Starting Samba
 

I am new to Linux and have just installed Slackware 13.0 . I am trying to add a network printer on a Windows maching and from reading I found that I need Samba. I selected Samba install from the setup menu when I installed Slackware. I went to the system settings advanced tab in KDE and selected Samba and an error message said it could not fine an smb.conf file. I found a smb.conf.example file in etc/samba . How do I setup samba. If I need to created an smb.conf file how do I do that.
I am having other problems getting started but I thought I would try one thing at a time.
Thanks for any help
Rick

You need cups installed. You don't need samba,, unless the printer is attached to the linux system, and you need to share it to windoze clients for printing.

Samba is very complex, it can do many things. If you want or need to configure it, go here, and follow the tutorial...

There are several tutorials here, based on what you might need. -->http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/Networking

You will need a driver for linux for the printer. Go here to see if your printer is supported.

-->http://www.linuxfoundation.org/colla...s/openprinting

If the printer is supported, you configure cups through a web browser. Enter http://localhost:631 and press enter. If cups is running, you will see a menu appear. You need to add the printer as root user.

Post back your questions...

Hi,

Welcome to LQ & Slackware!

You will need to make sure that '/etc/rc.d/rc.cups' is executable. Several ways to set; you can as root do 'cdmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.cups' or rerun setup to get to the script via 'pkgtool' to set services at startup.

'Setup CUPS Network Printer' & 'CUPS System Amdministrator's Guide' are good references.

These links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

Cups is running, I tried it first but the add printer asked for a device URI and I did not know what to put. The "See "Network Printers" for the correct URI to use with your printer." link seemed to be for printers connected directly to a network. I tried the HP Printer Management Application but this would not start; a window outline appeared briefly but went away without the program starting. I just tried Cups again using socket://Maggie where Maggie is the name of the Windows computer with the printer, and then selecting the printer model from the next pages but I got a message "A username and password are being requested by http://localhost:631. The site says: "CUPS" " I tried root for the password but this did not work.

Here is a uri that works for me.

The first field is the workgroup. The second is the name of the windoze system with the printer, and the third is the name given to the printer.

For the second name to work, you need to edit /etc/hosts file and make sure the IP address of the server is in the hosts file, along with the name. example 'mrburnie 192.168.1.20' ( without the quotes ). This works best if you are not using DHCP. Static IP addresses are much easier to deal with.

The root password is set when you install. It can be changed, even if you don not know what it is. If you never set a root password, try a blank ( nothing ).

Cliff,
I was able to setup the printer using your uri string after I created an smb.conf file using the sample in the etc/samba directory. I also had to give the root user a password to get past the localhost asking for a user name and password; it would not accept a blank for password. I am trying to print a test page but the status says 'processing since
Wed 23 Sep 2009 03:06:43 PM EDT' and nothing is printing. Is there something I need to do on the windoze machine?

The Description of the printer is:
Description:
Location: Maggie
Printer Driver: HP Photosmart 8200 Series hpijs, 3.9.4b
Printer State: processing, accepting jobs, published.
Device URI: smb://Bigdogs/Maggie/HPPhotos8250

Rick

Cliff,
I was able to setup the printer using your uri string after I created an smb.conf file using the sample in the etc/samba directory. I also had to give the root user a password to get past the localhost asking for a user name and password; it would not accept a blank for password. I am trying to print a test page but the status says 'processing since
Wed 23 Sep 2009 03:06:43 PM EDT' and nothing is printing. Is there something I need to do on the windoze machine?

The Description of the printer is:
Description:
Location: Maggie
Printer Driver: HP Photosmart 8200 Series hpijs, 3.9.4b
Printer State: processing, accepting jobs, published.
Device URI: smb://Bigdogs/Maggie/HPPhotos8250

I just received this error message:

HPPhotosmart "Unable to connect to SAMBA host, will retry in 60 seconds...ERROR: Connection failed with error NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED"
Description:
Location: Maggie
Printer Driver: HP Photosmart 8200 Series hpijs, 3.9.4b
Printer State: processing, accepting jobs, published.
Device URI: smb://Bigdogs/Maggie/HPPhotos8250



Rick

I went back and re-read your first post. I need some clarification. Which system is hosting the printer? Linux, or windoze?

The printer is on a Windoze machine running Win2000. Slackware is on a second machine connected to the local network.

The printer has to print locally. If you have the windoze driver installed, and the printer prints from the widoze system, there is nothing else to do. Any chance you are running a firewall on this system?

No, there is no firewall on the windoze machine. I tried installing a different HP driver but this did not help. Before I created the smb.conf file I was able to access windoze machine files across the network but after I created the smb.conf file I no longer can access these machines or files; they do not show up under networks in the Dolphin file manager. I need to go back and read up on Samba configuration. I think there is something wrong with the SMB install. Something may have gone wrong when I did the Slackware install. When starting KDE I got errors with Akonadi and since I installed KDE I thought it would start automatically when I booted the system but it does not - maybe this is normal I don't know. Also I tried to telnet into the Linux machine from a Windoze machine but could not. Aging this may be normal and I have to configure something. Again I need to read some more.

You do not need Samba configuration to make the printing work. That is part of samba server, not samba client. All you need for printing is samba client. You could, if you want, just un-install samba server. The reason you may want it, is to share files and directories on linux to your windoze system(s). If you don't need, or want that, you can safely remove it.

If you need it, post your current /etc/samba/smb.conf file, and details of your windoze shares. Workgroup name, etc. There are some tutorials on this board, and I can give you some links, if you decide to do some reading.

Sorry can not help here. Never used it.

Telnet. Just about no one uses it today on linux. The replacement is ssh. Openssh is the most common server for linux. You need a server installed, and configured. Windoze will run ssh also. Look for a program called Putty. I think it is freeware, you can goolgle it and find a place to download it from.

Cliff, thanks for all the help. I am very confused with Linux. All the conf files, all the new programs all the dependencies. I feel I need to learn how all this works together not just how to run a program. I don't understand how I was able to access windowze machines before an not now. I was able to copy a file from a cd on Linux to a folder on a windoze machine and now I cant's even see the machine in Dolphin file manager. I did not know that there was a Samba server and client I thougnt there was just one Samba. I have an old Red Hat Linux book and it mentions a Samba configuration program SWAT and it says to check two files to run SWAT. One of the files exist on Slackware but the second does not - "/etc/xinetd.d/swat. I also found an article in Linux.com magazine on using Swat and it says the same about the files to run SWAT. I also found that some of the conf files and directories are different between Red Hat and Slackware.

I would like to access file between windoze and Linux; I am attaching the smb.conf file. The Workgroup name of my network is "Bigdogs" and two windoze machines on the network are "jessie, and Maggie". Maggie has the remote printer "HPPhotos8250".
I have Putty, that is what I was using to try to get to the Linux machine using telnet. I just tried again using ssh and it works fine. I had to use the ip address it would not work with the name I gave the linux machine.
I would appreciate and links you give for tutorials or documentation.

I can't attach the smb.conf file I keep getting errors. Here is the file

# 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
#
# For a step to step guide on installing, configuring and using samba,
# read the Samba HOWTO Collection.
#
# 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]

# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name, eg: LINUX2
workgroup = Bigdogs

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

# Security mode. Defines in which mode Samba will operate. Possible
# values are share, user, server, domain and ads. Most people will want
# user level security. See the HOWTO Collection for details.
security = share

# 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
hosts allow = 192.168.0. 127.

# If you want to automatically load your printer list rather
# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
load printers = yes

# you may wish to override the location of the printcap file
; printcap name = /etc/printcap

# on SystemV system setting printcap name to lpstat should allow
# you to automatically obtain a printer list from the SystemV spool
# system
; printcap name = lpstat

# It should not be necessary to specify the print system type unless
# it is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
# bsd, cups, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
; printing = cups

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

# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
# that connects
log file = file:///var/log/samba.%25m

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

# Use password server option only with security = server
# The argument list may include:
# password server = My_PDC_Name [My_BDC_Name] [My_Next_BDC_Name]
# or to auto-locate the domain controller/s
# password server = *
; password server = <NT-Server-Name>

# Use the realm option only with security = ads
# Specifies the Active Directory realm the host is part of
; realm = MY_REALM

# Backend to store user information in. New installations should
# use either tdbsam or ldapsam. smbpasswd is available for backwards
# compatibility. tdbsam requires no further configuration.
; passdb backend = tdbsam

# 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.
# Note: Consider carefully the location in the configuration file of
# this line. The included file is read at that point.
; include = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m

# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
# See the chapter 'Samba performance issues' in the Samba HOWTO Collection
# and the manual pages for details.
# You may want to add the following on a Linux system:
# SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
socket options = TCP_NODELAY

# 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

# Browser Control Options:
# 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

# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
# Windows95 workstations.
; 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 roving profiles (only for Win95 and WinNT)
# %L substitutes for this servers netbios name, %U is username
# You must uncomment the [Profiles] share below
; logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U

# 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 default is NO.
dns proxy = no
restrict anonymous = no
domain master = no
preferred master = no
logon home = %5C%5C%25N%5C%25U
smb passwd file = file:///etc/samba/private/smbpasswd
pid directory = file:///var/run
logon path = %5C%5C%25N%5C%25U%5Cprofile
lock directory = file:///var/cache/samba
private dir = file:///etc/samba/private

# These scripts are used on a domain controller or stand-alone
# machine to add or delete corresponding unix accounts
; add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd %u
; add group script = /usr/sbin/groupadd %g
; add machine script = /usr/sbin/adduser -n -g machines -c Machine -d /dev/null -s /bin/false %u
; delete user script = /usr/sbin/userdel %u
; delete user from group script = /usr/sbin/deluser %u %g
; delete group script = /usr/sbin/groupdel %g


#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = no
read only = no

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


# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
# the default is to use the user's home directory
;[Profiles]
; path = /usr/local/samba/profiles
; browseable = no
; guest ok = yes


# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
# specifically define each individual printer
[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
browseable = no
# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
guest ok = no
printable = yes

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

Hi,

First, I would place your long list in the code tags # or quote. These are at the top of your reply window # (code) to the left a balloon (quote).

If you are wanting to use the names instead of a IP then you need to setup your hosts files. Do a 'man hosts'.

Just a few links to aid you to hopefully get some understanding;

Slackware® Essentials
Slackware® Basics
Linux Documentation Project
Rute Tutorial & Exposition
Linux Command Guide
Linux Newbie Admin Guide
LinuxSelfHelp
Getting Started with Linux
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide

These links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

Let me see if I can help you out. Just a general comment first. It is not uncommon for new users of linux to feel a little overwhelmed with config files. It takes some time to get a big picture of how things work. The interesting thing is windoze is just as complicated, except, and it is a big exception, the user is insulated from most of the hard stuff.

With linux, any distro, you have full access to all things, that is good news and the bad. It will take you some time, take things a step at a time, ;learn from it, and before long you will be surprised by what you know.

SWAT - it is a nice tool. I have installed, and I use it from inside Webmin. For now, I would suggest you leave SWAT alone. You need to pick one thing, get it going, then the next. Since you started the thread to get stuff going between windoze and linux, (printing to a windoze printer from linux) lets get that to work first.

I would suggest you don't spent too much time trying to find out why you could at one point get between windoze and linux, and now you can not. ( I think the answer lies in the smb.con file you posted.

First thing I did was to copy that file, and delete the comments. This is a case where you can see the forest for the trees. The comments block your ability to see what the lines are doing. Here is the uncommented version of your file.

This line could be the reason you can no longer see the windoze machines.

I say could, because I don't know what your local network is. Do your IP addresses start with 192.168.0 ? I don't think this is correct syntax either. I need to check in the doc. This line is a way to restrict who can access samba server by IP address. Is that what you want to do?

This doesn't look valid. This doesn't look good either What I am going to suggest you do is, go to this link, and create a new smb.conf file. It will be simple at first. It will get you going. Make it more complex as you learn.

The link -->http://www.samba.netfirms.com/sambconf.htm#smb

This link has examples, and gives you the basics. It is well commented. Try it, let me know how you make out.