Hello there,
I KNOW this has been brought up over and over and I have read probably at least a 100 posts but I still cant get it working. I have 3 Winxp and 1 SuSE 9.0 box all running from cable modem to dlink router, I can see the WinXP boxes from the Linux box, but cant see Linux from any of the Win boxes. I have tried and tried to configure Samba and can't seem to get any progress with it I am so lost anyone have any more suggestions? I am so new I havent a clue what I am doing but I would love to be able to learn Linux and keep going, Sorry for the redundant posts Oh yeah I also purchased this Windows services for Unix 3.0 will that help? I kinda wanta to get this samba thing up and running but I am willing to try whatever so I can get doing more things on Linux

have you started samba using the init-script?
samba got 2 (main) executables - smbd and nmbd. both need to be started.
nmbd announces itself to the windows network neighbourhood. windows will need this to display your linux box in the neighbourhood.

in windows, try open up the explorer and go to \\yourbox.
if it shows you the samba-shares, then everything is ok, except that windows does not show up your linux box - thats a bug in windows, which occurs sometimes.

if you are getting errors saying that your linux box cannot be found, post some more details concerning samba and your samba config.

here is the smb.conf and a test smb thingy;
# smb.conf is the main Samba configuration file. You find a full commented
# version at /usr/share/doc/packages/samba/examples/smb.conf.SuSE
# Date: 2003-09-23
[global]
workgroup = MSHOME
os level = 2
time server = Yes
unix extensions = Yes
encrypt passwords = yes
map to guest = Bad User
printing = CUPS
printcap name = CUPS
socket options = SO_KEEPALIVE IPTOS_LOWDELAY TCP_NODELAY
wins support = No
veto files = /*.eml/*.nws/riched20.dll/*.{*}/
security = user
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
valid users = %S
browseable = No
read only = No
create mask = 0640
directory mask = 0750
[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/tmp
printable = Yes
create mask = 0600
browseable = No
[print$]
comment = Printer Drivers
path = /var/lib/samba/drivers
write list = @ntadmin root
force group = ntadmin
create mask = 0664
directory mask = 0775
jilly@linux:~> smbclient '//10.0.0.100/homes' -U jilly
added interface ip=10.0.0.102 bcast=10.0.0.255 nmask=255.255.255.0
session request to 10.0.0.100 failed (Called name not present)
session request to 10 failed (Called name not present)
Password:
Domain=[MSHOME] OS=[Windows 5.1] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]
tree connect failed: NT_STATUS_BAD_NETWORK_NAME
jilly@linux:~>

jilly@linux:~> smbclient -L -N
added interface ip=10.0.0.102 bcast=10.0.0.255 nmask=255.255.255.0
Connection to -N failed
jilly@linux:~> smbclient -L jilly-1c19fdb7c
added interface ip=10.0.0.102 bcast=10.0.0.255 nmask=255.255.255.0
Got a positive name query response from 10.0.0.100 ( 10.0.0.100 )
Password:
Domain=[MSHOME] OS=[Windows 5.1] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]

Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
jillys Printer hp deskjet 5550 series
IPC$ IPC Remote IPC
D$ Disk Default share
SharedDocs Disk
print$ Disk Printer Drivers
My Downloads Disk
ADMIN$ Disk Remote Admin
C$ Disk Default share

Server Comment
--------- -------
JILLY-1C19FDB7C
JOHNSNEW

Workgroup Master
--------- -------
MSHOME JOHNSNEW
jilly@linux:~>

just because i noticed it: you may not add quotation marks when specifing netbios names via smbclient.
thats the reason why you got the tree connect-error


add (or modify) the following settings to your smb.conf:

unix extensions = No
netbios name = SOMETHING
os level = 99
lm announce = Yes

unix extensions - is usefull only if you have cifs-enabled clients, which windows isnt.

netbios name - by default, samba will use the local hostname as its netbios-announcement, try to override it using the parameter above.

os level - this makes windows aware that theres another "windows client", allthough its meant for sambas' acting as domain controllers.

lm announce - makes samba sending broadcasts, saying "HERE I AM!"

if this won't work, enable wins support and wins proxy and configure your windows clients to use your linux box as the wins-server (advanced tcp/ip configuration -> wins). restart windows to make sure the changes are applied.