Samba Share Access Denied From XP

[UltraSmooth]

I have a samba shared folder that is not accessible from Windows XP using the hostname. The server and share are visible using \\SERVER_NAME but when I double click on the folder and am prompted to login I get the message "<Share> is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource..." If i access the share via \\192.168.0.9\Share I have no problems accessing and writing to the folder. I reproduced this on a couple of XP machines. On the other hand, i have a couple of Win2K machines and they have no issues connecting either by hostname or IP, so it must be XP specific.

I am running Ubuntu Server 8.10.

Anyone have any ideas what would cause this behaviour? Here is my smb.conf file:

#
# 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
#
# Any line which starts with a ; (semi-colon) or a # (hash) 
# is a comment and is ignored. In this example we will use a #
# for commentary and a ; for parts of the config file that you
# may wish to enable
#
# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command
# "testparm" to check that you have not made any basic syntactic 
# errors. 
#

#======================= 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 = true



#### 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

;   guest account = nobody
   invalid users = root

# 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 nsuccessful 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
;   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

########## 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 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 = 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
# 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.
# Replace 'ntadmin' with the name of the group your admin users are
# members of.
;   write list = root, @ntadmin

#Share for JPOS data files
[jpos]
    comment = JPos Data Folder
    writable = yes
    path = /data/jpos

# 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

[thafreeze]

I seem to have the same problem with the latest version of Ubuntu 10.10

[raydar]

Me too.

I've come closest to success with the ordinary Nautilus-based sharing: I can see the Ubuntu share, but can't open it. From the Ubuntu machine in question, I can open the share and navigate the folders on it which I have given share permission.

I like the degree of control offered in the system-config-samba tool (it installs as the menu item System-->Administration-->Samba), but I can't seem to get the settings right; taking my best shot at it a couple of different ways resulted both times in no longer seeing my Ubuntu share from the XP computer until I started over with a fresh samba.conf file in /etc/samba.

I do note that the Nautilus-based sharing is configured in /var/lib/samba/usershares with files which bear the names of shared folders. Is there some parameter I can add or set in there, perhaps the "acl" ("access control list"?), to enable XP to browse the share? I've set the "guest_ok" to "y" but to no avail.

[raydar]

Me too.

I've come closest to success with the ordinary Nautilus-based sharing: From the XP machine, I can see the Ubuntu share, but if I try to open it, Windows says it's "not accessible" and that I "might not have permission to use this network resource"; if I try to view the Ubuntu share's properties, Windows says the share "does not accept remote requests." From the Ubuntu machine in question, however, I can open the share and navigate the shared folders within; and I can access the properties of both the share and the folders within, but interestingly, if I view the Permissions property, I get "The permissions of [the item in question] could not be determined."

I like the degree of control offered in the system-config-samba tool (it installs as the menu item System-->Administration-->Samba), but I can't seem to get the settings right; taking my best shot at it a couple of different ways resulted both times in no longer seeing my Ubuntu share from the XP computer until I started over with a fresh samba.conf file in /etc/samba.

I do note that the Nautilus-based sharing is configured in /var/lib/samba/usershares with files which bear the names of shared folders. Is there some parameter I can add or set in there, perhaps the "acl" ("access control list"?), to enable XP to browse the share? I've set the "guest_ok" to "y" but to no avail.

[PBComputer]

I'm also having the same problem, but not using XP, i seem to be having it with Windows 7.

[cormu7]

i'm also having the same problem with XP. i'm using Ubuntu 10.04.

i'd rather use the server name, because that is on the LAN within my office building instead of the through the internet with the IP Address.

i can access the server with ease when i add a network address like this:

\\ip address\share

but cannot for the life of me access it this way either

\\server\share.

i too, can see the server on the workgroup on our local network, but just can't access it. won't allow to do so.

[raydar]

Hey, cormu7, thanks for the tip--I tried the IP address method, and it worked like a charm!

I'm tempted to wonder what gives with the difference, but for the moment I'm just elated that it worked!

[redmk2]

@ cormu7 and @raydar,

I would check to see if the nmbd daemon is running. The nmbd provides naming services. you can do this from the command line like this:

ps -ef | grep mbd

I would think you should have 2 instances of smbd and 1 of nmbd

Here is what I get:

$ps -ef | grep mbd
root      4324     1  0 21:05 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/nmbd -D
root      4326     1  0 21:05 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/smbd -D
root      4350  4326  0 21:05 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/smbd -D
bruce     4469  4388  0 21:06 pts/0    00:00:00 grep --color=auto mbd

[cormu7]

redmk2, that could have been it.

that seemed to do the trick I just typed

 sudo restart smbd
 sudo restart nmbd

And now i am able to access the local network, and add a network place with \\server\share with no problems.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[endotherm]

EDIT: this is not appropo since the op can connect by IP, so disregard, but may be useful info for other troubleshooters so I will leave as is.

ok, i notice you have your smb.conf set for "security = user"
thats great as i recommend it as well, but it means that you may need to register all remote users with both your kernel and with samba.

so, what username are you using to connect from the XP machine? do you have a user with the same name on the fileserver?

to register an existing ubuntu user with samba, use this command

sudo smbpasswd -a <username>

and put in your password when prompted. if the user does not exist yet as an ubuntu user, create it under
System -> Administration -> Users and Groups.

the other thing to consider is your file system permissions on the folder.

post back these from the server:

sudo testparm -s
net usershare info
ls -al <path to a share>

and if you smb.conf has changed, post back your alterations.