[SOLVED] To access SMB on linux, I always need to start linux first, then XP, why?

neoserdes · 02-01-2012, 11:52 AM

I came up with a problem with accessing the SMB drive on my rhel 5.6 from my XP machine.

If I boot the XP first, then XP will complain that I have no access right.

If I boot the linux first, or reboot XP after linux is up, there is no such problem.

How can I remove this boot sequence dependency?

michaelk · 02-01-2012, 12:24 PM

Welcome to LinuxQuestions.
Would you post the exact error as well as the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.

This is how network browsing works for a workgroup.
http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/man/...html#id2581357

neoserdes · 02-01-2012, 11:53 PM

The message from XP:

\\LOCALHOST\XP is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource.

Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

The network path was not found.

deep27ak · 02-02-2012, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neoserdes

The message from XP:

\\LOCALHOST\XP is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource.

Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

The network path was not found.

I am not sure if I get you completely

check whether you smb service is running after restart

Code:

#service smb status  <--after you reboot the linux machine

if the service is stopped then use this

Code:

#chkconfig --level 345 smb on

this will make sure that smb is up and running properly next time you boot

and restart your smb services

Code:

#service smb restart

check the firewall of your linux box if it is blocking samba

and next time be specific with results like whether smb was running when you restarted your windows machine or when you restarted linux box

michaelk · 02-02-2012, 09:41 AM

\\localhost\xp in this context is the XP not the Redhat computer. If you do not have a share on the XP computer named XP then this is expected.

What is the hostname of your Redhat computer?

Are you using network neighborhood?

neoserdes · 02-02-2012, 12:01 PM

The redhat hostname is localhost. I have not changed its name from default.

I'm using network neighborhood. Any thing wrong with that?

michaelk · 02-02-2012, 12:34 PM

Yes, due to the fact that XP is trying to connect to itself and not the Redhat computer. I would also expect this problem to occur not matter what order the computers were booted.

By default samba uses the hostname as the netbios name. The easiest fix is to enable netbios name in the smb.conf file. Uncommnent it by deleting the ; and change the name from myserver as desired but the character limit is 15. Be sure to restart samba for the changes to take effect.

neoserdes · 02-02-2012, 12:55 PM

I see and will give it a try. Thank you.

Do you think that if I change the linux hostname to be some other name can solve the problem?

Regards,
Neo

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

Yes, due to the fact that XP is trying to connect to itself and not the Redhat computer. I would also expect this problem to occur not matter what order the computers were booted.

By default samba uses the hostname as the netbios name. The easiest fix is to enable netbios name in the smb.conf file. Uncommnent it by deleting the ; and change the name from myserver as desired but the character limit is 15. Be sure to restart samba for the changes to take effect.

michaelk · 02-02-2012, 01:01 PM

Yes that would fix things too.