This is driving me crazy, and I'm not sure what is causing it. My inclination is that Windows 2003 server is throwing something odd back at Linux, confusing smbclient.

I use KDE/Konqueror quite a bit on my opensuse 10 workstation. I can browse shares on remote Windows workstations with ease ("smb://MACHINE/SHARE/Dir/file.txt", etc), including administrative shares (C$). However, when I try to do the same on our Windows 2003 server (standard shares), it fails at a certain recursion level.

For example, I can get into any share my user has permission to view (on the 2003 server). However, after 2-3 folders deep, all the folders and files appear as "blank" white icons. When I try to double click one, it says the file "X" (whatever I've double-clicked on, folder or file) cannot be opened.

It isn't a Windows 2003 permission issue (I'm using a Domain Administrator account that has unrestricted access to all the files & folders on that server).

What could be causing this? It is driving me nuts, and is giving me a lot of trouble! I want to use Linux in the workplace (web development), but unfortunately, has to be semi-compatible with Windows.

Ideas are most welcome.

I'm running KDE 3.5.1 on OpenSUSE 10.0 (using Novell's official supplementary KDE 3.5.1 packages) on a 3 GHz P4 (HT), 1 GB Ram.

In case of mounts I know you would have to use the cifs protocol rather than the smbfs protocol.

As for browsing from Konqueror, I don't know if there is a seperate protocol like cifs:// rather than smb://, simply because I don't use KDE that often.

A way around it is to mount to the 2003 share using mount -t cifs, and then you can browse it from konqueror.

Hope this helps, or that other people can add additional info ...

I believe this is largely a smbclient issue and not a KDE issue.

I do mount many of my "common" shares using cifs, but I have issues accessing these shares using the cifs mount command as well. There is something different in mounting a windows 2003 server share, and a client share.

I did some tests, and smbclient can browse the shares perfectly. This is most definitely a KDE issue.

No, there is no cifs ioslave for KDE. smb:// exists, but cifs:// does not.

Ideas?

I think your 1st idea is right, M$ is messing w/ you. & KDE hasn't caught up.

I think "smb" / "cifs" is just a naming thing -- the protocol has undergone changes & 1 of them was a name change. AFAIK, the newer versions are, at least mostly, compatible w/ the older versions. I don't expect a "cifs:" from KDE any more than I expect the Samba project to be renamed. If the KDE ioslave/pseudo-protocol needs new capabilities to keep up w/ M$, I think they will be incorporated into "smb:", but I could be wrong.


Do I understand your last post correctly? -- You can do everything you want to do w/ smbclient but not w/ KDE smb://.
How do you feel about smb4k? Would that be an acceptable choice until smb: works again?

Have you checked / thought of filing a KDE bug report?

Okay, I have done further tests since my last post.

1) smbclient prompt (smb:/>) properly lists files and directories on the 2003 server
2) mount.cifs fails on the very same 2003 share, but the results are different than that of SMB via KDE. It will list the root folders okay, but when I enter any of them, it causes cyclic issues. In other words, when I enter Folder A, the path shows I've entered Folder A, but I still see the contents of Folder A's parent folder.

In fact, my cifs mount became so unstable it took the OS down with it. My OpenSUSE 10 locked up.

The wierd thing is, it appears to be only happening one share on the server (mount.cifs and KDE's SMB ioslave). The catch is, it is the biggest share (by far) on the server, where 95% of the data is stored.

I checked permissions (share level and local NTFS permissions), even file bits (read, encryption, etc) and compared it to the other shares. There is nothing unordinary about this share.

I thought maybe size had something to do with it, but I can browse workstation c$ shares, which are jam packed full of stuff, and I can get in fine (mount.cifs and KDE). So what is up with this share on 2003? That is what is driving me nuts.