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Thread: Basic Network Mouting: Ubuntu 12.10 Mounting Windows Shares cifs

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Beans
    16
    Distro
    Ubuntu

    Basic Network Mouting: Ubuntu 12.10 Mounting Windows Shares cifs

    I will start with noting that I am a semi-linux-noob, but a 20+ year IT professional. I have used Linux as a server, and dabbled in the desktop, but have always been turned off by how difficult it is to maintain as a productivity desktop. My goal for 2013 is to switch to Linux for a year. My initial experience may make me re-think that.

    I have installed Ubuntu 12.10 x64 in a windows environment with a primary Windows Server as a file and media host.

    After several failed installation attempts I was finally able to get Ubuntu to install. However, it took multiple tries, several USB burns, and a couple of system reformats for it to install completely. I don't know what made it finally work, but installation took over 3 hours.

    Once installed, and using everything stock, I opened the Nautilus File browser and was able to navigate through my network, authenticate to my Windows server, and see my files. Some files I could open, others I could not. Media would not all play, and I could not open or save Open Office files to the server. (Come on folks, this is 2012, data should not be locked to a platform. This is basic functionality)

    Issue: I can browse to Windows Server and see my office and media files, but can not use them without coping them down, modifying them locally, and saving them back up.

    Issue: I can not play media stored on a Windows Share

    Resolution:
    Install through Ubuntu Software Center: cifs-utils
    Install through Ubuntu Software Center: smbnetfs
    I don't know if I need this because cifs proceeds Samba, but this was part of what I did.

    At this point I still could not access my data correctly so I began to track it down to an improper mount. I thought I would have map through the dreaded terminal and nested configuration.

    I began tracking down fstab file
    located at /etc/fstab
    used by the mount command on load to mount devices

    To edit the fstab file: Open a terminal window and type
    Code:
    sudo gedit /etc/fstab
    this will launch the fstab file in a gedit editor

    At the bottom of the file add your cifs connection string:
    Code:
    //WinServerIP192.168.123.000/WinServerShareName /home/LinuxHomeDir/MountFolderName cifs uid=LinuxUserName,user=WinServiceAccountName,password=WinServiceAccountPassword 0	0
    I had multiple issues with this.
    1. 1. Although I can browse to my server through Nautilus by machine name cifs can not find the server by name
      • 1. Luckily my server has a static IP and I could use that.
    2. 2. I had to create a mount point to mount to.
      • 1. I created a mount point in my home directory through the terminal window, but that did not work because of the access granted
      • 2. I ended up creating the mount point through Nautilus and granting the following access: 755
        • 1. To see the permissions of a folder use: stat -c %a [filename]
        • 2. To change permission use: chmod
        • 3. I want to mount to several shared so I created them in my home folder
          • 1. Create Folder: WinServer Name permissions: 755
          • 1. create sub-folders: Share Name, permissions: 755
    3. 3. My windows account user name and password has a space in them
      • 1. I attempted to use quotes in the string: “User Name”, but this did not work
      • 2. I attempted to use %20 in the string: User%20Name, but this did not work
      • 3. I ended up creating a new system account and password on the windows server with out any spaces, and granting it the appropriate access

    After editing the fstab file you can force a remount by using: sudo mount -a

    I tested several times through a full reboot

    This did mount my Windows shares to my Ubuntu 12.10 desktop, and I was able to edit and save directly to the file shares.

    However, I could not play all my MP3. Installing Ubuntu Restricted Extras from the Ubuntu Software Center fixed that.

    What a pain for basic user desktop functionality!

    Useful Links:
    Cifs "mount error 13 = Permission denied"
    http://vijayk.blogspot.com/2008/09/c...on-denied.html

    Cifs "mount error 13 = Permission denied" CIFS SUCKS
    http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-sucks-463271/

    Mounting a share with spaces in FreeBSD fstab
    http://serverfault.com/questions/859...-freebsd-fstab

    Samba Shares, Spaces and fstab (With a bit of Octal thrown*in)
    http://raetsel.wordpress.com/2008/02...tal-thrown-in/

    12.10 cifs shares not mounting after modifying /etc/fstab
    http://askubuntu.com/questions/19914...ying-etc-fstab

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Beans
    2

    Re: Basic Network Mouting: Ubuntu 12.10 Mounting Windows Shares cifs

    WOW!! Your cifs connection string really helped me to get my xUbuntu shared folder to mount after trying for an extensive period of time.

    If I'm correct then you can use a / or \ to escape a space character in some commands - I found this to work in most path references.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Beans
    16
    Distro
    Ubuntu

    Re: Basic Network Mouting: Ubuntu 12.10 Mounting Windows Shares cifs

    Quote Originally Posted by PieterJ6 View Post
    WOW!! Your cifs connection string really helped me to get my xUbuntu shared folder to mount after trying for an extensive period of time.

    If I'm correct then you can use a / or \ to escape a space character in some commands - I found this to work in most path references.
    Pieter, I tried the escape slash, but it did not work. Maybe I will try again

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Beans
    1

    Re: Basic Network Mouting: Ubuntu 12.10 Mounting Windows Shares cifs

    i realize this is a little late but for anybody else that may read this forum looking for an answer

    try using \040 instead of a space

    so if your name was "ubuntu server"

    it would now be "ubuntu\040server"

    see if that works

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Sydney
    Beans
    17
    Distro
    Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

    Re: Basic Network Mouting: Ubuntu 12.10 Mounting Windows Shares cifs

    2013, I've decided to run with Linux and start getting use to it. I've dabbled with it for such a long time but I think it's now time to start using it full time. I do like it, but it restricts me and keep having to run back to Windows.

    Now that I'm running 12.10 I'm reminded once again why I keep going back to Windows, but I've decided. I'm here to stay.

    Can someone remind me how to mount a Windows Server again please. lol

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