Set up a Mac to share files with Windows users
To let users connect to your Mac from a Windows computer, turn on file sharing and enable SMB sharing.
Set up file sharing on the Mac
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Sharing.
Select the File Sharing checkbox, then click Options.
Select “Share files and folders using SMB.”
In the Windows File Sharing list, select the checkbox next to the user account that will be used to share files with Windows users, enter the password for that user, then click OK.
Click Done.
Choose View > Network, select your active connection, then click Advanced.
Click the WINS tab, then enter the workgroup name used by the Windows computer.
If you don’t know the workgroup name, on the Windows computer open Control Panel > System and Security > System. (Windows computers normally use either WORKGROUP or MSHOME.)
Click OK, then click Apply.
Provide the information Windows users need
To connect to your Mac, Windows users need the network address for your Mac, and a user name and password to use to log in to your Mac.
To find your Mac computer’s network address, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Sharing, then select File Sharing. The address appears below the “File Sharing: On” indicator, and looks similar to this example: smb://17.212.167.33/.
Create an account on your Mac for each Windows user. To create accounts, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Users & Groups.
If you want to use an account that existed before you installed the latest version of macOS, you may need to reset the password for the account in Users & Groups preferences.
Because the passwords of user accounts used for Windows sharing may be stored in a less secure manner, turn off the account when it’s not being used. Before you turn off Windows sharing, turn off all the accounts you enabled. Otherwise, the passwords are still stored less securely.