macOS & Networking
Why can’t my Mac find my NAS?
Your NAS is switched on, connected to the network and working normally. But when you open Finder and look under Network, it isn’t there.
This doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong. Finding a server on your network and connecting to it are two different things, and macOS doesn’t always make that distinction obvious.
Discovery isn’t the same as connecting
Finder’s Network view uses network discovery mechanisms, including Bonjour, to identify available devices.
Not every NAS or server will appear automatically. Discovery can depend on the server’s configuration, your network equipment and whether your Mac is on the same local network.
The important distinction is that a server doesn’t need to appear in Finder’s Network view for you to connect to it.
If you know its address, you can usually try connecting directly.
Connecting directly to your NAS
In Finder, select Go → Connect to Server…, or press Command-K.
Enter an SMB address, for example:
smb://studio.home/PhotographyIn this example:
studio.homeis the server’s hostname.Photographyis the name of a shared folder available on that server.smb://tells macOS to use the SMB file-sharing protocol.
If the server is reachable and your account has permission to access the share, macOS should connect and make the folder available in Finder.
You can also connect using the NAS’s IP address instead of its hostname.
Hostnames and share names
A hostname is simply a way of identifying a device on your network.
Names such as studio.home depend on your local network’s name resolution configuration. If your Mac cannot resolve that name, connecting by IP address may work instead.
The share name is different. It identifies the particular folder or resource made available by the server.
For example, Photography might be one of several shares hosted on studio.home.
You need the correct share name and appropriate permissions to connect successfully.
What if it still doesn’t connect?
A few things are worth checking:
- Network: Is your Mac connected to the same network as the NAS, or able to reach it over a VPN?
- Server: Is the NAS running, with SMB file sharing enabled?
- Address: Is the hostname correct? Can you connect using its IP address?
- Share: Does the shared folder exist, and does your account have access?
- Credentials: Are you using the correct username and password?
If connecting by IP works but connecting by hostname doesn’t, the problem may be name resolution rather than SMB itself.
Once you’re connected
After mounting a share, macOS makes it available through Finder. You don’t need to rediscover the NAS each time.
Tools such as Anchor can make regularly used SMB shares easier to manage, keeping them organised in the menu bar with options for manual mounting and Automount.
For more about what happens after connecting, including sleep, network changes and duplicate volume names such as Photography-1, see our guide How macOS handles network shares (and why they sometimes disappear).