samba network not found message from windoze
 

My problem is simple I can see my Linux machine as a Samba server in network neigbourhood on a win2k pc and on also two win98 laptops. On all three machines if I try to open the servers to get access to the shares I receive the error message
"\\ Linuxbox is not accessible. The network path was not found."

The smb.conf is as follows, extremly simple as you can see, it is an example mostly borrowed from The Unofficial Samba Howto by D Lechnyr.
I have been following the above guide and also SAMS Samba in 24 hours book.
But something is eluding me and I'm afraid it's probably too simple for my brain. Ive also lurked around this forum, but now I have to ask for assistance.
I'm running rh 8 by the way.
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[global]
netbios name = Linuxbox
workgroup = Workgroup
server string = samba server 19 mar 2003
log level = 2
log file =/usr/samba/samba.log
security = share
[pub]
path = /home/public
browseable = yes
read only = no
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[root@linuxbox root]# testparm /etc/samba/smb.conf
Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
Processing section "[pub]"
Loaded services file OK.
Press enter to see a dump of your service definitions

# Global parameters
[global]
coding system =
client code page = 850
code page directory = /usr/share/samba/codepages
workgroup = WORKGROUP
netbios name = LINUXBOX
netbios aliases =
netbios scope =
server string = samba on 17 mar 2003
interfaces =
bind interfaces only = No
security = SHARE
encrypt passwords = No
update encrypted = No
allow trusted domains = Yes
hosts equiv =
min passwd length = 5
map to guest = Never
null passwords = No
obey pam restrictions = No
password server =
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
root directory =
pam password change = No
passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd
passwd chat = *new*password* %n\n *new*password* %n\n *changed*
passwd chat debug = No
username map =
password level = 0
username level = 0
unix password sync = No
restrict anonymous = No
lanman auth = Yes
use rhosts = No
admin log = No
log level = 2
syslog = 1
syslog only = No
log file = /usr/samba/samba.log
max log size = 5000
timestamp logs = Yes
debug hires timestamp = No
debug pid = No
debug uid = No
protocol = NT1
large readwrite = No
max protocol = NT1
min protocol = CORE
read bmpx = No
read raw = Yes
write raw = Yes
nt smb support = Yes
nt pipe support = Yes
nt status support = Yes
announce version = 4.5
announce as = NT
max mux = 50
max xmit = 65535
name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast
max packet = 65535
max ttl = 259200
max wins ttl = 518400
min wins ttl = 21600
time server = No
unix extensions = No
change notify timeout = 60
deadtime = 0
getwd cache = Yes
keepalive = 300
lpq cache time = 10
max smbd processes = 0
max disk size = 0
max open files = 10000
read size = 16384
socket options = TCP_NODELAY
stat cache size = 50
use mmap = Yes
total print jobs = 0
load printers = Yes
printcap name = /etc/printcap
disable spoolss = No
enumports command =
addprinter command =
deleteprinter command =
show add printer wizard = Yes
os2 driver map =
strip dot = No
mangling method = hash
character set =
mangled stack = 50
stat cache = Yes
domain admin group =
domain guest group =
machine password timeout = 604800
add user script =
delete user script =
logon script =
logon path = \\%N\%U\profile
logon drive =
logon home = \\%N\%U
domain logons = No
os level = 20
lm announce = Auto
lm interval = 60
preferred master = Auto
local master = Yes
domain master = Auto
browse list = Yes
enhanced browsing = Yes
dns proxy = Yes
wins proxy = No
wins server =
wins support = No
wins hook =
kernel oplocks = Yes
lock spin count = 3
lock spin time = 10
oplock break wait time = 0
add share command =
change share command =
delete share command =
config file =
preload =
lock dir = /var/cache/samba
pid directory = /var/run/samba
utmp directory =
wtmp directory =
utmp = No
default service =
message command =
dfree command =
valid chars =
remote announce =
remote browse sync =
socket address = 0.0.0.0
homedir map = auto.home
time offset = 0
NIS homedir = No
source environment =
panic action =
hide local users = No
winbind uid =
winbind gid =
template homedir = /home/%D/%U
template shell = /bin/false
winbind separator = \
winbind cache time = 15
winbind enum users = Yes
winbind enum groups = Yes
winbind use default domain = No
comment =
path =
alternate permissions = No
username =
guest account = nobody
invalid users =
valid users =
admin users =
read list =
write list =
printer admin =
force user =
force group =
read only = Yes
create mask = 0744
force create mode = 00
security mask = 0777
force security mode = 00
directory mask = 0755
force directory mode = 00
directory security mask = 0777
force directory security mode = 00
force unknown acl user = 00
inherit permissions = No
inherit acls = No
guest only = No
guest ok = No
only user = No
hosts allow =
hosts deny =
status = Yes
nt acl support = Yes
block size = 1024
max connections = 0
min print space = 0
strict allocate = No
strict sync = No
sync always = No
write cache size = 0
max print jobs = 1000
printable = No
postscript = No
printing = bsd
print command = lpr -r -P%p %s
lpq command = lpq -P%p
lprm command = lprm -P%p %j
lppause command =
lpresume command =
queuepause command =
queueresume command =
printer name =
use client driver = No
default devmode = No
printer driver =
printer driver file = /etc/samba/printers.def
printer driver location =
default case = lower
case sensitive = No
preserve case = Yes
short preserve case = Yes
mangle case = No
mangling char = ~
hide dot files = Yes
hide unreadable = No
delete veto files = No
veto files =
hide files =
veto oplock files =
map system = No
map hidden = No
map archive = Yes
mangled names = Yes
mangled map =
browseable = Yes
blocking locks = Yes
csc policy = manual
fake oplocks = No
locking = Yes
oplocks = Yes
level2 oplocks = Yes
oplock contention limit = 2
posix locking = Yes
strict locking = No
share modes = Yes
copy =
include =
exec =
preexec close = No
postexec =
root preexec =
root preexec close = No
root postexec =
available = Yes
volume =
fstype = NTFS
set directory = No
wide links = Yes
follow symlinks = Yes
dont descend =
magic script =
magic output =
delete readonly = No
dos filemode = No
dos filetimes = No
dos filetime resolution = No
fake directory create times = No
vfs object =
vfs options =

[pub]
path = /home/public
read only = No
------------------------------------------------------
pinging loopback localhost ..."ping 127.0.0.1" works fine.
pinging server via IP... "ping 194.61.61.61" works fine.
pinging server via name Linuxbox ..."ping Linuxbox" works fine.

I have added the samba server IP address to the host and lmhost files in the Win98 and Win2k machines and pinging Linuxbox from Win2k machine ..."ping Linuxbox" also works fine.

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Here is maybe a CLUE to my problem.

If I do "nmblookup Linuxbox ...I get the following
querying Linuxbox on 194.61.61.255
name_query failed to find name Linuxbox

Question.. As the IP address of the machine is 194.61.61.61,with a subnet of 255.255.254.000. Why does it query 194.61.61.255. It seems to me that querying that address it's bound to fail.

Oops, that's the broadcast address. But it's still a FAILURE.
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If I key "smbclient -L Linuxbox" I get the following returned.
added interface ip=194.61.61.61 bcast=194.61.61.255 nmask=255.255.254.0
Password:
Domain=[WORKGROUP] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 2.2.5]

Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
pub Disk
IPC$ IPC IPC Service (samba on 19 mar 2003)
ADMIN$ Disk IPC Service (samba on 19 mar 2003)

Server Comment
--------- -------
LINUXBOX samba on 19 mar 2003

Workgroup Master
--------- -------
WORKGROUP LINUXBOX
n.b the "samba on 19 mar 2003" is the samba string, I add it to remind myself what year this is and what I am doing at the time.
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Keying "Net View \\Linuxbox" on the win2k machine returns the following
System error 53 has occurred.
The network path was not found.

This of course is the same error message I get in network neighbourhood.
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I hope there is enough info here for someone to suggest a further course of action.
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Being that you are not using your personal home directory, you will need to setup the file system rights to your PUB directory through linux before you can see it. As a test just "chmod 777 /home/public" and see what happens. Being that this is a public directory, those are probably the correct rights anyway.

Also make sure /home/public is an actual directory and that you run smbpasswd usignt he same account name and password as you windows machines.

thanks for the reply, but I' sorry to say, been there and done that.
I'm sure the windows error message "network not found " is giving me a huge clue, but everything I try gets me nowhere.
The more I think about it, the more I suspect it's a master browser issue, but I've got os = 33, surely the server should be master browser, but it often takes quite a while for it to appear in network neigbourhood.

do you have any other linux machines attached to the network that you can browse into? if so the problem is on the windows side. you may want to active the guest account in windows and set the pw to <blank>. this will open up a path to connect to, but it does leave the machine open to the outside world as well.

Honestly, the "network not found" message isn't a very good clue after all. It's pretty much generic. Like I said, not having accounts setup correctly gives the same message.

Unfortunately it looks like SWAT has already gotten a hold of your smb.conf because you have a lot of unnecessary stuff in there. I would restore the original smb.conf and set up a new user account on both machines. Make sure the standard home directory share (from the original smb.conf) is available. That should work out of the box. If that does fix it then your accounts are not setup correctly.

I've been working on SAMBA for about 5 years and have never had to modify any master browser settings so I can't comment on that if it's been changed.

I only have windoze machines on the network , currently a laptop running 98 and a pc running 2k.
I'll set up the guest account and let you know. Thanks for replying.

reply to ghight
Thanks for those comments.
i also have a rh8 machine which I have set up in my place of work and have shoved it on the company network, a huge mixture of windows pc's and macintoshes. But I get exactly the same error, and that machine is using the default smb.conf that comes with rh8. but you may have a point, I have been messing about for 6weeks now and maybe I should just junk the lot and start again, but lets face it you can't get a much easier smb.conf than the one I use :)

hmmmmmmmmm. Here is a very simple smb.conf that I use for one of our archive servers at work. It was made with Webmin which I recommend highly if you want to use a web interface. It's much simpler to diagnose.

# 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]
log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
dns proxy = no
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
server string = Job Archives
obey pam restrictions = yes
socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
workgroup = 3IENG
hosts allow = 192.168.1. 127.
encrypt passwords = yes
security = user
max log size = 0

[Archives]
comment = Archive of completed job files
create mode = 775
preserve case = yes
write list = ghight,nzimmer,troedel,bzimmer,@smbadmin
path = /home/archives
force group = +smbadmin
directory mode = 775

[Submit]
comment = Modified files should be submitted here
writeable = yes
create mode = 775
path = /home/submit
directory mode = 775