How to transfer files between Windows and Mac

The fastest way is a Thunderbolt or USB4 cable, if both computers have the ports. Otherwise, share a folder over your home network, use an external drive formatted as exFAT, or sync through cloud storage.

Why this is harder than it should be

No shared quick-send. AirDrop works only between Apple devices, and Nearby Sharing only between Windows PCs.
Their file sharing doesn’t cooperate. You set up SMB sharing on one side, with an account, a network profile and sharing settings, then connect from the other. The menus differ on each.
Windows blocks sharing on new connections. A cable or new network is treated as Public, where file sharing is off.
Addresses aren’t obvious. Over a cable there’s no router, so each computer gives itself an address starting with 169.254, and you type it in by hand.
Drives don’t cross over. A Mac can’t write to NTFS drives, and Windows can’t read Mac-formatted ones.
File names clash. A Mac allows characters in names that Windows doesn’t, and Finder leaves hidden files in Windows folders.
Even a fast cable is uneven. In our tests Windows sent a Mac only half as much as the Mac sent back over the same 40 Gb/s link.

Over a cable

This needs Thunderbolt 3 or newer, or USB4, on both the PC and the Mac, and a Thunderbolt or USB4 cable. When you connect them, the Mac adds a network connection called Thunderbolt Bridge and Windows adds a new Ethernet connection. Then share a folder from one computer and connect to it from the other.

Share a folder from the Windows PC

On the PC:

Open Settings, choose Network & internet, then choose Ethernet and select the cable’s connection.
Under Network profile type, select Private network. Windows sets new connections to Public, which hides the PC and blocks sharing.
Go back to Network & internet, choose Advanced network settings, then Advanced sharing settings. Under Private networks, turn on Network discovery and File and printer sharing.
In File Explorer, right-click the folder, choose Properties, then the Sharing tab, then Share. Add your account and set it to Read/Write.
Open Terminal and run ipconfig. Note the IPv4 address of the cable’s Ethernet adapter. It starts with 169.254.

Connect from the Mac

On the Mac:

In Finder, choose Go, then Connect to Server.
Type smb:// followed by the PC’s cable address, for example smb://169.254.20.30, and click Connect.
Choose Registered User and sign in with the PC account’s user name and password. If the PC uses a Microsoft account, use its email address and password, not the Windows PIN.
Choose the shared folder. It opens in Finder.

Share a folder from the Mac instead

To open the Mac’s files from the PC:

On the Mac, open System Settings, choose General, then Sharing, and turn on File Sharing.
Click the info button next to File Sharing, then Options. Under Windows File Sharing, select your account and enter its password.
In System Settings, choose Network, then Thunderbolt Bridge, then Details. Note the IP address under TCP/IP.
On the PC, type \\ followed by the Mac’s address into File Explorer’s address bar, for example \\169.254.40.50. Sign in with your Mac user name and password.

Check the copy uses the cable

Connect by the 169.254 address, not by the computer’s name. If both computers are also on Wi-Fi, a name can find the Wi-Fi address, and the copy goes over the air. To check, open Task Manager on the PC during a copy and choose Performance. The cable’s Ethernet graph should be the busy one.

A yellow dot and “Self-assigned IP” next to Thunderbolt Bridge are normal for a cable link. If Thunderbolt Bridge or the PC’s new Ethernet connection doesn’t appear at all, one of the ports or the cable doesn’t carry Thunderbolt or USB4.

What speed to expect

Speeds vary between directions. In our tests with a 40 Gb/s cable, the link carried 24.2 Gb/s from Mac to Windows but 12.0 Gb/s from Windows to Mac, before any file copying. Folders of many small files copy far slower than one large file, because SMB handles each file with separate requests. In our tests a Mac took almost four minutes to copy 20,000 small files over SMB on a 10 Gb/s link. File sharing has more limits over a cable; see why file sharing over Thunderbolt runs below the cable’s speed.

Reconnect after sleep, restart or unplugging

A shared folder doesn’t come back by itself after either computer sleeps or restarts, or after the cable comes out. Finder says the server connection was interrupted, and File Explorer shows the share with a red X.

Connect again the same way. On the Mac, Connect to Server lists recent servers. On Windows, the address bar remembers the address. If the other computer’s 169.254 address has changed, find the new one first. For ways to keep a share connected, see shared folder disconnects after sleep.

Over your home network

The same sharing steps work over Wi-Fi or Ethernet, using each computer’s normal network address instead of the 169.254 one. On the PC, set your Wi-Fi or Ethernet network to Private network too. It needs no special ports, but it’s much slower than a cable, especially on Wi-Fi and with folders of many small files.

With an external drive

Format the drive as exFAT so both computers can read and write it. A Mac can read but not write NTFS drives without extra software, and Windows can’t read Mac-formatted (APFS) drives. Formatting erases everything on the drive.

On a Mac: open Disk Utility, select the drive, click Erase, and choose ExFAT as the format.
On Windows: in File Explorer, right-click the drive, choose Format, and choose exFAT as the file system.

Every file is copied twice: onto the drive, then off it.

Through cloud storage

OneDrive, iCloud for Windows, Google Drive and Dropbox all run on both. Files upload from one computer and download to the other, so large projects take as long as your internet connection allows, and you need enough storage space on your plan.

Which to choose

Large projects, often: a cable, if both computers have Thunderbolt or USB4.
Occasional small files: cloud storage or your home network.
No compatible ports: an exFAT external drive.

Connect Windows and Mac without the sharing setup

If both computers have Thunderbolt or USB4 ports, DirectConnect replaces the cable steps above. Plug in the cable, and the other computer’s files open in Finder or File Explorer like a USB drive.

No sharing settings. You don’t change the network profile, turn on sharing, create accounts or type 169.254 addresses.
Works in both directions. The Mac opens the PC’s files and the PC opens the Mac’s, from the same app on each.
Stays on the cable. DirectConnect finds the cable link by itself, so copies don’t slip onto Wi-Fi.
Reconnects by itself. It remembers each computer and what you shared. Plug the cable back in and it connects the same way, without signing in.
No drive to format. Files go straight from one computer to the other, copied once.
Fast with large and small files. In our tests, a Mac copied a 1 GiB file to a Windows PC at 15.9–19.0 Gb/s with fast copy. A folder of 2,000 small files copied from a PC to a Mac in 1.3 s, once Microsoft Defender had scanned the files.

Try DirectConnect