hey everyone,

my 1st post in the linuxquestions-forum! :-)

my issue is probably dealt with many times and i've read some tutorials and various guides so far, but sadly i haven't come up with any solution yet. ok here it goes:

in my w-lan network i have a linux mint 7 laptop, and 2 others running winxp.
from linux mint i can view the shared folders/files on the win pcs. i can read and write, so i got full access.

the other way around (using the win pcs) i can see the folders of the linux mint laptop and also open them making the files visible. the problem is, i cannot read the shared files or write anything into the folders.

to configure the workgroup, shared folders, etc. i'm editing the smb.conf file in /etc/samba.
i set the "read only" option to "no", so i don't know why i can't read or write from the win pcs.

the only things i changed in the smb.conf file are:
1.) workgroup (they are now all in the same workgroup)
2.) i added the following lines at the end of the file:

[share]
path = /home/my_username/Shared Files
read only = No
guest ok = Yes


what do i have to edit/do in order for the winpcs to access (read/write) my shared files on the linux mint laptop?


thx for your time,
vercetti.

p.s. i would be grateful for a solution without having to add users, groups and passwords (unless this is impossible to avoid). a compromise would be setting a password and allowing every guest to access files after entering this password.

Hello,

What error do you clients get, i.e. if this is 'Access Denied' or something like this it may be possible due to too restrictive rights on /home/my_username/Shared Files

Please check that the user samba daemon is using has write access to that directory.

Guest access usually maps to nobody user, this can be set in smb.conf.

Default: guest account = nobody # default can be changed at compile-time

what is the output of ls -l Shared directory, change the read, write and execute permission to group and others say like 777 and in the smb.conf file

add these two lines
writeable = yes
browseable = yes

hey rtg, thx for your answer!
did i mention i'm an absolute linux n00b?! :-)

yes, the error is access denied.
1.) how do i check the user samba daemon is using has write access to that directory?
2.) do i add the line "guest account = nobody" to the smb.conf, is that what you mean?

one more issue:
in the meantime i wanted to try nautilus to configure my shares but i figured out this only works with folders/files that i own. and i don't want to share any files on my ext3 partition. i made an extra 25gb fat32 partition that i want the other win pcs to access on the network. so it seems nautilus won't be able to do that.
plus, i don't know how to add the share in smb.conf referring to the folder on the fat32 partition. how do i write this line? i know that the fat32 partition is dev/sda8.
(will this partition have to be automatically mounted somehow for the winpcs to access it - i read about this matter already but wouldn't know how to do this)

thx for your help!

p.s. for starters you don't have to explain the fat32 problem. i'd already be happy if i can share folders somewhere on the linux mint /home partition (hopefully i'll get a shared folder working on the fat32 someday as i don't want to save my files on the /home partition).

hey kirukan,
thx for your reply.

as you probably read i'm a linux n00b.

how do i implement your solutions?
i only know how to add the 2 lines. sorry to say that i don't know how to check the output of the shared directory, change the read/write/execute to group and others...

any help appreciated!
thx,
vercetti.

Usually samba will access your files as nobody (this is a real name of account, which usually has the least permissions).
Therefore you need to make your folder writable by everyone, as kirukan suggested.

Try doing the following in the terminal:
This will make the "Shared Files" directory readable/writable/executable by everyone. Then try creating some file/folder from the remote computer.

The magic "7" there is simply done by boolean addition of 'execute permission' (1) + 'write permission' (2) + 'read permission' (4).

ok guys,

stop all your thoughts, i figured out most of the problem in the last minute!

in another forum someone told me to give "nautilus" a try instead of using the smb.conf file. i read in a tutorial that nautilus can only make "owned" folders/files accessible in the network. i thought this only meant the partition where linux was on and that it would not work with the fat32 partition (which i created especially for network shares and my dualboot with winxp).
i gave nautilus a try anyway and being the linux n00b i am, i realized that i was in fact able to share folders on my fat32 partition. i also created a folder in /root/desktop in nautilus just to see if this would also work.
to my surprise both folders showed up on the winxp pc but i could only access the one on the fat32 (read and write). perfect! :-)
i was denied access to the folder on /root/desktop though, which -in my case- is ok (i only need the fat32 share to work).

so now the only thing left is how i can automatically have the fat32 mounted when i boot linux. until i mount the fat32 in linux it stays unavailable for network share.

what would be the correct line to add in /etc/fstab to have the fat32 auto-mounted?

the fat32 partition is dev/sda8 and it shows up as /media/SHARES under my computer. the folder i want to have shared is "/media/SHARES/shared files"

i found this line in a tutorial: (after personalizing it) is it what i need and how must i edit it?

/dev/sda8 /mnt/win1 vfat users,owner,rw,umask=000 0 0

thx for your help!

vercetti.

ok,

got my last issue solved too:

automounting the fat32 partition was done by using a little tool named "pysdm" (gui for editing fstab).
everything works great now!

all issues solved,
thx for your help,
vercetti.