installing windows on mac locks when loading files

The only time you should be using file:/// is when you first initially play around with Subversion in order to learn it, or for some web-based clients that allow you to see (but not modify) information in your repository (and mainly because that's the only way you can configure them). It's GUI setup, and it uses port 80 by default which usually isn't blocked. You can also use something like VisualSVN Server which will setup Apache httpd and configure the subversion module for you. (This can be changed, but you'll have to make sure your clients know the correct port number).

The only downside is that your network or firewall maybe filtering out port 3690 which is used by svnserve by default. This means that as soon as you turn on your Windows machine, your repository is available, and you can do your checkout on your Mac. There are even directions for setting up svnserve as a Windows service. You can probably set up the svnserve process in a matter of minutes. Setting these up is explained in Chapter 6 of the on line Subversion book. Use the svnserve or the Apache httpd server instead. If you share a repository between users or between machines, you cannot use it. This protocol is for very, very, specific circumstances. This sounds like you're using the file:/// protocol.

Installing windows on mac locks when loading files