Howto: Fix Windows share browsing issues

[dmizer]

Thanks again for your assistance dmizer. Full format and reinstall (2nd in 48 hours) has solved the issue. I have no idea what in Windows was denying access, but it is solved.

Just to add... accessing Ubuntu PC from Windows PC works like a dream now too. \o/

Heh, and you were all about blaming Ubuntu's updates

Glad you got it working though!

[ishmael2k]

Just for giggles, is it possible for you to disconnect your cable/dsl/whatever modem from your router so your local network is still up, but it is no longer connected to the internet? See if local network browsing is better. Try logging off and back on with one of your Ubuntu boxes while in this mode and try local browsing again. You could also try rebooting one of the Windows boxes while set this way as well.

If things suddenly start working when you are not connected to the internet, then the suspicians are high that DNS redirection by your ISP is causing a problem. See if your ISP offers an opt-out for this "feature".

I had all kinds of problems start suddenly, overnight, on 2 networks of about a dozen computers in different towns that I traced to this problem. They both used the same ISP and the day they started to use DNS redirection, I had problems.

Did this and it cleared up the problem Now to figure out how to opt-out if possible.

Thank-you!

[ishmael2k]

Please post your current /etc/samba/smb.conf file.

Here it is:

#
# 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 = randl
; netbios name = tyr

# 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
#justice
; 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 = yes

# 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 = no

# 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
security = share
guest ok = yes
guest account = tyr

#======================= 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 directory 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 = no

# 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
# 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
; share modes = no

# 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


[Documents]
path = /home/tyr/Documents
; available = yes
; browseable = yes
guest ok = yes
writeable = yes

[Pictures]
path = /home/tyr/Pictures
; available = yes
; browseable = yes
guest ok = yes
writeable = yes

[Downloads]
path = /home/tyr/Downloads
writeable = yes
; browseable = yes
guest ok = yes


I was going to send it as a file but no time to compact it enough to upload.

I really appreciate any and all time you guys put into this.

[dmizer]

Did this and it cleared up the problem Now to figure out how to opt-out if possible.

Thank-you!

If that fixed your problem, please post your /etc/nsswitch.conf file.

Also, you've commented out your netbios name in your /etc/samba/smb.conf file. This is how your Windows computers know what to call your Ubuntu computer. If you have nothing here (or it's commented out) your Windows computers have to guess.

Change this:

; netbios name = tyr

to this

netbios name = tyr

[ishmael2k]

If that fixed your problem, please post your /etc/nsswitch.conf file.

Also, you've commented out your netbios name in your /etc/samba/smb.conf file. This is how your Windows computers know what to call your Ubuntu computer. If you have nothing here (or it's commented out) your Windows computers have to guess.

Change this:

; netbios name = tyr

to this

netbios name = tyr

Changed the code. (I don't know how it ended up commented out..) It looks like this did it. I am hooked up to me ISP and still able to access the Ubuntu pc from the *******. I re-booted the ******* a couple of times to see if that would affect the access and it did not. I am going to shut both down and boot cold to see what happens.

I'll post the results in a few minutes.


Here is the nsswtch.conf:

# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.
# If you have the `glibc-doc-reference' and `info' packages installed, try:
# `info libc "Name Service Switch"' for information about this file.

passwd: compat
group: compat
shadow: compat

hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] wins dns mdns4
networks: files

protocols: db files
services: db files
ethers: db files
rpc: db files

netgroup: nis

[ishmael2k]

Ok, that appears to have resolved the problem. I will be testing it out over the next few days to make sure it has taken before I move to the next step and will keep this thread notified as to any situations that arise.

Thank-you,

Ish2k

[dmizer]

Ok, that appears to have resolved the problem. I will be testing it out over the next few days to make sure it has taken before I move to the next step and will keep this thread notified as to any situations that arise.

Thank-you,

Ish2k

Glad you're working!

[Raven2k360]

I currently have Ubuntu Studio 9.04 x64 installed on my Desktop, and I've needed to switch from the rt kernel to generic due to stability issues. The problem I'm having is, I have a copy of Vista Ultimate 32-bit installed in Virtual Box, and it's having network sharing issues with the host machine. The Virtual machine can see my Host, but when I double-click to open the host, it asks for a username/password.

Now here's the kicker -- my new laptop came with Vista Home Prem 64-bit installed and it does the same thing...but both vista machines can navigate my old laptop just fine, which has standard Ubuntu 9.04 i386 installed on it. I installed standard Ubuntu 9.04 x64 on my new laptop with a dual-boot setup, and both the old laptop and new laptop can navigate my Desktop (Ubuntu Studio) just fine when they're in Ubuntu, and my X-box with XBMC can navigate as well.

I've tried the above mods to smb.conf and nsswitch.conf, and even just sharing individual folders but nothing will allow Vista to navigate my Desktop through the network.

[dmizer]

Since everything works perfectly from all machines except the Vista virtual machine, I suggest taking a very close look at your virtual machine's networking, firewall, and file sharing configurations.

I recall once that someone had trouble browsing samba from their Windows virtual machine. The fix was related to MTU. You should double check to make sure the MTU matches across the virtual network.

[Raven2k360]

I have a new problem now -- Since modifying my smb.conf on my desktop, the new laptop (running ubuntu) now won't mount the shared drive on the desktop. I've run through the steps for the new Laptop, but still no change. Also, while I was running the changes, the command for restarting samba wasn't working, saying that the command didn't exist.