Win can't see Linux box with Samba

[WaltDizzy]

I have SuSE 8.1 and Samba, and an existing win peer to peer network that I would like to tie it into.

The Samba setup passed a number of tests including:

testparm
can ping linux from a win machine and vice versa
can log onto Samba from the linux box (smbclient -L linux)
can do a nmblookup -B linux __SAMBA__ and get linux address
can do a nmblookup -B winmachine '*' and get winmachine address
can do smbclient //linux/tmp and log on as root or user

but when I try:
nmblookup -d 2 '*' I only get a positive query response from the linux box.

and when I type:
"net view" from the win machine, linux does not show up

but if I type:
"net view \\linux" I get:
"Error number 5 Access denied"

In the samba.conf file should the "Workgroup" be the same as the workgroup that the win machines are using? I'm not using a server.

Should the "Netbios" name be set to "linux"?

I find the documentation confusing. It's more oriented toward someone who is running a server.

Why doesn't the linux box show up for the win machines using "net view"? Does the "Access denied" error message indicate the linux box is being seen?

Finally, the "diagnosis" document I'm working from indicates that the nmblookup failure mentioned above indicates that there may be a problem with the nmb setup. Fine, but I am not sure what I should be checking. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Walt

By the way, if I don't reply right away, it's because I have to be out of town a lot this weekend. I volunteered to help trim the new addition to my brother's house.

[umStefa]

AFAIK

The "workgroup" in smb.conf must be the same as the workgroup on the windows machine

[WaltDizzy]

Thank you,

The workgroups are the same, so I did it right. That answers one question.

Walt

[abraxas@debian]

whats's about the netbios-name of your samba-server?

only that name identifies your linux box for the windows machine.

ps: are you sure that the samba-daemons are running??? do a "ps aux" and look for "nmbd" and "smbd". when you edit the config files from samba you have to restart the samba-daemons.

greez, abraxas

[WaltDizzy]

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I have set the Netbios name of the Linux box to "linux" (without the quotes).

I start the daemons in Swat, and according to Swat, they are running. But I'll try the "ps aux" and check them that way.

Do you think that the problem might be with the nmbd setup? If so, what should I look for?

Thanks,
Walt

[vttimwhite]

You may need to tweak your smb.conf file a little bit to cause the linux box to announce itself to the Windows network. Windows machines use NETBIOS broadcasts to announce their presence on the network. That's the job of nmbd in linux.

The example below requests synchronization from and makes the announcements to every host on the 10.0.0.x network.
[CODE]
# Configure remote browse list synchronisation here
# request announcement to, or browse list sync from:
# a specific host or from / to a whole subnet (see below)
remote browse sync = 10.0.0.255


# Cause this host to announce itself to local subnets here
remote announce = 10.0.0.255
[\CODE]
Hope this helps :)

[WaltDizzy]

This sounds promising, I will try it right away.

Thanks very much
Walt

[baz2]

Originally posted by WaltDizzy
This sounds promising, I will try it right away.


I've never had to do that. But if you do it, make sure you remove the pound signs.

My question: I'm not sure that making the netbios name in smb.conf is enough if that isn't the actual name of the computer. When you log in, what is the name of the linux computer? That is the name you should see the computer by in net view or network neighborhood.

and when I type:
"net view" from the win machine, linux does not show up

but if I type:
"net view \\linux" I get:
"Error number 5 Access denied"

What happens when you "ping linux" from the windows machine?

[mpooley]

I have been struggling with this all week so i know how you feel!
I am a newbie to linux 8.1 myself so any advice i give might not be accurate. But here goes!
in etc/samba/smb.conf
make sure wins support = no
wins server is = ip of linux box
encrypt passwords = yes

then make sure that your etc/hosts file is ok i had to add
192.168.0.2 . winxp.home . winxp
obviously use your own name.workgroup here

i still have problems when i reboot as i start the smbd & nmbd deamons in inet.conf but nmbd refuses to run i have to make sure to get it running via SWAT and then it all works.
Hope this helps

Mike Pooley

[WaltDizzy]

It's working! Thank you all for your suggetions.

After I enabled "remote announce" and "remote browse" in samba.conf file using Swat, and I enabled encrypted passwords, I was able to log onto the linux box from the win box by typing "net use \\linux\tmp".

Even better, the linux box shows up in Windows Explorer, and I can move files by click and drag. That's pretty much what I set out to do. Now I need to configure Samba to start at boot.

One dragon slain, many more to go.

Walt

PS For anyone who cares, the documentation inside of Samba about password encryption (at least in SuSE 8.1) is somewhat misleading. There is reference to re-making Samba to handle encrypted passwords, which is unnecessary. The Samba version supplied (sorry I don't yet know how to get a version number) is already capable, you just need to hit the enable button in Swat.

Also, there are references to using mksmbpasswd.sh to create the encrypted passwords. Again, Swat seems to handle this automatically.

Finally, there is other documentation that I found that stated that Linux could not work with encrypted passwords at all, and that client Win computers would need their registry edited to work in a network with Linux computers. Not something to undertake lightly, as the current setup is tying 3 other computers together.

I put off enabling encrypted passwords for some time after I found references to their use with Win computers, because the setup sounded so involved. Plus I developed an irrational fear that the encoding process might render the password file unuseable if it failed to fix the problem, and I had to go into the Win computer and set it to use plain text passwords.

I am undoubtedly a more competent Linux user for reading up on the issues, but the most difficult problem I have run into is that the automated setups that have been laborously coded and debugged are not really advertised very well within the distribution. Consider this message my small part in helping to fix the problem. End of rant.