Cannot give write permissions to samba shares

Hello everyone.

I have an ubuntu server and I followed this guide to make some samba shares for my network
https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/server...ileserver.html

However the folder that I am sharing right now does not have write permissions. I have 3 computers here, 1 with linux and 2 with windows and none of them can write to this shared folder.

Here is my smb.conf

Code:

---

#
# Sample configuration file for the Samba suite for Debian GNU/Linux.
#
#
# 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 most of which
# are not shown in this example
#
# Some options that are often worth tuning have been included as
# commented-out examples in this file.
#  - When such options are commented with ";", the proposed setting
#    differs from the default Samba behaviour
#  - When commented with "#", the proposed setting is the default
#    behaviour of Samba but the option is considered important
#    enough to be mentioned here
#
# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command
# "testparm" to check that you have not made any basic syntactic
# errors.
# A well-established practice is to name the original file
# "smb.conf.master" and create the "real" config file with
# testparm -s smb.conf.master >smb.conf
# This minimizes the size of the really used smb.conf file
# which, according to the Samba Team, impacts performance
# However, use this with caution if your smb.conf file contains nested
# "include" statements. See Debian bug #483187 for a case
# where using a master file is not a good idea.
#

#======================= Global Settings =======================

[global]

## Browsing/Identification ###

# Change this to the workgroup/NT-domain name your Samba server will part of
  workgroup = WORKGROUP

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
  server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu)

# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable its WINS Server
#  wins support = no

# 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

# This will prevent nmbd to search for NetBIOS names through DNS.
  dns proxy = no

# What naming service and in what order should we use to resolve host names
# to IP addresses
;  name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast

#### Networking ####

# The specific set of interfaces / networks to bind to
# This can be either the interface name or an IP address/netmask;
# interface names are normally preferred
;  interfaces = 127.0.0.0/8 eth0

# Only bind to the named interfaces and/or networks; you must use the
# 'interfaces' option above to use this.
# It is recommended that you enable this feature if your Samba machine is
# not protected by a firewall or is a firewall itself.  However, this
# option cannot handle dynamic or non-broadcast interfaces correctly.
;  bind interfaces only = yes



#### Debugging/Accounting ####

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

# Cap the size of the individual log files (in KiB).
  max log size = 1000

# If you want Samba to only log through syslog then set the following
# parameter to 'yes'.
#  syslog only = no

# We want Samba to log a minimum amount of information to syslog. Everything
# should go to /var/log/samba/log.{smbd,nmbd} instead. If you want to log
# through syslog you should set the following parameter to something higher.
  syslog = 0

# Do something sensible when Samba crashes: mail the admin a backtrace
  panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d


####### Authentication #######

# "security = user" is always a good idea. This will require a Unix account
# in this server for every user accessing the server. See
# /usr/share/doc/samba-doc/htmldocs/Samba3-HOWTO/ServerType.html
# in the samba-doc package for details.
  security = user

# You may wish to use password encryption.  See the section on
# 'encrypt passwords' in the smb.conf(5) manpage before enabling.
  encrypt passwords = true

# If you are using encrypted passwords, Samba will need to know what
# password database type you are using. 
  passdb backend = tdbsam

  obey pam restrictions = yes

# This boolean parameter controls whether Samba attempts to sync the Unix
# password with the SMB password when the encrypted SMB password in the
# passdb is changed.
  unix password sync = yes

# For Unix password sync to work on a Debian GNU/Linux system, the following
# parameters must be set (thanks to Ian Kahan <<kahan@informatik.tu-muenchen.de> for
# sending the correct chat script for the passwd program in Debian Sarge).
  passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
  passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .

# This boolean controls whether PAM will be used for password changes
# when requested by an SMB client instead of the program listed in
# 'passwd program'. The default is 'no'.
  pam password change = yes

# This option controls how unsuccessful authentication attempts are mapped
# to anonymous connections
  map to guest = bad user

########## Domains ###########

# Is this machine able to authenticate users. Both PDC and BDC
# must have this setting enabled. If you are the BDC you must
# change the 'domain master' setting to no
#
;  domain logons = yes
#
# The following setting only takes effect if 'domain logons' is set
# It specifies the location of the user's profile directory
# from the client point of view)
# The following required a [profiles] share to be setup on the
# samba server (see below)
;  logon path = \\%N\profiles\%U
# Another common choice is storing the profile in the user's home directory
# (this is Samba's default)
#  logon path = \\%N\%U\profile

# The following setting only takes effect if 'domain logons' is set
# It specifies the location of a user's home directory (from the client
# point of view)
;  logon drive = H:
#  logon home = \\%N\%U

# The following setting only takes effect if 'domain logons' is set
# It specifies the script to run during logon. The script must be stored
# in the [netlogon] share
# NOTE: Must be store in 'DOS' file format convention
;  logon script = logon.cmd

# This allows Unix users to be created on the domain controller via the SAMR
# RPC pipe.  The example command creates a user account with a disabled Unix
# password; please adapt to your needs
; add user script = /usr/sbin/adduser --quiet --disabled-password --gecos "" %u

# This allows machine accounts to be created on the domain controller via the
# SAMR RPC pipe. 
# The following assumes a "machines" group exists on the system
; add machine script  = /usr/sbin/useradd -g machines -c "%u machine account" -d /var/lib/samba -s /bin/false %u

# This allows Unix groups to be created on the domain controller via the SAMR
# RPC pipe. 
; add group script = /usr/sbin/addgroup --force-badname %g

########## Printing ##########

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

# lpr(ng) printing. You may wish to override the location of the
# printcap file
;  printing = bsd
;  printcap name = /etc/printcap

# CUPS printing.  See also the cupsaddsmb(8) manpage in the
# cupsys-client package.
;  printing = cups
;  printcap name = cups

############ Misc ############

# 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
;  include = /home/samba/etc/smb.conf.%m

# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
# See smb.conf(5) and /usr/share/doc/samba-doc/htmldocs/Samba3-HOWTO/speed.html
# for details
# You may want to add the following on a Linux system:
#        SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
#  socket options = TCP_NODELAY

# The following parameter is useful only if you have the linpopup package
# installed. The samba maintainer and the linpopup maintainer are
# working to ease installation and configuration of linpopup and samba.
;  message command = /bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/linpopup "%f" "%m" %s; rm %s' &

# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. If this
# machine will be configured as a BDC (a secondary logon server), you
# must set this to 'no'; otherwise, the default behavior is recommended.
#  domain master = auto

# Some defaults for winbind (make sure you're not using the ranges
# for something else.)
;  idmap uid = 10000-20000
;  idmap gid = 10000-20000
;  template shell = /bin/bash

# The following was the default behaviour in sarge,
# but samba upstream reverted the default because it might induce
# performance issues in large organizations.
# See Debian bug #368251 for some of the consequences of *not*
# having this setting and smb.conf(5) for details.
;  winbind enum groups = yes
;  winbind enum users = yes

# Setup usershare options to enable non-root users to share folders
# with the net usershare command.

# Maximum number of usershare. 0 (default) means that usershare is disabled.
;  usershare max shares = 100

# Allow users who've been granted usershare privileges to create
# public shares, not just authenticated ones
  usershare allow guests = yes

#======================= Share Definitions =======================

# Un-comment the following (and tweak the other settings below to suit)
# to enable the default home directory shares. This will share each
# user's home director as \\server\username
;[homes]
;  comment = Home Directories
;  browseable = no

# By default, the home directories are exported read-only. Change the
# next parameter to 'no' if you want to be able to write to them.
;  read only = yes

# File creation mask is set to 0700 for security reasons. If you want to
# create files with group=rw permissions, set next parameter to 0775.
;  create mask = 0700

# Directory creation mask is set to 0700 for security reasons. If you want to
# create dirs. with group=rw permissions, set next parameter to 0775.
;  directory mask = 0700

# By default, \\server\username shares can be connected to by anyone
# with access to the samba server. Un-comment the following parameter
# to make sure that only "username" can connect to \\server\username
# The following parameter makes sure that only "username" can connect
#
# This might need tweaking when using external authentication schemes
;  valid users = %S

# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
# (you need to configure Samba to act as a domain controller too.)
;[netlogon]
;  comment = Network Logon Service
;  path = /home/samba/netlogon
;  guest ok = yes
;  read only = yes

# Un-comment the following and create the profiles directory to store
# users profiles (see the "logon path" option above)
# (you need to configure Samba to act as a domain controller too.)
# The path below should be writable by all users so that their
# profile directory may be created the first time they log on
;[profiles]
;  comment = Users profiles
;  path = /home/samba/profiles
;  guest ok = no
;  browseable = no
;  create mask = 0600
;  directory mask = 0700

[printers]
  comment = All Printers
  browseable = no
  path = /var/spool/samba
  printable = yes
  guest ok = no
  read only = yes
  create mask = 0700

# Windows clients look for this share name as a source of downloadable
# printer drivers
[print$]
  comment = Printer Drivers
  path = /var/lib/samba/printers
  browseable = yes
  read only = yes
  guest ok = no
# Uncomment to allow remote administration of Windows print drivers.
# You may need to replace 'lpadmin' with the name of the group your
# admin users are members of.
# Please note that you also need to set appropriate Unix permissions
# to the drivers directory for these users to have write rights in it
;  write list = root, @lpadmin

# A sample share for sharing your CD-ROM with others.
;[cdrom]
;  comment = Samba server's CD-ROM
;  read only = yes
;  locking = no
;  path = /cdrom
;  guest ok = yes

# The next two parameters show how to auto-mount a CD-ROM when the
#    cdrom share is accesed. For this to work /etc/fstab must contain
#    an entry like this:
#
#      /dev/scd0  /cdrom  iso9660 defaults,noauto,ro,user  0 0
#
# The CD-ROM gets unmounted automatically after the connection to the
#
# If you don't want to use auto-mounting/unmounting make sure the CD
#    is mounted on /cdrom
#
;  preexec = /bin/mount /cdrom
;  postexec = /bin/umount /cdrom

[share]
    comment = Ubuntu Server
    path = /home/kingc/server
    browsable = yes
    guest ok = no
    read only = no
    create mask = 0755

---

The last part here specifies my share. I think i got everything right, I also chowned the folder to nobody.nogroup and I restarted both smbd and nmbd. Any clue what's going on?

Thanks in advance

Do you want to use authentication or not?

For the user that is trying to access to be considered as nobody I think you need the guest ok = yes, otherwise it refuses guest logins. It will only allow users that exist as linux/samba users on the server.

PS. Also, in the middle of the file in the Authentication section you have security = user. If you want guest logins you need to change that to security = share.

On the other hand, if you are trying to use authenticaion, chowning nobody:nogroup will do little good since the users will enter with their username, so it's refusing the write permission since 755 gives write only to the owner, and the owner is nobody, not user1, user2, etc.

Oh, yea I want to have user authentication that's why I have guest at no.
But I thought that chowing to nobody.nogroup would allow anyone to rw in the folder. So I guess I need to chown it to the users that can browse the folder. I'm not at home right now but gonna try it when I get back and see if it does any good.

I don't use samba with authentication, so the following is only my opinion how I see things, but has not been tried:

In order not to get too confusing with permissions for users and groups, I would remove the create mask from the share definition.

Instead, give RW access to all for that folder, on the OS level:
sudo chmod a+rw /path/folder

or:
sudo chmod 777 /path/folder

That would allow all users to have RW access, including guests. BUT, by using security=user you are actually limiting that only users that exist and can be authenticated can access the share. So, it will allow only users that have a username and password.

That's how I understand it. Samba will let you in, and the OS level permissions will give you the RW access without caring who is actually the owner.

Otherwise, if you insist on chown username:group and permissions of 755, it would never work because 755 doesn't give the group RW access, only R.

In any case the permissions would need to be something like 775 (owner user RW, owner group RW, all others R), AND make all the users member of the same group that you specify in the chown.

Depending how you actually want to do the security, my suggestion above might be better.

Hmm I see

Each time i connect to the samba share it asks me for password since I have enabled the user security and I login with the credentials of the user in my server.

I will play with it a little bit and I will chmod to 777 manually to see if it works.

Thanks a lot for your help btw I'm gonna try these stuff as soon as i get home, later this night