I have a Linux samba server that I am trying to access from a Windows computer. The server's description is Samba Server and I would guess the computers name is localhost. I have once successfully connected to it but then my power went out and I can't seem to access it again. Anyway when I click on the computer from My Network Places I get the following message:

"\\Localhost is not accessable. you might not have access permission to access this network resource. contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network. Go to system in control panel to change the computer name and try again."

Could someone please tell me what to do. I don't know of another computer on the network named localhost. Plus I have gotten it to work before.

Thanks,

I don't think you actually had it working using the hostname localhost, because that refers to the machine on which you are typing, always. Every machine thinks localhost is itself. Its a name that always refers back to itself, known as a loopback.

In the smb.conf of your Linux machine, there should be a line for "netbios name". Change that to what you want the Linux machine to known as, restart Samba on that machine, and then trying looking for it in Network Neighborhood.

I am positive I had the Samba working and was able to access it from my XP Home machine. So basically you are saying that the computer I am trying to connect to the Linux computer from is referring to itself when it says there is another computer with that name? Then how do I change the Linux computer's name from the default name localhost?

Thanks,

You can change the hostname by changing the entry in the /etc/hosts file or by using hostname command.

Villie

No, that did not work. The name of the linux computer is displayed exactly "samba server (localhost)" in My Network Places from the win XP computer. The samba server part I know how to change in the smb.conf file but I still do not know how to change the localhost part. I am still getting the following masseage when trying to access samba from the win XP home computer:

"\\Localhost is not accessable. you might not have access permission to access this network resource. contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network. Go to system in control panel to change the computer name and try again."

I still think it is the localhost that is causing the problem. By the way I have seen other peoples' forums who have had the same problem, but the replies have not helped me.

Thanks,

So you did change the "netbios name =" line?

What distro are you using? There may be system tools included with your distro to change the hostname.

Or try "hostname <new hostname>" at the command line.

Ok, I did that and it changed the hostname, but from the XP computer it still says localhost in parenthesis. There is no netbios name= in the smb.conf file. I'm using RH 9.0 with gnome and kde.

Thanks,

I saw another forum that said the beginning of the global section of the smb.conf should look like this:

[global]

# netbios name
netbios name = name

# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
workgroup = WORKGROUP

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = Samba Server

## define a global case policy for file shares
case sensitive = no

Mine looks like this:

[global]

# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
workgroup = WORKGROUP

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = Samba Server

Should I add the netbios name= part?

Thanks,

Thanks alot for you help. I added the netbios name= into the smb.conf now it works.

Thanks again,