Right now I am trying to set up my network in a way that I can see my linux computer from a windows computer. Right now windows sees my computer but won't add it to the network. How do I get around this so I can add my linux computer to network neighborhood?

Could you be more specific about what your problem really is?

they need to be in direct line of sight to see each other, that's why.

are you using Samba?

yes, but what is he wanting to know? what do you mean "windows sees my computer but wont add it to the network"?

he probably means it shows up in network neighborhood but you can't browse any shares therein.

Try out the following stuff:

1) Change the security level to : shared
2) Logout and relogin on the windows maching. (if it does not work on the first attempt, do logout and login for 2 to 3 times, by this time it should work, if it doesn't....)

Note: dont forget to restart the smb service on the linux after making the change to the config. file.

( I assume that your other settings are OK and you can see the folder for linux machine on your windows PC. )

I mean is that windows sees my computer as localhost. But with windows networking you can't just add a computer. So i see an icon of my computer with my host name but I can go farther then that, I can't expanded it out to see the directories and I can't hit ok when it is hightlighted.

A VERY common issue with samba is when people enable those default firewall rules. They allow name queries, but not direct shares. make sure iptables is not running with:
service iptables stop

sounds like a newbie got lose on the keyboard so, you mean that it shows up in network neighborhood as localhost? that sont work. localhost is the loopback on all computers, just like the ip address of 127.0.0.1 What does the smb config file look like?

# 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]

# 1. Server Naming Options:
# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
workgroup = MDKGROUP

# netbios name is the name you will see in "Network Neighbourhood",
# but defaults to your hostname
; netbios name = <name_of_this_server>

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

# Message command is run by samba when a "popup" message is sent to it.
# The example below is for use with LinPopUp:
; message command = /usr/bin/linpopup "%f" "%m" %s; rm %s

# 2. Printing Options:
# CHANGES TO ENABLE PRINTING ON ALL CUPS PRINTERS IN THE NETWORK
# (as cups is now used in linux-mandrake 7.2 by default)
# if you want to automatically load your printer list rather
# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
printcap name = cups
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, cups
printing = cups

# Samba 2.2 supports the Windows NT-style point-and-print feature. To
# use this, you need to be able to upload print drivers to the samba
# server. The printer admins (or root) may install drivers onto samba.
# Note that this feature uses the print$ share, so you will need to
# enable it below.
# This parameter works like domain admin group:
# printer admin = @<group> <user>
printer admin = @adm
# This should work well for winbind:
; printer admin = @"Domain Admins"

# 3. Logging Options:
# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
# that connects
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m

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

# Set the log (verbosity) level (0 <= log level <= 10)
; log level = 3

# 4. Security and Domain Membership Options:
# 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. Do not enable this if (tcp/ip) name resolution does
# not work for all the hosts in your network.
; hosts allow = 192.168.1. 192.168.2. 127.

# Uncomment this if you want a guest account, you must add this to /etc/passwd
# otherwise the user "nobody" is used
; guest account = pcguest
# Allow users to map to guest:
map to guest = bad user

# Security mode. Most people will want user level security. See
# security_level.txt for details.
security = user
# Use password server option only with security = server or security = domain
# When using security = domain, you should use password server = *
; password server = <NT-Server-Name>
; password server = *

# 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
# Encrypted passwords are required for any use of samba in a Windows NT domain
# The smbpasswd file is only required by a server doing authentication, thus
# members of a domain do not need one.
encrypt passwords = yes
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd

# The following are needed to allow password changing from Windows to
# also update the Linux system password.
# 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
# You either need to setup a passwd program and passwd chat, or
# enable pam password change
; pam password change = 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

# Options for using winbind. Winbind allows you to do all account and
# authentication from a Windows or samba domain controller, creating
# accounts on the fly, and maintaining a mapping of Windows RIDs to unix uid's
# and gid's. winbind uid and winbind gid are the only required parameters.
#
# winbind uid is the range of uid's winbind can use when mapping RIDs to uid's
; winbind uid = 10000-20000
#
# winbind gid is the range of uid's winbind can use when mapping RIDs to gid's
; winbind gid = 10000-20000
#
# winbind separator is the character a user must use between their domain
# name and username, defaults to "\"
; winbind separator = +
#
# winbind use default domain allows you to have winbind return usernames
# in the form user instead of DOMAIN+user for the domain listed in the
# workgroup parameter.
; winbind use default domain = yes
#
# template homedir determines the home directory for winbind users, with
# %D expanding to their domain name and %U expanding to their username:
; template homedir = /home/%D/%U

# When using winbind, you may want to have samba create home directories
# on the fly for authenticated users. Ensure that /etc/pam.d/samba is
# using 'service=system-auth-winbind' in pam_stack modules, and then
# enable obedience of pam restrictions below:
; obey pam restrictions = yes

#
# template shell determines the shell users authenticated by winbind get
; template shell = /bin/bash

# 5. Browser Control and Networking Options:
# 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

# 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

# 6. Domain Control Options:
# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
# Windows95 workstations or Primary Domain Controller for WinNT and Win2k
; 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 roaming profiles for WinNT and Win2k
# %L substitutes for this servers netbios name, %U is username
# You must uncomment the [Profiles] share below
; logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U

# Where to store roaming profiles for Win9x. Be careful with this as it also
# impacts where Win2k finds it's /HOME share
; logon home = \\%L\%U\.profile

# The add user script is used by a domain member to add local user accounts
# that have been authenticated by the domain controller, or by the domain
# controller to add local machine accounts when adding machines to the domain.
# The script must work from the command line when replacing the macros,
# or the operation will fail. Check that groups exist if forcing a group.
# Script for domain controller for adding machines:
; add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd -d /dev/null -g machines -c 'Machine Account' -s /bin/false -M %u
# Script for domain controller with LDAP backend for adding machines (please
# configure in /etc/samba/smbldap_conf.pm first):
; add user script = /usr/share/samba/scripts/smbldap-useradd.pl -w -d /dev/null -g machines -c 'Machine Account' -s /bin/false %u
# Script for domain member for adding local accounts for authenticated users:
; add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd -s /bin/false %u

# Domain groups:
# domain admin group is a list of unix users or groups who are made members
# of the Domain Admin group
; domain admin group = root @adm
#
# domain guest groups is a list of unix users or groups who are made members
# of the Domain Guests group
; domain guest group = nobody @guest

# LDAP configuration for Domain Controlling:
# The account (dn) that samba uses to access the LDAP server
# This account needs to have write access to the LDAP tree
# You will need to give samba the password for this dn, by
# running 'smbpasswd -w mypassword'
; ldap admin dn = cn=root,dc=mydomain,dc=com
; ldap ssl = start_tls
# start_tls should run on 389, but samba defaults incorrectly to 636
; ldap port = 389
; ldap suffix = dc=mydomain,dc=com
; ldap server = ldap.mydomain.com


# 7. Name Resolution Options:
# 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

# 8. File Naming Options:
# 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

# Enabling internationalization:
# you can match a Windows code page with a UNIX character set.
# Windows: 437 (US), 737 (GREEK), 850 (Latin1 - Western European),
# 852 (Eastern Eu.), 861 (Icelandic), 932 (Cyrillic - Russian),
# 936 (Japanese - Shift-JIS), 936 (Simpl. Chinese), 949 (Korean Hangul),
# 950 (Trad. Chin.).
# UNIX: ISO8859-1 (Western European), ISO8859-2 (Eastern Eu.),
# ISO8859-5 (Russian Cyrillic), KOI8-R (Alt-Russ. Cyril.)
# This is an example for french users:
; client code page = 850
; character set = ISO8859-1


#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = no
writable = yes
# You can enable VFS recycle bin on a per share basis:
# Uncomment the next 2 lines (make sure you create a
# .recycle folder in the base of the share and ensure
# all users will have write access to it. See
# examples/VFS/recycle/REAME in samba-doc for details
; vfs object = /usr/lib/samba/vfs/recycle.so
; vfs options= /etc/samba/recycle.conf
# You may want to prevent abuse of your server disk space, and spread of virii
; veto files = /*.eml/*.nws/*.dll/*.mp3/*.MP3/*.mpg/*.MPG/*.vbs/*.VBS/

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

#Uncomment the following 2 lines if you would like your login scripts to
#be created dynamically by ntlogon (check that you have it in the correct
#location (the default of the ntlogon rpm available in contribs)
;root preexec = /usr/bin/ntlogon -u %U -g %G -o %a -d /var/lib/samba/netlogon/
;root postexec = rm -f /var/lib/samba/netlogon/%U.bat

# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
# the default is to use the user's home directory
;[Profiles]
; path = /var/lib/samba/profiles
; browseable = no
; guest ok = yes
; writable = yes
# This script can be enabled to create profile directories on the fly
# You may want to turn off guest acces if you enable this, as it
# hasn't been thoroughly tested.
; root preexec = PROFILE=/var/lib/samba/profiles/%u; if [ ! -e $PROFILE ]; \
; then mkdir -pm700 $PROFILE; chown %u.%g $PROFILE;fi


# NOTE: If you have a CUPS print system there is no need to
# specifically define each individual printer.
# You must configure the samba printers with the appropriate Windows
# drivers on your Windows clients. On the Samba server no filtering is
# done. If you wish that the server provides the driver and the clients
# send PostScript ("Generic PostScript Printer" under Windows), you have
# to swap the 'print command' line below with the commented one.
[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
browseable = no
# to allow user 'guest account' to print.
guest ok = yes
writable = no
printable = yes
create mode = 0700
# =====================================
# print command: see above for details.
# =====================================
print command = lpr-cups -P %p -o raw %s -r # using client side printer drivers.
; print command = lpr-cups -P %p %s -r # using cups own drivers (use generic PostScript on clients).
# The following two commands are the samba defaults for printing=cups
# change them only if you need different options:
; lpq command = lpq -P %p
; lprm command = cancel %p-%j

# This share is used for Windows NT-style point-and-print support.
# To be able to install drivers, you need to be either root, or listed
# in the printer admin parameter above. Note that you also need write access
# to the directory and share definition to be able to upload the drivers.
# For more information on this, please see the Printing Support Section of
# /usr/share/doc/samba-<version>/docs/Samba-HOWTO-Collection.pdf
[print$]
path = /var/lib/samba/printers
browseable = yes
read only = yes
write list = @adm root
guest ok = yes

# A useful application of samba is to make a PDF-generation service
# To streamline this, install windows postscript drivers (preferably colour)
# on the samba server, so that clients can automatically install them.

[pdf-generator]
path = /var/tmp
guest ok = No
printable = Yes
comment = PDF Generator (only valid users)
#print command = /usr/share/samba/scripts/print-pdf file path win_path recipient IP doc_name &
print command = /usr/share/samba/scripts/print-pdf %s ~%u //%L/%u %m %I "%J" &

# This one is useful for people to share files
;[tmp]
; comment = Temporary file space
; path = /tmp
; read only = no
; public = yes

# A publicly accessible directory, but read only, except for people in
# the "staff" group
;[public]
; comment = Public Stuff
; path = /home/samba/public
; public = yes
; writable = no
; write list = @staff
# Audited directory through experimental VFS audit.so module:
# Uncomment next line.
; vfs object = /usr/lib/samba/vfs/audit.so

# Other examples.
#
# A private printer, usable only by Fred. Spool data will be placed in Fred's
# home directory. Note that fred must have write access to the spool directory,
# wherever it is.
;[fredsprn]
; comment = Fred's Printer
; valid users = fred
; path = /homes/fred
; printer = freds_printer
; public = no
; writable = no
; printable = yes

# A private directory, usable only by Fred. Note that Fred requires write
# access to the directory.
;[fredsdir]
; comment = Fred's Service
; path = /usr/somewhere/private
; valid users = fred
; public = no
; writable = yes
; printable = no

# a service which has a different directory for each machine that connects
# this allows you to tailor configurations to incoming machines. You could
# also use the %u option to tailor it by user name.
# The %m gets replaced with the machine name that is connecting.
;[pchome]
; comment = PC Directories
; path = /usr/pc/%m
; public = no
; writable = yes

# A publicly accessible directory, read/write to all users. Note that all files
# created in the directory by users will be owned by the default user, so
# any user with access can delete any other user's files. Obviously this
# directory must be writable by the default user. Another user could of course
# be specified, in which case all files would be owned by that user instead.
;[public]
; path = /usr/somewhere/else/public
; public = yes
; only guest = yes
; writable = yes
; printable = no

# The following two entries demonstrate how to share a directory so that two
# users can place files there that will be owned by the specific users. In this
# setup, the directory should be writable by both users and should have the
# sticky bit set on it to prevent abuse. Obviously this could be extended to
# as many users as required.
;[myshare]
; comment = Mary's and Fred's stuff
; path = /usr/somewhere/shared
; valid users = mary fred
; public = no
; writable = yes
; printable = no
; create mask = 0765

Still not clear. Are you saying you open NetNeighborhood, you see your windows PC and your Linux pc as available Icons, but when you double click on the Linux icon .....what? Something must happen, "network path not found" "access denied" "host timed out" something like that?

Network Neighborhood can be very very slow to notice network changes so I would check things from the command line first.

On windows nbtstat -a <linux host name> should return the Linux name cache. If it doesn't there is something amiss with nmbd, make sure it is running. Also check that both machines are in the same workgroup - check spelling, case etc, special charachters spaces in names have been known to upset Windows.

If nbtstat works, next do 'net view \\<linux host name> this will tell you if the box is allowing you access to view the available shares.

Lastly 'net use * \\<linux host name>\share ' will tell you if it is accepting connections.

All of this can work without the windows browsing system, what you see as network neighborhood, from knowing anything.

its almost like a separate entity from the functional networking components and can be misleading. In large networks it can take up to 45 minutes to register that a PC has been switched on!! MS strike again!

so, can you not access it in network neighborhood? have you tried to stop the iptables firewall?