Hi guys,

I've been having trouble getting our samba PDC up and running. I've a user created with whom I am attempting to access the samba domain from a Windows 2000 machine, but I'm getting the following message from the log on the server:

Nov 29 10:47:00 davelinux nmbd[11242]: [2005/11/29 10:47:00, 0] libsmb/unexpected.c:unexpected_packet(53)
Nov 29 10:47:00 davelinux nmbd[11242]: Failed to open unexpected.tdb
Nov 29 10:47:00 davelinux nmbd[11242]: [2005/11/29 10:47:00, 0] nmbd/nmbd_serverlistdb.c:write_browse_list(341)
Nov 29 10:47:00 davelinux nmbd[11242]: write_browse_list: Can't open file /var/lib/samba/browse.dat.. Error was Permission denied

.. the folder /var/lib/samba/ doesn't exist, which I recon is the most likely reason it can't open /var/lib/samba/browse.dat..

I'm using the latest version of Samba - 3.0.20b-1.

If anybody has any ideas what the problem could be, I'd appreciate any suggestions.

For reference, this is a copy of the smb.conf file on my system, which is pretty much just a copy of the smb.conf file from the official HOWTO from the samba website.

[global]
workgroup = MIDEARTH
netbios name = HOBBIT
passdb backend = tdbsam
printcap name = cups
add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd -m %u
delete user script = /usr/sbin/userdel -r %u
add group script = /usr/sbin/groupadd %g
delete group script = /usr/sbin/groupdel %g
add user to group script = /usr/sbin/groupmod -A %u %g
delete user from group script = /usr/sbin/groupmod -R %u %g
add machine script = /usr/sbin/useradd -s /bin/false -d /var/lib/nobody %u
# Note: The following specifies the default logon script.
# Per user logon scripts can be specified in the user account using pdbedit
logon script = scripts\logon.bat
# This sets the default profile path. Set per user paths with pdbedit
logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U
logon drive = H:
logon home = \\%L\%U
domain logons = Yes
os level = 35
preferred master = Yes
domain master = Yes
idmap uid = 15000-20000
idmap gid = 15000-20000
printing = cups

[homes]
comment = Home Directories
valid users = %S
read only = No
browseable = No

# Printing auto-share (makes printers available thru CUPS)
[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
printer admin = root, maryo
create mask = 0600
guest ok = Yes
printable = Yes
browseable = No

[print$]
comment = Printer Drivers Share
path = /var/lib/samba/drivers
write list = maryo, root
printer admin = maryo, root

# Needed to support domain logons
[netlogon]
comment = Network Logon Service
path = /var/lib/samba/netlogon
admin users = root, maryo
guest ok = Yes
browseable = No

# For profiles to work, create a user directory under the path
# shown. i.e., mkdir -p /var/lib/samba/profiles/maryo
[Profiles]
comment = Roaming Profile Share
path = /var/lib/samba/profiles
read only = No
profile acls = Yes
# Other resource (share/printer) definitions would follow below.

[public]
comment = Data
path = /shareFolder
force user = maryo
force group = users
guest ok = Yes
read only = No

Thanks,

I would say the first thing to make sure is that /var/lib/samba is present and that it is writeable by the user that samba is running as (to check which that is try the following:
ps -eo pid,user,args --sort user
and look for the smbd and nmbd processes (you could add a pipe to the end of the above command and add a grep mbd, so the full command becomes:
ps -eo pid,user,args --sort user | grep mbd)

One my box here it shows the following:
[13:55:14][phil@bigblue:/home/SUSE]$ ps -eo pid,user,args --sort user | grep mbd
14100 phil grep mbd
2467 root smbd -D
2469 root smbd -D
2470 root nmbd -D

So I would need to ensure /var/lib/samba is there and writeable by root.

Your config also needs /var/lib/samba to be there as it contains the user profiles, so you will get errors when users try to logon as it will try to read their profile and not be able to! netlogon also resides in that directory.

Let me know how you get on, reply here or email me if you get stuck

Phil