I can not connect to SMB shares after upgrading macOS from Mojave to Catalina [duplicate]

Before I upgraded, I used Command K to connect an SMB share. I had upgraded macOS from Mojave to Catalina yesterday. When I use Command K to connect that SMB share, it doesn’t work.

Does the new macOS disable SMB? Help me please, it has decreasesed my work efficiency.


I had the same problem and solved it in a strange way, As we are all aware Mac user has actually 2 names: one is the username (the profile name if i may) and the Display name.

Prior to Catalina , when authenticating with an SMB share from a Windows computer , I was using the display name (although it is a full name with a space - strange for the traditional windows user...) and everything was cool.

In Catalina , I found out I can only use the username, windows cannot authenticate with the display name.

of course , before I got to this point I have checked/enabled SMBv2, created the NetBios file in the MAC and all the other hints I could find, which obviously did not do the trick for me.

hope this helps


SMB is not disabled, but netbios name resolution is. See this answer to test if you just need to set up DNS or reactivate netbios.

  • What causes some Network Drives using SMB no longer connect to macOS Catalina?

You can always connect by IP address to test if it’s name resolution before changing your preference files or altering the system configuration.