how do I share Windows 7 folders with Lucid 10.04

[charonred]

I have Lucid 10.04 as my main system, which happily shares files/folders with other Ubuntu & Windows XP PC's around the house; but for the life of me I can't get Windows 7 (new Asus Notebook & older AMD Skt A PC) to share a thing with anything (unless all other PC's are running Win7 as well) - I have Win7 PC set as a workplace PC (not part of 'Home-group').

Also I can't remember how to change the Ubuntu network settings from default 'Workgroup' to my own group name.

[geoffjay]

On Win7 you should just be able to share a folder by R-Click -> Properties the change the sharing settings. From there you should be able to browse those shares from your other computers easily enough.

To change the workgroup used in *nix you need Samba, if you haven't already you'll need to

sudo apt-get install samba

then edit the file /etc/samba/smb.conf and change workgroup = *** to whatever workgroup you want then restart with:

sudo service smbd restart

[charonred]

Samba is already installed cause I can share with other Ubuntu/Win XP systems. What app do I edit /etc/samba/smb.conf with ? (gedit doesn't allow any changes)

Thanks for the Win7 advice - changing network settings through right click /properties is way easier than that 'Network & Sharing Center' thing (that's a real convoluted pain in the proverbial).

[geoffjay]

you'll need to start gedit via

$ gksudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

[charonred]

geoffjay - Thanks, Win7 can now see & browse the shared folder on Lucid.

I ran the

sudo service smbd restart

command, but trying to browse my network group in Lucid I get

Unable to mount location
Failed to retrieve share list from server

[charonred]

Morbius1 - I Don't have "Windows Live Sign-In Assistant" installed on the Win7 PC, but I think it is on the Asus Notebook - I change it's network settings shortly

[Morbius1]

You went from this:

I have Lucid 10.04 as my main system, which happily shares files/folders with other Ubuntu & Windows XP PC's around the house

To this:

Failed to retrieve share list from server

What error messages do you get if you run this command from Lucid in a terminal:

smbtree

Also can you access a given machine by going after it directly:
In a Terminal:

nautilus smb://192.168.0.100

Changing 192.168.0.100 to the ip address of the machine you're trying to access

[Morbius1]

I think your smb.conf file is fine the way it is because it's only Win7 that has the problem. Besides I have 4 workgroups in my little home network and everybody is happy.

Do you by any chance have "Windows Live Sign-In Assistant" installed on Win7. You might consider uninstalling it: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...a-0d79a5597527

It's actually a known bug in Samba with Win7 and there is apparently a fix but I don't know when it will get passed to us.

[DeMus]

I have Lucid 10.04 as my main system, which happily shares files/folders with other Ubuntu & Windows XP PC's around the house; but for the life of me I can't get Windows 7 (new Asus Notebook & older AMD Skt A PC) to share a thing with anything (unless all other PC's are running Win7 as well) - I have Win7 PC set as a workplace PC (not part of 'Home-group').

Also I can't remember how to change the Ubuntu network settings from default 'Workgroup' to my own group name.

What I use is an extra line in /etc/fstab:

//192.168.0.100/xxx    /media/xxx        cifs  username=guest,password=,uid=1000,iocharset=utf8,codepage=unicode,unicode  0  0

(xxx is the username to be able to get hold of the "home" directory in Windows.)
One thing: the computer needs a fixed address otherwise this doesn't work.
I can read and write on the NTFS partitions in Windows without any problem.
Change fstab like this:

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Add the above mentioned line to the end of the file and change the ip-address to the one you give to the Windows PC and xxx to the username (or directory name) you like to see. It has to be shared of course.
Save the file in gedit
then in the terminal type:

sudo mkdir /media/xxx   (change xxx again)
sudo mount -a

The disk will be mounted and you can use it straight away. Whenever you boot the disk will be there automatically.

[charonred]

Thanks DeMus, I 'spose it's another avenue to look at, though I'm happy with DHCP

But at least the Win7's are sharing, which means I can move, copy n paste files between them, instead of back n forth with a thumb drive - both are simply for website work and nothing else, everything else I do is via Lucid and that's fine.