Please Help Me With Samba

[KyleLC23]

Hello.

I am having alittle trouble with SAMBA. Here is what my setup is:

I have a linksys wireless router with a built in 4 port switch. Connected via ethernet NIC card to a port on my router is my linux box running RH8. Then I have a laptop with a wireless network card which connects to my router wiurelessly. My DSL is also hooked up to the router. Both the linux box and laptop can connect to the internet as well as ping each other.

I have put my laptoip in a workgroup called MSHOME. Then on the linux machine I tried to configure the smb.conf file to add the linux box to my MSHOME workgroup.

I also created a /pub directory to share files in.

Now on my laptop I can see the Linux Box in my work grouip, but when i clikc on it it gives me the regualr access error. I know it has something to do with a username or password that I dont have setup, or something like that.

What I want is for any computer on my network to be able to acess the linux box without having to login with a certian username or password. Is this possible? And is there as safe way to do it since it is a wireless network (I do have wep enabled, but can users still access my files

Please help. I will trey to attach the smb.conf file .

[hiker_42]

What OS are you running on the laptop? Have you enabled it to send plain text passwords yet?

[KyleLC23]

WIndows XP Home, now I havn't. I haven't setup anypasswords for samba.

[DMR]

Yes, posting your smb.conf would be a good thing. Don't set Windows to send plain-text passwords- you can configure smb.conf so that Samba uses encrypted passwords.

You really won't be safe on a wireless network if you don't implement some sort of user/password controls.

[hiker_42]

I always thought you had to enable plain text passwords for Windows boxes. I think I read in the "Samba as a Domain Controller" howto that it was required.....maybe I'm thinking of something else....
I'm still a newbie myself......

[DMR]

Originally posted by hiker_42
I always thought you had to enable plain text passwords for Windows boxes. I think I read in the "Samba as a Domain Controller" howto that it was required.....maybe I'm thinking of something else....
I'm still a newbie myself...... hiker_42,

I think that early versions of the Samba server didn't support encrypted passwords; but that isn't the case anymore. With the "encrypt passwords=" line in smb.conf set to "Yes", you don't need to make any modifications to your Windows boxen. I've had to make no password encryption-relatd modifications to my Win98/Win2k boxes in order to get them connected to my Samba server.

While a lot of the documentation I've read regarding integrating a Samba box in a Windows network does indicate that you have to enable plain-text passwords on all of your Windows boxen in oder for them to communicate with a Samba server, I've gotten the feeling that:

A) Much of the documentation sounds like it has been written by people who work mostly with a Windows OS and are trying to integrate a Linux machine running Samba into their Windows network. Therefore, they are more familiar with modifying their Win machines than they are configuring Samba on a Linux machine.

B) Much of that documentation is "stale", in that it refers to older versions of Samba. Administrators who work with Windows as their main OS might not follow the changes/improvements implemented in newer versions of Samba, and as such might guilty of "perpetuating the myth" that Samba doesn't support encrypted passwords.

[clane]

I am currently working on a similar problem. I currently have my system set up for "shared" mode rather than "user" mode. My Linux box can see and work with the files on my Windows box. When I look at the Network Neighborhood on my Windows PC, I can see the Linux box. When I try to click on the Linux PC icon, a password box pops up. Any password I try is rejected.

Right now I am just trying to get it to work regardless of password encryption or no encryption, share mode, user mode, I don't care. I just want to transfer files in both directions.

The Samba book I have says that you can either edit the Windows registry to turn off password encryption (its on by default in versions of Windows after Win95), or work with the Samba setup screens to turn it on in Samba.

If anyone can offer a step-by-step mini-tutorial, it would be appreciated. I have tried to follow the instructions in the book that I have. I don't specifically get any "you did this wrong" errors, but I can't get past the password screen on the Windows box.

[KyleLC23]

Is there any way that I can make it have one password for all machines on the network?

[Junior G.]

Clane,
In your smb.conf file, add the line: encrypt passwords = yes

Next, open a shell and run the program 'smbpasswd' to add to your Samba Server the users you connect with from Windows (For example, if you log on to your Windows PC with the 'Administrator' Account, then first create a user in your Linux Box named: administrator - You can use a GUI Tool or run the command useradd to create the user - then, in the Bash Shell type: smbpasswd -a administrator
This will create a user named 'administrator' in your Samba Server with which you can connect. The Samba server basically maps this user to the user in the Windows box - just remember to use the same password for both users in windows and Linux.

Hope this helps...

[Junior G.]

KileLC23,

You can create a user in you Linux PC and add it to your Samba smbpasswd File - by typing smbpasswd -a username, see reply above - then you can specify this user as your guest account for all your shares. that way, whenever someone tries to connect to your shares in the Samba Server, they will be connecting using this user. just give specific shares the permissions you would like this user to have.

I hope this makes sense!

[hiker_42]

Thanks for the info DMR....I'll give it a try.....

[dugg]

I read somewhere that Samba + XP "Home" = Nope.
Didn't really pay too much attention to it as that was not what i was looking for. Something about not loggin into a domain.

[hiker_42]

XP Home will not let you join a domain. You have to shell out the extra bucks to M$ for that feature and buy XP Pro.......

[DMR]

Originally posted by hiker_42
XP Home will not let you join a domain. You have to shell out the extra bucks to M$ for that feature and buy XP Pro....... Yeah, you've just got to love that particular "gotcha". Nothing but a blatant money-grab on M$' part.

:( :mad:

[clane]

I tried the advice that KileLC23 gave:
You can create a user in you Linux PC and add it to your Samba smbpasswd File - by typing smbpasswd -a username, see reply above - then you can specify this user as your guest account for all your shares. that way, whenever someone tries to connect to your shares in the Samba Server, they will be connecting using this user. just give specific shares the permissions you would like this user to have.

The good news is that the instructions worked. I was able to view my Linux files from Windows PC and I was able to view my Windows files from Linux PC EXCEPT EXCEPT..........and now the bad news, I have WIN4Lin running on my Linux Pc. I previously could view my Windows files on my Windows PC from Win4lin. That stopped working. Also, I was previoulsy able to print a document from my Linux PC to a HP Laserjet printer connected to the parallel port of my Windows PC. That stopped working also.

I am now cowering in the corner trying to regain my sanity. It really shouldn't be this duifficult.