No, if you set up the server as a PDC, you certainly don't have to log on to it (as a domain member) in order to access the shares. You can still have a Windoze computer browse for the Linux box in the workgroup (in my case the workgroup and the NT domain name is "HOME_NET", defined by the line "workgroup = HOME_NET" in my smb.conf).

In order to make your Windoze clients log on to the NT domain, you have to:

1. Properly configure SAMBA as a PDC (this includes creating UNIX and SAMBA accounts for each client machine, a.k.a. "machine accounts").
2. Configure the client workstations and make sure they join your NT domain.
3. Apply registry patches for compatibility with SAMBA, if necessary. For example, you need to patch Windoze 2000 and XP workstations before they can work successfully with SAMBA acting as a PDC. These registry (.reg) files are usually in /usr/share/doc/samba-x.x.x/docs/Registry, where "x.x.x" is your SAMBA version. Make sure you convert them to DOS format before applying them!

For more info check out the SAMBA HowTo collection here.

Herm I have a problem with LinNeighborhood.. It try to MOUNT the shared drive to a path using smbmount (or a command like this) but I don't have this command (progs) in my samba/bin....

How can I enable this? I suppose it's an option I have to enable at compile time but I don't found wich one in the read me files...

sewer_monkey,

Here my [golbal] & [netlogons], could you please tell me is it correct

#Assume my workgroup = abc; my domain = def

[global]
os level = 64
domain master = yes
preferred master = yes
# printing = lprng
dns proxy = no
security = user
null passwords = yes
encrypt passwords = yes
workgroup = abc
server string = Samba Server
socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
netbios name = def
load printers = no
# printcap name = /etc/printcap
wins support = true
max log size = 0

[netlogons]
path = /export/smb/net/netlogon
read only = yes
logon script = map.bat
guest ok = yes

I think I did that by using WEBMIN to do convert Unix users to Samba users


I know how to do it.

Have no clue what it is Could you please drop me a few lines. Thanks a lot.

I use xSMBrower as the GUI interface. This does not setup Samba, it allows you to connect to the Windows computer. You can find it easily with a web search. After install you will have a script, but when you click on the script, you will find that you are reading the script, not executing it. Make a "link to application" to the script and click on that.

I put some discussion of SAMBA<>Windows on my website at http://www.fastbk.com/linux.

Linux and Windows handle the shares differently. To access linux from windows, you have to first set up a user on linux that is the same "name" as your Windows Networks login name. Then, when the Windows Network tries to log in, it will be logging to that user account on Linux.

Going the other direction, you can set a password on your shared resources (good idea) but then you will have to enter that password when you log into the Windows computer. Note on this -- xSMBrowser unfortunately saves the password in an unencrypted file for login purposes. Therefore, I always type the password.

You also have to import the password user list into smbpasswrd. I forget the specfics on this, but Windows can't log into Linux until you accomplish this.

Logging into Windows from Linux is fairly easy with xSMBrowser if your Samba client is running. If you don't have a browse server on the network (a waste of resources for one or two computers), you make a "favorites" entry and identify the other computer by IP. You can then browse to it. I have found that the "mount" command won't mount the drive for some reason, but the "explore" command will.