HOWTO: Setup Samba peer-to-peer with Windows

[jng]

New to Linux I was searching for a guide to set up Linux to work in network with Windows, and I searched through several guides to setup Samba, but I could not make it work - until I found this guide. Following your instruction it just works flawlessly.

Thank you very much for this fine guide.

[INS_tha_rebel]

Edit

[dmizer]

Not sure what to do next......any ideas??

yes.

instead of accessing the linux drive through network places do the following:

right click on my computer and select "mount network drive"
don't browse for the share. enter in the following for location: //linuxboxname/foldername

where linuxboxname is what you entered in smb.conf for the field: "netbios name ="
and foldername is what you entered between the brackets in smb.conf for: [MyFiles]

if that doesn't work, try the same again but click on the link that says "connect with a different username and password", and enter in your login information there.

then you should be able to see your network folder in "my computer" as well as in network places.

[gary4gar]

well real good guide!
pls keep writing this n00b stuff it hepls me a lot

[paul.rayner]

Great Howto Really helpful.

[Bill_MI]

First, thanks for the excellent HowTo! Working first time without a reboot, as many have reported.

Configuration questions from a techy-type climbing the Linux learning curve...

1) A good friend says they use WEBMIN to configure SAMBA shares. I've seen and tried WEBMIN, but not on this machine and not for shares. It doesn't appear in any official or community repositories. What drawbacks happen with WEBMIN? Is it not easy to get for a good reason?

2) I read how SUDO and SWAT don't work very well but ROOT can be given a password to get around it (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ighlight=swat). The ramifications of this are still unclear. I'm glad I found THIS HowTo before going that direction.

Shouldn't SWAT either be packaged to work or removed as "supported"? Am I missing a basic definition of what "supported" means?

Insight and opinions welcomed. TIA

[de4th]

Excellent how to! Thank you very much!
It worked good

[dmizer]

First, thanks for the excellent HowTo! Working first time without a reboot, as many have reported.

Configuration questions from a techy-type climbing the Linux learning curve...

1) A good friend says they use WEBMIN to configure SAMBA shares. I've seen and tried WEBMIN, but not on this machine and not for shares. It doesn't appear in any official or community repositories. What drawbacks happen with WEBMIN? Is it not easy to get for a good reason?

2) I read how SUDO and SWAT don't work very well but ROOT can be given a password to get around it (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ighlight=swat). The ramifications of this are still unclear. I'm glad I found THIS HowTo before going that direction.

Shouldn't SWAT either be packaged to work or removed as "supported"? Am I missing a basic definition of what "supported" means?

Insight and opinions welcomed. TIA

i suggest sticking to this howto for configuring samba. it's easier than trying to beat your head in over webmin. webmin is a good tool for some things but not all. if you're running a headless server, ssh is still your best friend.

don't know much about swat.

sudo is a safety net. if you run as root regularly, you can cause a system wide problem with a single stroke of a key. believe me, i've done it. especially on a server, running as root should be avoided at ALL costs ... if for no other reason than simply security sake.

maybe you meant ssh rather than sudo? there's some good ssh howto here: http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu_dapper#SSH_Server. sudo in combination with fuse can be used on a linux machine to mount remote linux file systems such that you can browse them with your filemanager.

i wouldn't suggest installing wembin via repos. there's a fantastic howto here: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthre...=webmin+dapper

really, in my opinion ... ssh and samba are necessities. webmin is a handy tool to have around on occasion.

[Bill_MI]

Thanks, dmizer, I'll definitely browse your suggestions.

I didn't mean SSH - more like "the SUDO process" of default Ubuntu. I guess in further reading that setting a strong root password doesn't compromize much and essential for SWAT.

Why I was looking into SWAT: I really wanted to get more insight into SAMBA by examining a good configuration front end but it probably doesn't exist. Thus, the need for HowTos is big.

Stormbringer did a good job on this one - it has the right mix of blind steps and insightful info for something as configurable as SAMBA.

[nef]

This is a great HOWTo storm. This is exactly what I was looking for. I just have a 2 questions. On my windows box, the usernames are have the first letter capitalized. Doing the

sudo useradd -s /bin/true User_name

it allowed me to capitalize the first letter in ubuntu. But, when I try to log into ubuntu with the fist letter capitalized it doesnt allow me. Ubuntus username syntax requires the first letter in the username to be lowercase. What I want to know, is there a way I can log into the accts in ubuntu with the first letter capitalized or will I need to change the username on the windows box to have the first letter in lowercase.

Second question. How do I connect the printer I have shared in samba to another box running ubuntu? Thanks. You rock.


Nef