services Tab.

Select 'Windows File Sharing' in the left column and click on the Start
button on the right.



At this point things don't work. Each time I click the Start button on the
right, 'Windows File Sharing' deselects itself after I try to lock in the
settings.


There is advice in Mac Help on the Macintosh as follows:

Window's File Sharing doesn't start
===================================

There are several reasons why Windows File Sharing may not start on your Mac
computer. Here are some things to check.

There may be a problem with your network cable or other hardware.

Make sure you are connected to the network and your TCP/IP connection is
working.

You may need to restart your computer.

You may not have installed the BSD Subsystem software when you installed Mac
OS X. If this is the case, you need to reinstall MAC OS X and make sure the
BSD Subsystem is selected in the installer. (Reinstalling Mac OS X does not
affect your existing settings).


I have eliminated all possibilities except the last one. Is there some way
to tell if the BSD Subsystem is installed? The guy who did the Mac OS X
install can't remember if he installed the BSD Subsystem.


TO ENABLE WINDOWS FILE SHARING
==============================

From the Finder, select: Apple Menu > System Preferences.

Click on the Show All icon to ensure all preferences are visible.

Click on the Sharing icon.

Click on the Services Tab.

Select 'Windows File Sharing' in the left column and click on the Start
button on the right.

Click on the Show All icon.

Click on the Accounts icon.

Click on the Users Tab.

Select the user who will be logging in from Windows in the left column and
click on the Edit User button on the right.

Select 'Allow user to log in from Windows' and hit the OK button.

Repeat as needed for other users who need to log in (if the user you want to
log in doesn't already exist you can create a new user from the Users Tab by
clicking on the 'New User' button).

Quit the System Preferences application by selecting menu item: System
Preferences > Quit System Preferences.

Note that you need administrative privileges to enable Windows file sharing.
If you are not logged in with an administrative account, first click the
lock icon at the bottom of the window and enter an administrator name and
password to make changes.

 

Brad Cooper:

Thanks for your post:

I've been networking PC's and Macs on my small office LAN for years. That
may or may not mean anything.

Let's deal with the deeper question first.

Have an open mind and you may discover that life can be be very pleasant.

This sounds very similar to what I see when I try to use native MacOS X
sharing.

Why? I've got DAVE (www.thursby.com) installed.

I'm not sure of the details but it seems DAVE wants to handle networking
--that's what I paid Thursby for after all-- with PC's, so it stands in the
way of enabling the native networking support, and those checkboxes uncheck
themselves. This is NOT a great interface -- a dialog should be thrown up
saying, "no, you've got DAVE installed, we can't let you do that".

I've had minor problems with DAVE but in generally, it works, and their
technical support is very good. In fact, I think DAVE is now unnecesary --
Macs will network with PCs natively, and I've bought into the current
version out of loyalty.

Check into DAVE. It (or a Thursby "lite" product with some of the same
capabilities) may be installed on your machine. You may have an out-of-date
version.

Use ping, either on the command line or via the network utility. This will
pretty well prove your connection, or tell you it is broken.

Use ping from your Win system's command line.

Have you checked networking visibility at the high level? Maybe it is
already working in one direction or both. Try Finder-->Go-->Connect to
Server. Are your Win boxes visible? On the Win side, first check that the
Win networking is working -- are the Win boxes mutually visible? Can you
see your Mac?

Shouldn't need to do that. Sometimes the time it takes to restart gives one
time to reflect more clearly on the issue at hand.

I dunno. You'll need a different person to address this. It seems to me
that the BSD subsystem is almost always included.

Don't know.

Good luck,

Henry

remove 'zzz'