Spent the last two weeks trying to network a Linux box (Fedora 3) to a Windows network. I could set it up so that Windows could see localhost but get no further. After some invaluable assistance from b12william it turned out that as my Windows logon was two words (David Waldie) I had to edit smbusers and place doouble quotes around my logon. Worked a treat. Anyway, finally got round to getting rid of Windows on the same drive and re-partitioned the disk and put Linux back on.

Now, I follow the same path as I did last time. Edited the smbusers file and lo and behold it connected. No surprise, until I restarted the machine and I'm back to square one. No connection. This time when I look in the Windows username in the Samba Server Configuration GUI it give my Windows username as "David Waldie" not as before David Waldie. I have tried editing this again in smbusers but still no joy.

I'm begining to take this personally. Here are copies of my smbusers ans smb.conf files:

SMBUSERS

# Unix_name = SMB_name1 SMB_name2 ...
root = administrator admin
nobody = guest pcguest smbguest
david = David Waldie

SMB.CONF

# This is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the
# smb.conf(5) manual page in order to understand the options listed
# here. Samba has a huge number of configurable options (perhaps too
# many!) most of which are not shown in this example
#
# Any line which starts with a ; (semi-colon) or a # (hash)
# is a comment and is ignored. In this example we will use a #
# for commentry and a ; for parts of the config file that you
# may wish to enable
#
# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command "testparm"
# to check that you have not made any basic syntactic errors.
#
#======================= Global Settings =====================================
[global]

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

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

# This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict
# connections to machines which are on your local network. The
# following example restricts access to two C class networks and
# the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see
# the smb.conf man page
; hosts allow = 192.168.1. 192.168.2. 127.

# if you want to automatically load your printer list rather
# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
printcap name = /etc/printcap
load printers = yes

# It should not be necessary to spell out the print system type unless
# yours is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
# bsd, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
; printing = cups

# This option tells cups that the data has already been rasterized
cups options = raw

# Uncomment this if you want a guest account, you must add this to /etc/passwd
# otherwise the user "nobody" is used


# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
# that connects
log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
# all log information in one file
# log file = /var/log/samba/smbd.log

# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
max log size = 50

# Security mode. Most people will want user level security. See
# security_level.txt for details.
# Use password server option only with security = server
; password server = <NT-Server-Name>

# Password Level allows matching of _n_ characters of the password for
# all combinations of upper and lower case.
; password level = 8
; username level = 8

# You may wish to use password encryption. Please read
# ENCRYPTION.txt, Win95.txt and WinNT.txt in the Samba documentation.
# Do not enable this option unless you have read those documents
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd

# The following are needed to allow password changing from Windows to
# update the Linux system password also.
# NOTE: Use these with 'encrypt passwords' and 'smb passwd file' above.
# NOTE2: You do NOT need these to allow workstations to change only
# the encrypted SMB passwords. They allow the Unix password
# to be kept in sync with the SMB password.
; unix password sync = Yes
; passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
; passwd chat = *New*UNIX*password* %n\n *ReType*new*UNIX*password* %n\n *passwd:*all*authentication*tokens*updated*successfully*

# Unix users can map to different SMB User names
; username map = /etc/samba/smbusers

# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
# of the machine that is connecting
; include = /etc/samba/smb.conf.%m

# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
# See speed.txt and the manual pages for details
socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192

# Configure Samba to use multiple interfaces
# If you have multiple network interfaces then you must list them
# here. See the man page for details.
; interfaces = 192.168.12.2/24 192.168.13.2/24

# Configure remote browse list synchronisation here
# request announcement to, or browse list sync from:
# a specific host or from / to a whole subnet (see below)
; remote browse sync = 192.168.3.25 192.168.5.255
# Cause this host to announce itself to local subnets here
; remote announce = 192.168.1.255 192.168.2.44

# Browser Control Options:
# set local master to no if you don't want Samba to become a master
# browser on your network. Otherwise the normal election rules apply
; local master = no

# OS Level determines the precedence of this server in master browser
# elections. The default value should be reasonable
; os level = 33

# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. This
# allows Samba to collate browse lists between subnets. Don't use this
# if you already have a Windows NT domain controller doing this job
; domain master = yes

# Preferred Master causes Samba to force a local browser election on startup
# and gives it a slightly higher chance of winning the election
; preferred master = yes

# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
# Windows95 workstations.
; domain logons = yes

# if you enable domain logons then you may want a per-machine or
# per user logon script
# run a specific logon batch file per workstation (machine)
; logon script = %m.bat
# run a specific logon batch file per username
; logon script = %U.bat

# Where to store roving profiles (only for Win95 and WinNT)
# %L substitutes for this servers netbios name, %U is username
# You must uncomment the [Profiles] share below
; logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U

# All NetBIOS names must be resolved to IP Addresses
# 'Name Resolve Order' allows the named resolution mechanism to be specified
# the default order is "host lmhosts wins bcast". "host" means use the unix
# system gethostbyname() function call that will use either /etc/hosts OR
# DNS or NIS depending on the settings of /etc/host.config, /etc/nsswitch.conf
# and the /etc/resolv.conf file. "host" therefore is system configuration
# dependant. This parameter is most often of use to prevent DNS lookups
# in order to resolve NetBIOS names to IP Addresses. Use with care!
# The example below excludes use of name resolution for machines that are NOT
# on the local network segment
# - OR - are not deliberately to be known via lmhosts or via WINS.
; name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast

# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable it's WINS Server
; wins support = yes

# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
; wins server = w.x.y.z

# WINS Proxy - Tells Samba to answer name resolution queries on
# behalf of a non WINS capable client, for this to work there must be
# at least one WINS Server on the network. The default is NO.
; wins proxy = yes

# DNS Proxy - tells Samba whether or not to try to resolve NetBIOS names
# via DNS nslookups. The built-in default for versions 1.9.17 is yes,
# this has been changed in version 1.9.18 to no.
dns proxy = no

# Case Preservation can be handy - system default is _no_
# NOTE: These can be set on a per share basis
; preserve case = no
; short preserve case = no
# Default case is normally upper case for all DOS files
; default case = lower
# Be very careful with case sensitivity - it can break things!
; case sensitive = no

#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
idmap uid = 16777216-33554431
idmap gid = 16777216-33554431
template shell = /bin/false
password server = None
guest ok = yes
username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
guest account = david
winbind use default domain = no
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = yes
writeable = yes

# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
; [netlogon]
; comment = Network Logon Service
; path = /home/netlogon
; guest ok = yes
; writable = no
; share modes = no


# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
# the default is to use the user's home directory
;[Profiles]
; path = /home/profiles
; browseable = no
; guest ok = yes


# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
# specifically define each individual printer
[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
browseable = no
# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
printable = yes

# This one is useful for people to share files

[david]
path = /home/david
writeable = yes


PLEASE, PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

Why don't you just create a samba user account that is also local on your Linux machine?

smbpasswd -a <username>

And then use that login and password you create to connect.

In the current version of your smbusers file you have:

david = David Waldie

That means that David would be understood as david and Waldie would be understood as david. David Waldie is understood as 2 separate usernames not as a single username. You might put quotes around it so it would be understood as a single username.

It may work if you edit the smbusers file by hand. However, the next time you open up the Samba GUI utility, it may overwrite your hand edit and change it back to just David Waldie without quotes.

Might I suggest you rename your user account in Windows to DavidWaldie and remove the space? You should be able to rename the account without loosing the profile information associated with it.

Having usernames with spaces in them is fine if you are only going to use Windows machines. However, once you start trying to interface your Windows machines with other OS's, you're going to have problems with spaces in user names. Even if you solve your current problem in Samba, you will constantly run in to problems related to that username with a space in it.

Done all that. Tried more combinations of username and password that you can shake a stick at. I've removed the firewalls from the XP machines and even uninstalled SP2 as I cannot share my printer from one XP machine to another. Still no dice.