Hi all! I've been working with this issue for the past few days, and I really need some help. I'm definitely a newbie with Linux, so bare with me.

I got RedHat 8.0 up and running on Monday, since then I've been trying to get Samba to play nicely with my windows machine (XP) as I want to be able to view the files on my linux system with my XP machine. I can see my linux server on my XP machine, but receive permission denied if I try to connect to it.

When RedHat was originally loaded it picked up someone else's network name (ctanous_home). My computer should have been named agreene_linux (which is what I entered for my netbios name in the smb.conf file). I've looked in the samba log files and found this:

lib/util_sock.c: matchname(930) host name/name mismatch: ctanous_home != ctanous_home.xxx.com

When you do an NSLookup on my machine's IP it presents ctanous_home as the name.

However when you do an NSLookup on ctanous_home, it comes up with an IP address different than my machine (that person's actual IP addres).

So, my question...how do I change my node name on my linux redhat 8.0 system? I'm assuming this is the problem with samba, and could lead to many more problems in the future. Any help is truly appreciated!!!

Thanks in advance.

Type hostname <pcname>.<domain name>.com at the command line.

Whoa, thanks for that tip! Hmm, I guess that wasn't the problem. After I ran that on linux, it still fails on XP when I try a nslookup on that hostname, as well as when I click on the machine in the network neighborhood.

I continually get either 1) Network path not found using the hostname/share or IP/share or 2) I don't have permissions.

When I try to map a network drive (using IP) I receive network path not found. When I double click on linux box in the network neighborhood I receive 'you don't have permissions'.

Hmm? I added my XP username/password to the smbpasswd file as well. I also have my ip address and netbios name added to the lmhosts file. Any ideas?

Sorry, over looked the permissions thing. You need to add a user's name locually on the Linux box and to SAMABA too.
At the command line type:
useradd -p <user name>
then
smbpasswd -a <username>
Note: I think the -a is right if not check the man page for smbpasswd. Sorry I am not in front of a Linux box right now. Also make sure that the name and password are the same as the one that you log into the Windows with.

Actually I just tried the hostname, and thought it would reset everything. When I restarted, at the welcome screen it still comes up ctanous_home. So I guess it doesn't change it permanently?

Unfortunately I've already added my windows username and password to my passwd/smbpasswd files, so that's not the problem.

To change the hostname permanently, on most unix/linux systems, you can edit the /etc/hostname file.
Not sure if it's the exact same in redhat, but it's a simple text file that keeps that information.
As for your inability to access your box, when you installed Samba, did you tell it to use the encrypted passwords? You either have to use encrypted on both, or neither on both.

Yep, I'm using encrypted passwords in the smb.conf file. From what I've read it seems as though XP uses encrypted passwords too? Although I'm not 100% sure. I'm actually not sure where to check for this on XP.

There's an option about four miles deep in the registry.
If it's a normal XP install, it's on encrypted.

You also want to have a good smb.conf file, as well. I'll post a VERY basic, and very open one here for you. Warning: NOT good for an insecure network.



Begin:

[global]
security = user
workgroup = workgroup
encrypt passwords = yes
min passwd length = 6
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd

[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = no
writable = yes
readonly = no
available = yes
public = no
only user = no

[root]
comment = root directory
path = /
browseable = yes
readonly = no
available = yes
public = yes
valid users = root

I shouldn't have to add the IP addresses of my linux machine and my XP machine to my /etc/hosts file right? I did add my linux machine IP address and name so it would resolve to my name vs. that of a coworker, and it's now starting up correctly with that name/IP address.

I'm using SWAT and it has quite a few more options than are listed. But I made sure all of the above are listed correctly in the smb.conf file.

Dumb question, but I'm a newbie. I mounted a drive for looking at my windows box from linux. However I don't have to mount the samba share archives for windows to look at my linux machine right?

Thanks again

Correct on all counts.

Here's my check list for Samba:

Installed?
Local hostname correct?
Encryption enabled?
Added remote user to smbpasswd file?
Is smb.conf set up correctly?
Is the Samba service running?

If errors take place:
Have I restarted samba at least once? /etc/init.d/samba restart

Have I backed up my smb.conf file and recreated it minimally?

Have I rebooted my Windows machine? (Because Windows always likes to be rebooted, for random stupid reasons.)

Let me know how much of that check list you've gone through, and we'll work from there.
Also, exactly what is the error that windows is giving you?
(Word for word, I mean. )

Good luck!

Installed - Yep

Local hostname correct - yep

Encryption enabled - yep

Added remote user to smbpasswd file - yep (it's actually the same login name as my linux machine, and it's been added). In my conf file I have the line valid users = agreene (as that's my username that I use on both machines)

smb.conf setup correctly - exactly as above (except for the valid users = agreene)

Samba service running - I assume so, as I've restarted it a few times and everything gets an okay when it starts up. I also have it starting up in the setup area on startup

I've restarted samba too many times

I just backed up my smb.conf file and put in exactly what you gave me for an example (obviously changing my workgroup name to the group name I'm under.)

I'm rebooting my windows machine right now.

One thing I've noticed...is that when I try to connect to linux from xp and it fails, I receive no error message in my samba log. However I was receiving error messages earlier this morning, guessing it was from me messing around with some samba commands. So that means XP isn't even getting to my machine?

Here's the error message I'm getting from Windows:

When I map drive to \\192.168.0.62\root I receive the error message:

the network path \\192.168.0.62\root could not be found

When I double click on the agreene_linux icon in network neighborhood, I receive this error message:

\\Agreene_linux 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 permission.

The network path was not found.

Thanks again!

Just a hunch. Try adding a smbpasswd entry for root, and trying it that way. That's how that particular box is set up. I gave my girl her own file server, so I can back her data up without touching one of those damned GUI backup systems.

Hmm, entered smbpasswd root, and also changed the valid user to root in the smb.conf file, and restarted smb...no go, same errors.

This is killing me that I can see the server but not access (grrr, networks)... I can get to the windows xp machine fine from linux, but not vice versa...

Try to change the local permissions on the directory that you are sharing. Type chmod 666 <name of directory>.