Mac Mini/iMac File Sharing Server Problem

I have a Mac Mini set up as a Plex server and I share files to it from my main 2009 iMac. The iMac is hardwired to the Internet while the Mac Mini only uses Wi-Fi. The shared iMac Drive constantly droppes/disappears from the Mac Mini. In order to get the Mac Mini to see the iMac on the network again, I have to restart the Mac Mini.

Can someone help me find a solution?

  1. Make sure you don’t have the DHCP server enabled on the Mac Mini
  2. On the router, give the mini a static IP address
  3. Hardwire the Mac Mini

Can you show me how to accomplish these 2?

I don’t know about the first item, but the easiest way to accomplish the second item is by giving it an address outside of the range used by your router’s DHCP server.

On my router, for example, its DHCP server uses a configurable range, currently 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.199. So you can pick an address outside of this range, like 192.168.0.201 and give that address to the Mini.

If your Mini is still connected via WiFi, in System Preferences select Network->Advanced->TCP/IP. In the Configure IPv4 menu, select Manually and then enter your chosen address for IPv4 Address. The other settings are probably correct as is.

If your Mini is connected via Ethernet, the instructions are similar to the above.

Also, check in the iMac settings (power settings) whether “put the harddisk to sleep when possible” is set to OFF, and wake for network access is ON.

I’ve had issues in the past when a macos update set the first one to ON again, and my iMac went to sleep way too often, and this created delays in a lot of Hazel processing.