“File sharing cannot be enabled.” OS 9 Error

Posted on 2012/04/14 by Publican — Leave a comment

Not many will come across this error these days. But I had a client that still has to run OS 9, and a recent power outage corrupted his share capabilities. Seeing as it had been a decade plus since working in the beloved Classic environment, it took some digging to find a solution. And here it is.

Recreate the AppleShare PDS File

You can delete an invisible file called AppleShare PDS on the top level of all connected volumes when sharing. The AppleShare PDS file may need to be deleted on each volume on multiple drive systems, or drives with multiple partitions.

To help troubleshoot in multiple drive situations, start the computer with just the startup volume on. If file sharing works in this configuration, add another drive to the chain and test file sharing each time until you find the drive that prevents file sharing from starting. You can then concentrate on the drive that fails and remove its PDS file.

Important: Deleting the PDS file removes all access privileges assigned to folders. You need to reassign access privileges to the folders.

1. Open Stickies from the Apple Menu, open a new note (any note).
2. Type anything (as long as characters are there).
3. Select Export Text from the File Menu.
4. Name the file “AppleShare PDS” (capitalization not necessary, but the spelling and the space is important).
5. Save the file on the first (root) level of the Startup Drive.
6. A dialog box will come up asking if you want to replace the file? Yes, you want to replace it.

Delete the File Sharing Folder

1. Delete the File Sharing folder from the Preferences folder within the System Folder.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Turn File Sharing on.

Reset Parameter RAM

Reset the Parameter RAM (PRAM) by pressing the key sequence Command-Option-P-R while starting your computer. Note: This also resets the serial ports, so you may need to reactivate AppleTalk and reconfigure the Ethernet connections on some Macintosh computers.

I took the shot gun method and did all this, and got it back up and running.