Samba shares not working

[MrNatewood]

I have googled and searched this forum for hours and did not find a solution for this that works for me.

I have a windows machine and an ubuntu machine. I want to access a shared folder on the ubuntu machine from the windows machine.

I use firestarter on the ubuntu machine. I can't test this without firestarter because the network does not work without it. I can tell you that no blocked access from the windows machine event is being logged in firestarter. internet connection sharing from ubuntu to windows works. printer sharing from windows to ubuntu works.

this is my current smb.conf, after several attempts to copy and modify working smb.confs that people posted on this forum, I reinstalled and used only the GUI the get to this:

#
# 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 = MSHOME

# 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 = 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

;	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
	username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
;	guest ok = no

#======================= 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

# 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

[Incoming]
	path = /home/mrnatewood/Incoming
;	writeable = no
;	browseable = yes
	guest ok = yes

in /etc/firestarter/inbound/setup I added this:

# Allow response to netbios name broadcasts from the local network.
$IPT -A INBOUND -s $NET -p udp -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT

On the windows machine(xp) i can see the list of shared folders on the ubuntu machine but can't access any of them to view the files inside. I get an error "the network path was not found".

Any ideas on how to make the samba shares work?
Note: I am using ubuntu 8.04 and windows XP.

[deadtom]

Normally that error means that you've got a path wrong in your smb.conf but I'm guessing you've checked that many times by now.

What happens if you try to access the shares from the ubuntu machine?

If you've got things set up right you should just be able to type in smb://localhost in konqueror or dolphin or whatever you're using as a file browser. Or go to the command line and try using smbclient.

If it still fails there, I'd check again to make sure that your folder paths are correct in your smb.conf (case sensitivity has bitten me in the butt a few times there).

[cariboo]

[Incoming]
path = /home/mrnatewood/Incoming
; writeable = no
; browseable = yes
guest ok = yes

You have writeable = no and browseable = yes commented out, remove the semi colons from the two lines and change writeable to yes. Restart samba and give it a try. To restart smaba, in a terminal type:

sudo /etc/init,d/samba restart

Jim

[MrNatewood]

I removed the semi colons, still doesn't work.
I tried accessing smb://localhost/ from the ubuntu machine, and when that loads I again see the shared folder but can't get 'in' it.
I get an error "Failed to mount Windows share". and this is from the sharing computer trying to access it's own folder via samba.

This is the error message from the windows machine:


When trying the other way around, to access shared files on the windows machine from the ubuntu machine, i can't even see shared folders. i see the other computer but when i double-click it is shown as empty although there are shared folders on it.

[superprash2003]

to access windows shares from ubuntu go to terminal and type nautilus smb://x.x.x.x whre x.x.x.x is the ip of the windows machine..
about the samba issue.. go to the terminal and type sudo gedit /etc/samba/smbusers and post output here.. also try uncommenting the line guest account = nobody

[MrNatewood]

Accessing with the ip addresses doesn't work.
sudo gedit /etc/samba/smbusers content:

system_username = "Guest"
Debian-exim = guest

[Andre-D]

after googling for a decent samba solution for Linux - I decided lack of such , is the biggest/only drawback.

typing \\server\share in windows works..
typing smb://server/share in Nautilus works somehow, but you can't burn files from that, play files and so on, and there is not EASY, fast way to mount these shares..

wonder WHY ?

[MrNatewood]

Well I pretty much lost all hope with samba.
Does anyone know of a different way of sharing files on a home network?
Purhaps setting up the shares as an FTP server on the home network?
how can I do that?

[I.Am.Sid]

Windows is trying to log on as a guest so use:

security = share

[MrNatewood]

this seems to help, problem is it now prompts for a guest password when trying to access the folder. i have tried an empty one and my ubuntu password and nothing seems to work. how do i set the guest password?