I know there have been some similar posts shedding some light on this topic, but I have honestly spend some considerable time browsing them and still they are of no help.


I'm a newbie to Ubuntu so please cope with my ignorances:

I have a Desktop Dell with Ubuntu 7.10 installed in it. I also have a Dell with Windows XP. They both connect to the Internet through a linksys router with DHCP. Naturally I wanted to integrate both of them, so that I could share reciprocally from one computer to the other.

So I installed and configured SAMBA and succeeded accessing my Ubuntu PC through my Windows XP with no problems. I also managed to share my printer with my Windows XP machine. HOWEVER, I have consistently failed to access my Windows XP through my Ubuntu.

I have seen many people with the following problem: When accessing Places/Network in Ubuntu and then Clicking the XP computer, they get this message: “The folder contents could not be displayed. Sorry, couldn't display all the contents of "Windows Network: laptop".

Most people have no problems accessing the XP computer by manually entering the ip (smb://192.168.1.102) in my case or smb://laptop. BUT, I cannot access it through neither of this methods; by ip or hostname, it just fails. Paradoxically, Ubuntu is recognizing the LAPTOP xp computer since it is displayed, as well as the MSHOME network.

So I then decided to ping my xp computer (LAPTOP) and its IP and received 0 packets, 100% loss.

Some say I should do 'smbtree' command for troubleshooting here are my results >

\\TORRECONLINUX torreconlinux server (Samba, Ubuntu)

\\TORRECONLINUX\hp hp

\\TORRECONLINUX\print$ Printer Drivers

\\TORRECONLINUX\abauer03

\\TORRECONLINUX\IPC$ IPC Service (torreconlinux server (Samba, Ubuntu))

\\LAPTOP LAPTOP

timeout connecting to 192.168.1.102:445



Where Torreconlinux is my Ubuntu comp and LAPTOP my Xp comp.

Some also say to enable Wins in the smb.conf, and I did – still no change. Why is it that the XP computer recognizes with no problem the Ubuntu computer but the Ubuntu fails to acesss the Xp computer.


Here is part of my smb.conf (please let me know if you need more) I doubt the problem lies in here though, but who knows

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

[global]

workgroup = MSHOME


; wins server =


; name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast

; interfaces = 127.0.0.0/8 eth0


; bind interfaces only = true

BTW, I turned off my XP firewall just in case. BTW I already tried typing everything in wins server = so I decided to leave it blank.

I'm really running out of ideas, please help. Thanks in advance guys

If you get no response when you ping the windows machine, it would appear the Firewall is still turned ON.

Until you can get it to respond to a ping request you certainly will never connect to a Shared folder on it..

Double check your Windows firewall settings are off, and if you have an integrated anti-virus / Internet security suite, ensure it has no firewall or that it is also turned off..

Farslayer: Thanks for replying


I'm 100% the Firewall is off and I have no Antivirus integrated firewall just the windows one. Could it possibly be the Linksys internal router settings?!?! Do I need to open some ports or something like when Forwarding Ports to connect to DC++ or something like that?!?

Thing is Ubuntu does recognize the Computer, so there is some connection of some sort. The problem comes when I try to access the folder.


I appreciate your help!

If the ping test is not successful, it is pointless to proceed with working on the file sharing until that issue is resolved.
If you can't get a ping response from the windows box you will never connect to a file share on it.
You must track down what is blocking the ping response on the windows machine.


If both PC's are plugged into the switch ports on the Linksys router, the router would NOT block any communication between the PC's so there are no ports that need configured/opened in the router configuration.

try running 'nmap ipaddressofwindowssystemhere' from the linux system and see if you're able to see the port is open for connecting to your windows system.

check your gateway setting on the Ubuntu box. It should point to the router.

I had a similar problem a while ago, and it was due to me forgetting to set the gateway ip (I used static ip).

Can you access the internet from the Ubuntu box?

1) Boot the laptop in safe mode. Verify the IP address you get from the router. See if you can ping the laptop's IP from the ubuntu box.

2) Set the xp laptop to static IP (verify the gateway setting is correct per the last post -- that'll bite you in the backside every time...). DON'T forget to change back to DHCP after the test (assuming that's how it's setup now).

3) Boot the xp laptop with a copy of knoppix (knopper.net). Verify the IP address you get from the router, and see if you can ping from the ubuntu box.

Please post the results.

Are you sure that you have the folder you want to access set for "Sharing"?

What is the subnet mask of both boxes ????
Also what is the work group for both ??? They need to be the same.

I want to thank everyone for their responses;here are the results of every suggestion made:

To narrow down the enigma, here is my main problem:

PING LAPTOP (192.168.1.101) 56(84) bytes of data.



--- LAPTOP ping statistics ---

12 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 10999ms


*I cannot ping my WinXP box and thus cannot access the shared folders on it. HOWEVER, I can access my ubuntu shares through XP(samba) as well as print through WinXP (the printer is on my Ubuntu box) Everyone please note I'm DHCP not static, so please avoid mixing up the static ip things(unless it solves the problem, lol)

Farslayer:
The WinXP box is wirelessly connected to the router; the Ubuntu box is plugged. In case this makes any difference

__________________

Anonobomber,

Here are my 'nmap' results:

Starting Nmap 4.20 ( http://insecure.org ) at 2007-11-15 15:09 AST

Note: Host seems down. If it is really up, but blocking our ping probes, try -P0

Nmap finished: 1 IP address (0 hosts up) scanned in 4.015 seconds

abauer03@torreconlinux:~$ nmap 192.168.1.101



Starting Nmap 4.20 ( http://insecure.org ) at 2007-11-15 15:10 AST

Note: Host seems down. If it is really up, but blocking our ping probes, try -P0

Nmap finished: 1 IP address (0 hosts up) scanned in 4.008 seconds

abauer03@torreconlinux:~$ nmap -P0 192.168.1.101



Starting Nmap 4.20 ( http://insecure.org ) at 2007-11-15 15:12 AST

Warning: Giving up on port early because retransmission cap hit.

caught SIGINT signal, cleaning up

abauer03@torreconlinux:~$ nmap LAPTOP


Starting Nmap 4.20 ( http://insecure.org ) at 2007-11-15 15:15 AST

Note: Host seems down. If it is really up, but blocking our ping probes, try -P0

Nmap finished: 1 IP address (0 hosts up) scanned in 7.027 seconds

abauer03@torreconlinux:~$




*I failed to see any ports, what could be the problem? BTW, what does the -P0 thing means?!?



Cyberfishee,

Though I don't know how to check the gateway setting in the Ubuntu box I assume it is correct since I can access the internet and moreover, I can share my printer with my winxp box and can connect from WinXP to Ubuntu flawlessl.


Tesseractive,
1.I booted in safe-mode, IP did not change. I failed to ping WinXP box from Ubuntu(both by IP and hostname)
2. How do I change the gateway setting in Ubuntu?!? Note everything else is working perfectly, so I assume the gateway is correct.
3. Regarding, knoppix (knopper.net) – This program seems to be only available for Unix(note my laptop is running WinXp) My desktop is running Ubuntu. Do you mean boot Ubuntu with knoppix??

Bertie91,

Yep 100% sure, I have plenty of folders set to 'share' in the XP box


MrLinux11,

Subnet mask in the XP comp is 255.255.255.0, I assume it is the same for Ubuntu box though I do not know how to look that up. The workgroup is MSHOME

For checking Linux's subnet mask.

From shell

ifconfig eth0

eth0=which ever network interface you are using.

It will list the subnet in the output.

Also both work groups are MSHOME ???

As you cannot ping the XP but can go the other way then it is almost certain that there is some sort of firewall still on the XP. Concentrate on that. the Ubuntu is obviously working correctly.

Try one of the portscanning programs on the XP to see what, if any, ports are open. No open ports then you will not be able to connect to it.

OK -- that could be because the laptop is wireless. If the wireless drivers are not loaded in safe mode, that test won't be valid.

Actually, I meant static in XP in normal mode.

Incidentally, to set static in ubuntu, go to the system control panel, networking, and change the interface to static.

Or by CLI:
nano -w /etc/network/interfaces

and change your interface (eth0 for wired, something else for wireless) to something like:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.200
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.1

Also, to check the gateway in ubuntu, drop to a shell and type: route -n

You'll get something like:

In the Gateway column, it shows 192.168.1.1, and two columns to the right one of the flags is 'G' -- whatever yours says is the gateway.

Actually, knoppix is a linux distribution, like ubuntu -- not a program. You'd download the ISO file, burn it to CD, and boot with it, just like a live ubuntu disc. It's the swiss army knife of linux (IMHO) -- an excellent rescue disc. Anyway, that would allow you to see whether it's a windows firewall issue or not because this takes windows (temporarily) right out of the picture.

The only caveat is that your wireless might not work, and therefore it might not be a good test...

Have you tried plugging the laptop in wired to the router and seeing if you can ping the wired interface?

I agree that there is something outside of the Ubuntu box that is the root of the problem. If you are absolutely 100% sure that there is no firewall on XP, 3rd party or built in, then try to see if your router is blocking traffic.

either from XP or Ubuntu, browse to http://192.168.1.1, put in your password etc, and see if there's any special exceptions for your wireless/laptop IP.

being able to access machine A from B but not from B to A suggests that the gateway setting on B is incorrect, since B cannot find A (due to incorrect gateway), but can respond to A. However, in that case, you shouldn't be able to access the internet, too, as accessing the internet requires your computer to be able to find the router. So I am out of ideas then =).

Can you please post the outputs of "ifconfig" and "route -n"? (as root, so on Ubuntu I would assume that means "sudo ifconfig" and "sudo route -n" but I am not sure as I have never used Ubuntu)