Recently, I bought a Dell laptop with VISTA Home Basic on.

Unable to access the samba share on my old Linux server running Redhat Linux version 9, I upgraded to Fedora 9. Still unable to access. I alter the Vista registry to use level 1 instead of 3 in the security authentication whatever entry, as explained in many entries on the internet. But no effect. I even disable user authentication all together. Yet, the Vista didn't detect anything except itself and the router.

I also disable the Windows firewall, but still nothing shows up under network. Now I'm really despirate.

Can any expert over there point out what else I should try?

many many thanks,

I usually make sure /etc/samba/smb.conf contains the same domain name as used by the vista computer, even if it is a workgroup and not a domain.

Set the share up so with the login name that will come from the Vista machine.

Map that user to an existing linux user or create a user of the same name as will be mapped from the Vista machine.

Finally, use smbclient to create the mapped user's name/password.

Yes, I setup workgroup in smb.conf to WORKGROUP as all the Windows PC do. The Vista PC can ping the Linux server, but can't see in Network Explorer. Also I can't remotely log into the Linux server using putty. Something is different than on XP PCs.

I also set password in the Samba machine with smbpasswd to use the same password as on Vista.

There is no problem at all from 2k/XP PCs to access the samba share. It's puzzling.

Beside, Vista can neither see the 2k/XP PCs in the network.

As to not being able to login using putty, it sounds like your Linux system is not running the telnet daemon. You need to install it and start it running. If you are worried about security, you are better off using SSH, unless you believe your firewall will protect you from outside hacking.

As to Vista not seeing stuff, you'll need to sort out what is blocking this in Vista. It sounds like your 2k/XP systems can see the samba share.