How to share a DVD\CD drive on a Windows machine

This article will show you how to share your Windows optical drive so your MacBook Air or Mac Mini can use it.

Your Mac Mini or MacBook Air do not have an optical drive. You can overcome this problem by sharing your Windows optical drive.

 You will first need to download and install the Apple DVD or CD Sharing Update 1.0 for Windows. The link for this is http://support.apple.com/kb/DL112.

         

         

When finished with the installer you will want to perform the next steps to enable the DVD or CD sharing.

1. Click on the windows Start Button and Click on Control Panel
   
   


2. This will open the Windows 7 Control Panel
   
   


3. Click on the "Hardware and sound" icon
   
   


4. Opening the "Hardware and sound" category will then give you the option for DVD or CD sharing
   
   


5. Clicking on the DVD or CD Sharing link will then bring up the option to share the optical drive
   
   


6. After you have installed the Apple Update and enabled the optical drive sharing, you will be able to open the Finder on the Mac without the optical drive and see the Remote Disk option.
   
   


7. You will then be able to access and install your software from your Windows optical drive.

For more assistance contact Technical Support here.

Setting your Mac up to share the CD\DVD Drive

This article will show how to set up Remote Disk or Drive sharing. This will allow you to install or recover the MacBook Air and the Mac Mini, some of these units do not have their own optical drive.

This will allow the drive on one system to be accessed via your home network. This option can be set up on a Windows or a Mac system.

The steps to setup and share a Mac optical drive are below. This option is for Mac OS X 10.4.10 and later.

1. Open System Preferences
   
   


2. Open Sharing
3. Check the option for DVD or CD Sharing
   
   


4. Click the lock to save the changes
   
   

After you have enabled DVD or CD Sharing, insert the disk you need to share or use. Go to the MacBook Air or Mac Mini, open the Finder. There will be a listing on the devices side for the Remote Disc. Click on this and you should have the computer in the larger window.

         

Double click on the Computer with the shared Optical drive, and then click on connect. The Mac with the shared optical drive may also pop up stating, "Ask me before allowing others to use my DVD drive." Click on "Ask to use". The Mac sharing the optical drive will acknowledge the request with an Accept box.

For more assistance contact Technical Support here.