If you use Windows and MAC together, synchronizing data between the two devices is extremely necessary. MAC already has iCloud to sync MAC with MAC. All files on Desktop iMAC will sync with MACBOOK very conveniently. Problem: not everyone only uses Macs. What if you want to synchronize your Desktop data between Mac and Windows? Please follow the steps below.
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To synchronize Windows and Mac Desktops you need to do some manual work. First, you need some variety cloud storage service folders between Mac and Windows computers. Dropbox is the easiest answer here, but you can also use Microsoft's OneDrive or Google Drive. Any service that syncs folders from one computer to another (and is available on both Windows and macOS) will do the job. In this article AnonyViet will use Dropbox to guide you.
To do this, install Dropbox on MAC and Windows and log in to the same account. Then continue with the steps below:
Instructions for synchronizing Desktop Windows and Mac
If you're syncing between a Mac and Windows, you need to start on the Mac side. On your Mac, you will need to create one symlink. This will keep the Desktop where it is in macOS, but also copy it to Dropbox's servers, where you can use it as your Desktop in Windows.
Note: creating alias in Finder won't work you need to use the symlink feature.
On your Mac, open Terminal, which you can find in Applications > Utilities. I will run two commands.
cd Dropbox/
This will point Terminal to your Dropbox folder. If you're using another Cloud service, change Dropbox to that Cloud's folder name instead.
Next, run:
ln -s ~/Desktop
This will create one symlink for your Desktop folder inside Dropbox. This is like creating a reflection of the Desktop into the Dropbox folder, it looks like this:
You can check if it is correct by opening the Dropbox web app and looking at the folders and files on your MAC Desktop that are there. If everything is fine, we move on to operating on Windows.
How to point Windows to the newly synced Desktop folder with MAC
Microsoft makes our lives easier than Apple, because Windows allows you to choose any folder to work on the Desktop. Even better: you can do the entire process without ever opening a Command Prompt (CMD).
To get started, open Windows Explorer. Find the icon Desktop and right click on the icon. Click Properties.
Click the tab Locationand you will find the option to move the folder out Desktop. Click the button Move.
Now you can choose any folder to have it act as Desktop. Find the new Desktop folder in Dropbox that you created on the Mac side and select it.
When you return to the window Propertiesclick OK. You will be asked if you want to copy the files currently on the Desktop to the new folder. Select Yes okay.
Once the files have synced from MAC to Windows, you're done.
Check the synchronization process from MAC to Windows
To test the synchronization of Desktop Windows and Mac, on Desktop MAC you create a new folder
If you set up the above steps correctly, you will soon see the folder appear on the Windows Desktop.
We can summarize the synchronization process between MAC and Windows as MAC will synchronize data to Cloud, Cloud will synchronize data to Windows.
