Please help me. I am getting a bit frustrated about the fact that my local area network is often non-functional, and the Samba documentation does not seem to be helping me.

I only want to be able to access all the files on four computers from any one computer, and with Linux this has proven to be very difficult. I have Samba 2.2.8a and whenever I try to browse shares on a Windows machine from Linux I get the error 'SMB connection failed'. I have tried it from the command line using mount -t smbfs, I've tried it with Konqueror and I've tried it with LinNeighborhood with the same result.

I have checked that /etc/init.d/samba has been started and that the smbd and nmbd daemons are running.

This used to work in the past and I don't know why it has suddenly stopped working.

I should also say that I have never in over a year's time of using Linux been able to browse shares on a Linux system from another Linux system. They just don't show up. Any ideas?

Additionally, can anyone answer the following question for me...?
Suppose computer A is running Linux and computer B is running Windows, but it also has an installation of Linux on it too.
Using computer A, would it be possible to mount a Linux partition on computer B, even though it is running Windows?

Please help!
Thanks.

What does your smb.conf look like? Have you created the proper users? Is there a firewall on any of the machines?
good luck.

smb.conf says:

[global]
security = share
domain master = no
preferred master = no
workgroup = WORKGROUP
max protocol = NT

[homes]

[GNTLMNSDCMNT]
path = /home/gentoolman/Gentoolman's Documents
comment = /home/gentoolman/Gentoolman's Documents
guest ok = yes
wide links = no

[Epsy]
printable = yes
printer name = Epsy

[printers]
printable = yes
printer name = Epsy


What do you mean by 'creating the proper users'?

Norton Internet Security is installed on the Windows machines. I haven't a clue whether my Gentoo Linux has a firewall; how would I find out?

Thanks.

You need a user account on the windows machine, with a matching linux user, and samba user all with the same name and password.

Have you tried turning it off, or at least making provisions for your internal lan?

iptables -L should list any rules that exist. I should have asked this earlier, what is the ouput from smbclient -L ip address of windows machine? On another note, you could add the netbios name option to your global section.

netbios name = whatever you want here

In addition to that you'll need this line under global.

encrypt passwords = yes

Another thing you might want to do is add the windows machine to /etc/hosts.

xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx name of windows machine

Where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the windows ip address. Hope something gets you going.
good luck.

Sorry to be so technically illiterate but I just don't know how to do that.

Yes - I tried to configure it to allow LAN connections, but I suppose I ought to try with it switched off. I'm a little afraid to do that, though, considering how vulnerable Windows is.

iptables -L says this:

FATAL: Module ip_tables not found.
iptables v1.2.9: can't initialize iptables table `filter': iptables who? (do you need to insmod?)
Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.


And smbclient -L //10.0.0.5 returns:

added interface ip=10.0.0.5 bcast=10.0.0.255 nmask=255.255.255.0
session request to 10.0.0.6 failed (Called name not present)
session request to 10 failed (Called name not present)
Password:
Domain=[PANTHER] OS=[Windows 5.1] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]

Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
My Documents Disk
IPC$ IPC Remote IPC
print$ Disk Printer Drivers
SharedDocs Disk
D Disk
ADMIN$ Disk Remote Admin
C$ Disk Default share
LexmarkZ Printer Lexmark Z700-P700 Series
Printer Printer EPSON Stylus Photo 810 Series
NET&WORK (C) Disk

Server Comment
--------- -------
ASUS
TUX Samba 2.2.8a

Workgroup Master
--------- -------
PANTHER ASUS


I ran those commands as root, by the way.

I might try that netbios thing later too.
Thanks for your help.

No worries mate, It's a little different depending on your windows version. Use the windows help menu, go to start>help, there should be a tab at the top that says index, select it. In the text box below type in user accounts. There should be a walk through for adding a user.

I've got to go for the evening, I'll be back tomorrow, if no one else picks this up.
good luck.

*moved*

Thank you - I have now had success in accessing a Windows share from Linux. I think the problem was probably the firewall (Norton) on the Windows machines.

Glad you got it sorted. You should be able to configure the firewall for lan sharing and still protect the external interface. Have a look at symantic for faq's, how to's, etc.
good luck.


I suggest staring your own thread with steps you taken, the complete problem, and any other pertinent info. Your post may get lost in this thread as this thread for all practical purposes has been solved.
good luck.