Stupid Windoze problem

jimmmac · 01-03-2005, 04:15 PM

Hi all

Just wondering about this. I am attempting to see my wife's computer from my Xandros computer. Sometimes I can and sometimes I cant'. Just out of curiousity, I looked at Windoze event viewer and caught the following.

"The master browser has received a server announcement from the computer
XANJKZE5R48 that believes that it is the master browser for the domain
on transport NetBT_Tcpip_{E3E71DCA-8FE7-42. The master browser is
stopping or an election is being forced."

Then I clicked the link and saw the following,

"Explanation

This computer is a master browser, and another computer has announced
that it is the master browser. There can be only one master browser on a
subnet at any given time. This message is logged for informational
purposes only.

The existence of two browser masters occurs when a second computer
cannot contact the master browser for some reason: for example, when
there are name resolution problems or the master browser is too busy to
respond. When the original master browser receives a master announcement
from the second computer, the master browser tries to resolve the
conflict by ending its status as a master server, forcing an election,
or both.

The choice of these actions depends on the status of the two computers:
for example, whether one or both are domain controllers, primary domain
controllers or Windows for Workgroups computers, and whether this
computer lost an election earlier. For more information about browsing,
see Appendix I: Windows 2000 Server Browser Service on the Microsoft
Technet Web site <http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=21491>.

User Action

No user action is required."

I was wondering if this is the idiot MS feature that is keeping me from seeing my wife's computer. If anyone has seen this before and been able to stop this inane behaviour, it would be nice to know. Just for reference, XANJKZE5R48 is my Xandros computer. If it wasn't for Photoshop, I could move her to Linux and eliminate this defective O/S from her computer. Thanks for the help.

Jim

Peacedog · 01-03-2005, 06:34 PM

What is your network topology, what os is your wifes machine running, and what does your /etc/samba/smb.conf file look like?
good luck.

twsnnva · 01-04-2005, 12:12 AM

Make sure you have these settings in /etc/samba/smb.conf

Code:

os level = 10
preferred master = no
domain master = no

This should stop the error in the Windows event log. When you mention that you cannot "see" your wifes pc, do you mean you are browsing to it with a some browser, or are you trying to connect using smbclient? The latter should always work. In the windows world, having systems constantly argue over who's the master browser, forcing elections each time, could definently cause this problem...if your were browsing through network neighborhood, but you should always be able to browse to the share manually (\\servername\sharename). I was under the impression that master browsers, or the browse list altogether would no longer be needed with the addition of Active Directory, but is seems to linger in Win2k and XP.

Thomas

jimmmac · 01-04-2005, 06:15 AM

Hi Thomas and Peacedog

Thanks for your responses. My wife is running WinXp Home, Service pack 2. Now I know part of the problem. I have heard that WinXp home is more brain dead than Pro. We have 2 computers linked to a Linksys Router, whose uplink port is connected to a Cable modem. Here is my smb.conf file

#======================= Global Settings =======================

[global]
workgroup=MSHOME
server string=%h (Xandros Desktop)
dns proxy=no
name resolve order=lmhosts host wins bcast
log file=/var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size=1000
syslog=0
panic action=/usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
security=SHARE
encrypt passwords=true
passdb backend=tdbsam guest
obey pam restrictions=yes
invalid users=root
map to guest=Bad User
passwd program=/usr/bin/passwd %u
passwd chat=*Enter\snew\sUNIX\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\sUNIX\spassword:* %n\n .
client use spnego=no
load printers=no
printing=cups
printcap name=cups
dos filetimes=yes
socket options=TCP_NODELAY
display charset=iso8859-1
unix charset=iso8859-1
preserve case=yes
case sensitive=no
short preserve case=yes
os level=10
preferred master = no
domain master = no
; preexec = /bin/mount /cdrom
; postexec = /bin/umount /cdrom

I put in the things Thomas suggested, since they weren't there, then rebooted. Looks like it stopped the error message in my wife's computer. I tried both start/run then \\laptop\My Documents\ and smb:\\laptop\My Documents and I get access is denied. I checked and the My Documents is shareable on the WinXp side. I get an 'Access is denied'. The Win firewall is turned off. Thanks again for the help.

Jim

Peacedog · 01-04-2005, 07:17 AM

Try adding the netbios name option under global.

Code:

netbios name = whatever you choose

Have you set up the proper users and/or accounts. You'll need three users, one linux user, one samba user, on the linux side, and one user account on the windows side all with the same name and password.
good luck.

twsnnva · 01-04-2005, 08:26 AM

Access denied errors, usually mean authentication errors. Try mounting the share like this.

Code:

$ mkdir /mnt/windocs
$ mount -t smbfs //laptop/"My Documents" /mnt/windocs -o username=wifesusername,password=wifespassword
$ cd /mnt/windocs
$ ls

You should see all of the documents that are being shared. Sorry, I don't know how to specify the username and password in a browser but you might try

Code:

smb://wifesusername@laptop/My%20Documents

That's how you would log into an ftp site.

Thomas

jimmmac · 01-04-2005, 05:57 PM

Hi Thomas and Peacedog

Thanks for your responses. I tried the mount command and got the following

XANJKZE5R48:/mnt# mount -t smbfs //laptop/"My Documents" /mnt/windocs
Packet send failed to 172.16.191.255(137) ERRNO=Operation not permitted
6910: Connection to laptop failed
SMB connection failed

I think I might give up on this one, because to set up all the user accounts are more bother than they are worth. I just might give up on this one. Thanks again for all the help.

Jim

Peacedog · 01-04-2005, 06:00 PM

What does smbclient -L windows netbios name return?
good luck.

jimmmac · 01-04-2005, 06:09 PM

Hi Peacedog.

Not sure I got it all. I tried and got the following.

XANJKZE5R48:~# smbclient -L windows
Packet send failed to 172.16.191.255(137) ERRNO=Operation not permitted
Connection to windows failed
XANJKZE5R48:~#

The whole command you gave me got a wrong parameters message. The part that is throwing me is 'netbios name'. Did I get something wrong? Thanks.

Jim

Peacedog · 01-04-2005, 06:30 PM

Did you add the netbios name option to your smb.conf, and do you know the netbios name of the windows box? The windows machine should have a "computer name" that would be the netbios name.
good luck.

jimmmac · 01-04-2005, 06:55 PM

Hi Peacedog

Think I got it. I added the following line to my smb.conf file.

netbios name = laptop

Then I rebooted. Next, as root, I did the following.

XANJKZE5R48:~# smbclient -L laptop
Packet send failed to 172.16.191.255(137) ERRNO=Operation not permitted
Connection to laptop failed
XANJKZE5R48:~#

I think I got it right this time. Still got a big no. Thanks.

Jim

Peacedog · 01-05-2005, 05:08 PM

You should be issuing the smbclient -L command with the name of your windows machine, not the linux machine. Do you know the name of the windows machine?
good luck.

jimmmac · 01-05-2005, 05:42 PM

Hi Peacedog.

I think I misunderstood what you were telling me. I took out the line, since the name of the Windows computer is laptop. Didn't matter. It still would error out. If you would like to see, I can show you what the message was after I took out 'netbios name = laptop' from the smb.conf file. Thanks again.

Jim

Peacedog · 01-05-2005, 06:05 PM

Let's try and get this straight. The name of the windows machine is laptop, so you wouldn't want to name the linux machine laptop as well. The name of the linux machine should be something different. With that in mind the netbios name option should look something like this.

Code:

netbios name = linuxbox

Some other things to keep in mind are your users/accounts, as well as restarting the daemons from linux after any changes to the smb.conf, and restarting the windows machine after any changes.
good luck.