bolluxed network connection

[DanL]

I have four Macs on my local network. Let's call them A, B, C, and D. A and B are on El Capitan. C and D are on 10.6.8. As of my El Capitan upgrades, I'm having connection problems. B, C, and D can all connect with each other just fine (as in Go->Network), and they all can connect with A. But A can't connect with anyone. Going to B, C, or D from A, the Network computers are all displayed, I select B, C, or D, and it shows my home folder ("me") and Public folders. I click on my home folder, and I get a box popping up saying "The operation can't be completed because the original item for "me" can't be found."

Uh, excuse me. You found the "me" home folder, why can't you connect to it?

AFP (not SMB) sharing is all enabled the same way on all computers. I have RW permissions on all of them. The problem is clearly with computer A, but I don't have a clue what it might be.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hi,

-Have you tried restarting A?
-Can you use Screen Sharing from A to the others?
-Are there any Network/Sharing preference settings differences between A and B, since they are both on El Capitan?

It could also be a stored password in Keychain on A that is causing the issue.

C

 

[DanL]

Well, I tried restarting A again, and now everything works. Weird. Somewhat puzzlingly, before that restart, when the file sharing was not working, I could do screen sharing on A with everyone else. How could that be possible? It doesn't want to share files with anyone else, but it will screen share with everyone else?

I too am wondering if it was some messed up password file. Are AFP and VNC passwords maintained separately?

Many thanks for the quick response and advice.

 

[Cory Cooper]

No problem.

I have had a similar issue since the El Capitan upgrade, when attempting file sharing with an older Mac mini running Snow Leopard. A restart always seems to cure it.

I believe they are stored in your login keychain separately, since they are two different protocols.

C

 

[DanL]

I can now see that the AFP and VNC passwords for a particular target machine are indeed stored separately in the Keychain. I guess my Keychain was bolluxed up. Does the Keychain only get reread at startup, such that if the Keychain in memory was damaged, or if I make a change to the Keychain, I need to reboot to get the Keychain reread by the system.

 

[Cory Cooper]

The keychain is read at login. If you make a change, simply logout, then login and it will refresh.

C

 

[DanL]

Thank you. That makes perfect sense now.