smb.conf troble
 

--------------------------- START smb.conf ------------------------------
[global]
; uncomment this if you want a guest account
guest account = nobody
log file = /var/log/samba-log.%m
lock directory = /var/lock/samba
share modes = yes
netbios name = evanpc
workgroup = wirelesshome

[homes]
comment = home directory
guest ok = yes
read only = no
public = yes

[tmp]
comment = Temporary file space
path = /tmp
read only = no
public = yes
valid users = %S


[public_docs]
path = /home/ftp
public = yes
guest ok = yes
read only = no
----------------------- END smb.conf ------------------------------

this configuration is a montage of a bunch of other config files I have seen around, does anyone know what I'm doing wrong that makes it so that I still cant see my linux PC's shares from my windows PC's "network neighborhood"

what I was trying with this config is to make samba shares that can be seen by anyone in the "wirelesshome" workgroup, I didnt try to inplement any security because I dont think that is necessary for my application.

this is the string I use to start samba while I'm testing it "smbd -s /etc/samba/smb.conf" (and of course I kill it b4 I restart it). and yes, all the network drivers work and I can ping the other PC's in the house.

is this a new configuration, have you ever been able to see your shares, open windows explorer and type: \\evanpc and see if anything comes on.

another thing is see if you can bind the ip to the name in /etc/hosts and there is also a hosts file in the windows root file (system32) that you want to bind the name to ip and after you do that ,restart the service.

is this a new configuration, have you ever been able to see your shares, open windows explorer and type: \\evanpc and see if anything comes on.
I have never been able to see my PC as a network share on a windows PC (other than the FTP server I have set up)

another thing is see if you can bind the ip to the name in /etc/hosts and there is also a hosts file in the windows root file (system32) that you want to bind the name to ip and after you do that ,restart the service.
I though that netbios names work different than DNS type names, I havnt entered my den PC's name into my /etc/hosts file but when i do a "smbclient //denpc/" I get a response from the IP of my den PC.

does anyone else know what Im doing wrong in my smb.conf ?

Flush the firewall rules (just to see if thats causing) the trouble.
iptables -F;
You started smbd manually. You need to also start nmbd. I am not sure about slack, but I think there should be a script to start both in /etc/init.d/smb or /etc/rc.d/init. nmbd is the name services.

oyeah also make sure you got file and printer sharing and client for microsoft networks installed in your windows box.

Im not sure the hosts files work "just" for DNS names, netbios names need a resolver for their ip's. thats the only way that it worked for the setup I have on my LAN, another thing that I noticed on your conf. file was that the " encrypt passwords = yes" was missing on your global section, the microsoft domain encrypts all the sharelevel passwords, so you need to encrypt the passwords that you use to get in, no matter how low is the security that you want on it.

this site comes in very helpful for that

http://www.samba.netfirms.com/sambconf.htm#smb

let us know how that goes.

I used "nmbd" and finally I can see my linux pc on my windows pc's network neighborhood.

but when i double click on "evanpc" a password prompt comes up and says (think of this as a dialogue window)

You did not specify a
security=
in you config file. It defaults to user. There for you need to set the user up on the linux box with
smbadduser

what do I set "security =" to if I dont want to deal with users? I just want to share the files with anyone who is on our network.

if theres no way to do this, how do I add a user? there is no "smbadduser" command.
also, what username should I use, mabee the netbios name of the client PC?

Set it to security=share and on the share set allow_guest=yes.

sorry that I keep replying to this post, I just set up Samba the other day and its working great and it is still fresh in my mind, this site should give you the answer to that, http://www.samba.netfirms.com/addusers.htm#adduser

Set it to security=share and on the share set allow_guest=yes.
I did that and THANKS, helps alot.

plus I added "browseable = yes" from the link that sal_paradise42 gave me. thank you to. in fact; thank everyone who posted here for your QUICK and intuitive responses.

I have my shared files set up now and everything is hunky dory. :D

the only think is that Im not quite sure what the "homes" directory is for, if I double click it the windows pc says it doesnt exist. but whatever, thats not what I care about, i finally have shared files without the ftp server (although I'll miss the little buddy)

If you setup users it would map to thier home directory defined in /etc/passwd

like g-rod said, if you had users setup on samba and they logged in with the same user name under windows, then that share could be visible only to them. It is useful in network scripts and such ie: the same script can log every user on to thier individual home directory. Also, by default, it uses users home directories as he said also, which makes managing files easy as well.