See my point above on setting group permissions. Unless you make the user a member of sambashare, it cannot write to /var/lib/samba/usershares.

Note that linux is a* retentive about permissions because it's a security thing.

I have no idea how to do as you suggest. Can you please explain in terms that I have a chance of understanding what exactly I am supposed to do to resolve the error I encountered? Thanks.

Go to

System-Administration-Users and Groups

Click on your username and the Unlock. Enter your password.
Click Manage Groups
Scroll don to wherever "sambashare" is in the list.
Either double click on sambashare, or click on it once and click "Properties"
Click the checkbox thingy next to any users you want to be able to share stuff.
Hit OK/Close enough times to get out of the tool

As I said in my previous post, you may need to log out then back in for changes to take effect.

PARTIAL SUCCESS ACHIEVED!!!

I have browsed a folder on one PC from the other but not vice versa. AFAICT both PC and their shared folders are setup identically.

I now know I must assign a static IP and a gateway address (subnet mask is automatically filled in), after that I can ping both PC in either direction. I also learned that in Linux the host name is the PC name (host = PC name I would have never guessed). Just like Windows each PC on the network must have a unique name.

I will edit this post if I find out more or until you reply. I appreciate your patience. Thanks.

TOTAL SUCCESS ACHIEVED ON 12-22-08!!!
I can now browse my network from either PC. I have written a procedure which I will post today.

Setup a Peer to Peer Home Network with Point & Click

Notes about my setup:
1. I have built three PC. The first is named build1 (now retired), the second build2 and the third build3. My wife’s PC is named Gateway. Build2 and build3 are constructed from identical parts.
2. I have a Windows 98 network installed on build2, build3 and Gateway. I use the same IP address in Ubuntu 8.04 as I did in my WIN98 network. I use a switch to connect my network.
3. I use a KVM to switch between build2 and build3. To make visual identification easier I change theme on one PC so I can tell at a glance which one I’m using.
4. All PC have a NIC, dialup modem and all are connected to the phone line.
5. Printer is Epson Stylus Pro inkjet with parallel port interface.
6. In the following procedure build2 and build3 are live booted with Ubuntu 8.04.

In the following procedure all steps must be carried out in the order show. I have shared the My Documents folder in the Windows partition because the files in those folders are different on my PC’s. The Ubuntu live boot files are identical on both PC’s and therefore give no indication which PC is in use:

Give the Ubuntu “live user” a password:
1. Go to System > Preferences > About Me. Press the “Change Password” button. Leave “Current password” field blank and press “Authenticate” button. When authentication completes enter a PW such as 12345678 in both fields and then press “Change password” button.

Change host name:
1. Go to System > Administration > Network. Select Wired connection (aka NIC). Press “Properties” button. On General tab change host name to build3. Wait for “Changing interface configuration” message to appear.
2. Click “Connections” tab. A warning will appear. Click “Change Host name” button.
3. Logout, type ubuntu in the user field, press enter then type the password and press enter.

Setup modem. Start Firefox and confirm that you are connected to the internet.

Install Samba:
1. Go to Places > 80GB Media (my HD is 80GB, yours is different). Browse to My Documents in the Windows partition.
2. Right click My Documents and choose “Share Options”. Tick “Share this folder”. Samba will now download and install two files: main samba 3.0.28a-lubuntu4.4 , size 3839KB and main libpam-smbpass 3.0.28a-lubuntu4.4 , size 471KB.
3. Go to > System > Administration > Users and Groups. Select “root” press “Properties” button and on the “User Privileges” tab tick “Share files with the local network”.
4. Logout, type ubuntu in the user field, press enter then type the password and press enter. A message will appear saying “Added user ubuntu”. Click OK.
5. Browse to My Documents in the Windows partition.
6. Right click My Documents and choose “Share Options”. Tick “Share this folder”. Tick “Allow other people to write in this folder”.
7. Press “Create share” button. Press “Add permissions automatically” button.

Setup Wired connection (aka NIC):
1. Go to > System > Administration > Network. Select “Wired connection”, press “Properties” button and untick “Enable roaming mode”.
2. For “Configuration” select “Static IP”.
3. Enter Static IP 192.168.1.3
4. Place cursor in Subnet mask field. Subnet mask will automatically change to 255.255.255.0
5. Enter Gateway address 192.168.0.1 and press OK.
6. Select “Wired connection” and tick the box next to it to enable the NIC.
7. Go to > System > Administration > Network Tools. On Ping tab ping the IP address you just assigned. If PC fails to ping itself and you are certain of the settings then untick the NIC, wait a few seconds and re tick the NIC then test with ping again, or logout and login.

Note: Each PC in a network must have a unique IP address. To satisfy this requirement you may increment the last number in the IP address for each PC in your network. In my network build3 is 192.168.1.3, build2 is 192.168.1.2 and Gateway is 192.168.1.1. Each PC must have a unique “host” name.

Note: In Ubuntu the Gateway IP address is equivalent to the DNS server address in Windows. Therefore to be able to browse Windows PC’s you must assign all Ubuntu PC’s the same IP address for the Ubuntu gateway as you did in Windows for the Windows DNS server. In my network where I manually assign static IP addresses I use the IP address 192.168.0.1 as the Gateway address for all Ubuntu PC’s and I use the same number as the DNS server for all Windows PC’s in my network.

Setup second Ubuntu PC:
Go to other PC and repeat the above procedure and give that PC a host name of build2 and a unique IP address.

Try your network:
Go to Places > Network. If you are working on build2 select build3 icon and double click to open it. Browse to the shared folder and open it. Enter your PW when prompted and tick “Remember forever”. If you are able to browse build3 from build2 then your network on build2 is functional. Switch to build3 PC and repeat this step. If you are able to browse build2 from build3 then your network on build3 is functional. Open a text file in the shared folder on either PC via the network. When you first open this file a dialog will ask “Allow application to access keyring?” click “Always allow”. You will as before be asked for your PW, enter it and click “Connect” button. Your network on both PC’s is now fully functional and you may cut, copy, paste, create and delete files or folders from either PC via your network.

After the first time you successfully browse (aka connect) to the files on one PC with the other PC a new entry titled “my documents on build3” will be added to the Places menu. When you successfully browse from the second PC to the first there will be a new entry titled “my documents on build2” added to the Places menu of that PC.

Dealing with problems:
1. If your PC’s fail to show up in “Network Servers” you may have to logout and login with your username and PW more than once on one or both PC.
2. Test both Wired connections: Go to > System > Administration > Network Tools. On Ping tab ping both IP address on each PC. If one PC fails to ping itself or the other PC and you are certain of the settings then untick the NIC, wait a few seconds and re tick the NIC then test with ping again, or logout and login on one or both PC.
3. If in future the client ever fails to browse the host use the host to disable the share on the shared folder and then re-enable the share as described in steps 5, 6 & 7 of “Install Samba” shown above.

Browse a Windows PC in your network from a Ubuntu PC

Go to Places > Network. Double click the “Windows network” icon. Double click the icon named for your Windows workgroup. All Windows PC’s with the same workgroup name will now be visible. Double click a Windows PC icon. Double click any shared folders on your Windows PC to open it.

Network a Printer amongst two Ubuntu PC with Point & Click

First Setup Local Printer (aka printer physically attached to your PC):
1. Go to System > Administration > Printing.
2. Press “New Printer” button. Select LPT#1. Press “Forward” button.
3. Select printer manufacturer name from list. Press “Forward” button.
4. Select printer model from list. Select driver if more than one is available and press ”Forward” button.
5. In the field for “Printer Name” leave the default name or enter one of your choosing. In the field for “Description” you may optionally enter a name.
6. From the list of local printers select the name of the printer you are setting up.
7. In the field for “Location” you must enter the host name of the PC your printer is physically connected to (if the name is not filled in by default). Press “Apply” button if you made any changes.
8. Press “Print Test Page”. If test page prints then setup of local printer is complete.
9. Select “Server settings”. Tick “Share published printers connected to this system”, “Allow remote administration”, “Allow users to cancel any job (not just their own)”.
10. Click the tabs to view settings and set your preferences if any.

Note: If you have more than one printer you may choose which will be the default printer for the PC. All print jobs are sent to the default printer unless you select another printer when you print a document in your applications.

Setup Network Printer on Client PC:
1. Go to System > Administration > Printing.
2. Press “New Printer” button. Select “Windows Printer via Samba”. Press “Forward” button.
3. Select printer manufacturer name from list. Press “Forward button”.
4. Select printer model from list. Select driver if more than one is available and press ”Forward” button.
5. In the field for “Printer Name” leave the default name or enter one of your choosing. In the field for “Description” you may optionally enter a name.
6. Select “Server settings”. Tick “Share published printers connected to this system”, “Allow remote administration”, “Allow users to cancel any job (not just their own)”.

Note: If you make a mistake setting up either the local or shared printer you may select it, press the delete button to remove it and start again.

Good feedback win.

IMHO, Linux is not for you.......I have a linux/windows network working perfectly. It took much reading and research to configure two to three files, and it has worked perfectly for the last few years......

I suggest you look with Google...
simple how to install Linux to Linux to windows networking...

however, if your network in self contained as you say to do not need the outside world, why not just stick to windows.

Some pointy-pointy, clicky-clicky, "it should be point & click" clueless person has finally worked it out. Good :)

YES! (and my sincere congratulations to you win_to_lin_migrant ! You made it work, and I hope, now understand what you needed to do to make it work.)

Maybe 2009 will be the the year the linux desktop is preferred by more than the few. Or maybe not, quite, just yet, maybe later because we are afraid of moving away from "windows".

(That's OK with me)

I hope you enjoy linux. As I continue to do :)

I hope my post will in some small way help other win_to_lin migrants achieve this worthy goal.

Stick with Ubuntu. It has a moderately clear Point and Click. If you only want to access your Windows share, you only need smbfs or cifs on Ubuntu. Run Synaptic, search for cifs, select all the client oriented items and click Apply. (Items for developers are pretty self-evident.) This will download and install the necessary software, including any dependencies.

Share a folder on Windows.

Now choose Places > Networks. Let us know how you are getting on.

I did what you suggest in December of ’08. If you look at post #20 in this thread you’ll see that I succeeded at setting up a network in Ubuntu.

I do have a related problem which I posted here: Unable to open Ubuntu Samba shares from Windows 98 If you have any ideas about how to solve this problem please post in that thread and not here. Thanks.