Hi all. First, take a look at my smb.conf file:

# Global parameters
[global]
workgroup = BARTLETT
server string = File Server
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
security = user
encrypt passwords = Yes
min passwd length = 3
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast
socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
os level = 65
local master = Yes
dns proxy = No
wins support = Yes

[sokhan]
valid users = sokhan
comment = My Stuff
path = /home/sokhan
writable = yes
browseable = No

[john]
valid users = john
comment = My Stuff
path = /home/john
writable = yes
browseable = No

[nancy]
valid users = nancy
comment = My Stuff
path = /home/nancy
writable = yes
browseable = No

[chris]
valid users = chris
comment = My Stuff
path = /home/chris
writable = yes
browseable = No

[public]
comment = Save important files here
path = /home/public
public = yes
writable = yes
guest ok = yes
read only = no
create mode = 777
directory mode = 777

[www]
comment = Our website files
path = /home/www
writable = yes
read only = no
browseable = no
valid users = chris


This is on a RH 8 machine that is a samba server. Ok, now with that, please let me tell you that Samba has been working fine for months. Even now, the service is running. However, I am "chris" and what I have been doing for months is this:

On my personal machine (Windows XP), I have a drive mapped to \\goliath\chris AND a drive mapped to \\goliath\www. It was working great! However, suddenly, I was unable to save files to the "www" directory! I restarted the samba service and now I cannot map any drives to users home directories! It keeps asking me for passwords and such, and is telling me I may not have permissions. Well, I do. Nothing changed at all, it has just stopped working. Can anyone give me a hand? Without Samba running correctly, I am a little trouble... Thanks!

Chris

Ok, even more strange. I just restarted samba again, and now it is working. I can now map the drives again. However, when I try to copy a file to \home\www (which id my Y: drive on Windows), I get the following error, which I never got before:

Cannot copy index: Access is denied.

Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected
and that the file is not already in use.

I used to be able to drag and drop files into this all the time. Why would it just stop working all of a sudden. The /home/www directory on the linux box has full 777 permissions and the folder is owned by chris. I also know I have PLENTY of space left. Any other ideas? Oh, and "goliath" is the linux box's hostname!

Chris

Wait... Now it's working 100% fine... Do I have a spirit in the machine?! What the heck is going on here. This all happened in the a 10 minute time period. Ever heard of this happening before?

Chris

Format C:\ /y /q gnehehehe
are you sure the Win Xp box isn't the problem? I heard very weird things about XP and file sharing...
if not... welll I really dunno what to do, maybe upgrading Samba might help but if you haven't touched the config files, it should not be the source of your problem.

just a side comment about your www permissions,

might not wanna make it 777, mabye 755, but not 777.

old thread but can you please tell me how it worked all of a sudden.

i am getting the exact same issue. did you restart the servers? or did u just restart /etc/init.d/samba ?