Connecting to Active Directory resources using Mac OS X
Macintosh computers do not support Active Directory natively, but they are capable of connecting to Active Directory-based file shares. These instructions work for any version of Mac OS X later than 10.1. If you are using an older version of the operating system, such as Mac OS 9, please see this page. Mac OS X 10.0.x is not supported. It is highly recommended that you use Mac OS X version 10.2 or later to connect to Active Directory resources. Note that you need to know the name of the server and file share that you are connecting to ahead of time; this information will most likely be provided by an instructor if you are a student or a departmental administrator if you are faculty or staff.
To connect, follow the steps below:
- Before you will be able to connect, you must ensure that your
Kerberos password has been synchronized with the Active Directory.
To do this, complete the form on this
page. It will take approximately fifteen minutes for the
changes to take effect. You only need to do this once. You will
need to follow the rest of the steps below each time you wish
to connect.
- If you are running Mac OS X 10.4.5 or earlier, download and install the Microsoft UAM (User
Authentication Module) for Mac OS X. It is available
from this
page. Be sure that you download the Mac OS X version. This step is NOT necessary with Mac OS X 10.4.6 or later.
- Once you have installed the Microsoft UAM, you are ready to
connect. To do so, go to the Go Menu, and choose
Connect to Server…
- Enter the server name in the box in the format of smb://servername,
where "servername" is replaced with the actual name
of the server. Click Connect.
- This will bring up an authentication window. In the window,
enter AD for the domain, and enter your BU
login name and Kerberos password.
Click OK.
- You will then be prompted with a dialog to select the name of the share that you wish to connect to. All shares to which you have access should appear in the list. Select the appropriate share, and click OK. The share will mount as any other disk would. When you are done, you disconnect by selecting the disk and choosing Eject from the File Menu.
Note that if you are connecting from off campus (for example, through a cable modem or DSL) that you must connect to the Boston University Campus Network through the VPN before following the above steps. Information of the VPN is available from this page.
