Mint 13-Win XP Pro file sharing problem SOLVED

[jirwin125]

Hi folks, I'm having a small problem and looking for some help. Have reviewed many other threads on here but have been unable to find a solution. I have a feeling its something easy I'm overlooking but although I have been using Ubuntu and Mint for a few years now I am still pretty much a newbie regarding how the networking and file sharing system actually work behind the scenes.

Recently got a new laptop and installed Mint 13. (The previous laptop was running Ubuntu 10.10 and I did not have this problem with it). I have a windows workgroup named "Refuge" that I use to share files between several machines. My problem is that when I try to access files on windows_box using Nautilus on mint_box I can see windows_box in the workgroup but get a message "Unable to Mount Location - Failed to Retrieve Share Lost From Server" when I try to open it.

I can use the command line to access windows box via: nautilus smb://192.168.1.105 No problem, asks for a password and mounts the share.

I can use windows explorer to browse from windows_box to a shared folder I created on mint_box, no problem at all.

I just want to be able to browse to my network shares on windows_box using Nautilus from mint_box. I'm including a buch of info below here, i would appeciate if anyone has some spare time to review this and perhaps point me in the right direction.

Here is my smb.conf info:

======================= Global Settings =======================

[global]

## Browsing/Identification ###

# Change this to the workgroup/NT-domain name your Samba server will part of
workgroup = refuge
force user = jake

# 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 = bcast lmhosts host wins

#### 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 = yes



#### 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

# 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 unsuccessful 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
# (this is Samba's default)
# 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

# This allows machine accounts to be created on the domain controller via the
# SAMR RPC pipe.
# The following assumes a "machines" group exists on the system
; add machine script = /usr/sbin/useradd -g machines -c "%u machine account" -d /var/lib/samba -s /bin/false %u

# This allows Unix groups to be created on the domain controller via the SAMR
# RPC pipe.
; add group script = /usr/sbin/addgroup --force-badname %g

########## 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
security = user
; guest ok = no
; guest account = nobody

#======================= 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 director 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
# The following parameter makes sure that only "username" can connect
#
# 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

# 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.
# You may need to replace 'lpadmin' with the name of the group your
# admin users are members of.
# Please note that you also need to set appropriate Unix permissions
# to the drivers directory for these users to have write rights in it
; write list = root, @lpadmin

# 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



Here is the testparm output:

Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
rlimit_max: increasing rlimit_max (1024) to minimum Windows limit (16384)
Processing section "[printers]"
Processing section "[print$]"
Loaded services file OK.
Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE
Press enter to see a dump of your service definitions

[global]
workgroup = REFUGE
server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu)
map to guest = Bad User
obey pam restrictions = Yes
pam password change = Yes
passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
unix password sync = Yes
syslog = 0
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size = 1000
dns proxy = No
usershare allow guests = Yes
panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
idmap config * : backend = tdb
force user = jake

[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
create mask = 0700
printable = Yes
print ok = Yes
browseable = No

[print$]
comment = Printer Drivers
path = /var/lib/samba/printers

Here is the smbtree output:

REFUGE
\\SCRATCHY
\\KRABAPPLE Acer Aspire
\\BLINKY Blinky server (Samba, Ubuntu)
\\BLINKY\testshare
\\BLINKY\print$ Printer Drivers
\\BLINKY\IPC$ IPC Service (Blinky server (Samba, Ubuntu))

Here is the ifconfig output:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:24:7e:16:dd:42
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:20 Memory:fc100000-fc120000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:5205 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5205 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:353444 (353.4 KB) TX bytes:353444 (353.4 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:22:fa:ea:3b:2a
inet addr:192.168.1.104 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::222:faff:feea:3b2a/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:388304 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:221144 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:565211824 (565.2 MB) TX bytes:19189114 (19.1 MB)

Also I guess i should mention the ipconfig data from windows_box:

dynamic ip is used

IP: 192.168.1.105
subnet: 255.255.255.0
default gateway and DHCP server: 192.168.1.1
DNS: 192.168.254.254

no ip routing
no wins proxy


Thanks in advance, let me know what other info I can provide.

[altair4]

You might want to go through the checklist here:
Samba Browsing Problems Checklist: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=88146&start=0
From your description however I think item [4] and maybe [5] is the culprit. Anyway, it's worth a shot.

Since you can access the machine by ip address I don't think it's a samba misconfiguration it's just a name resolution problem. And just so you know you can create a bookmark to that location in Nautilus so that you don't really have to browse at all. And if you don't have static ip addresses you can also connect by a mdns qualified host name:

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nautilus smb://windows-machine-name.local

It's just the servers host name with a ".local" at the end. And then Bookmark that.

For future reference:
The shares you created in nautilus will not appear in smb.conf so if you need to post something latter on and want to give people a full description you would need to also post the output of this command:

Code: Select all

net usershare info --long

It's not needed in this case since it's the Windows shares that are the issue.

[jirwin125]

Appreciate the advice. Regarding item #4 in the troubleshooting guide, i do have bcast listed first in order. I noticed in the ifconfig output the notation "Bcast:192.168.1.255" This address does not correspond to anything I have seen on my network. Should it match the address of the gateway or DHCP server by any chance?

FYI, the nautilus smb://scratchy.local command returned the same "host file not found" message

thanks, I'll keep plugging at it and check the firewall settings.

[altair4]

Regarding item #4 in the troubleshooting guide, i do have bcast listed first in order.

No you do not. Testparm is the interpreter of smb.conf and since bcast first is not the default order it would list it as such in it's output. The problem is this line in your smb.conf:

; name resolve order = bcast lmhosts host wins

The simicolon (;) at the beginning of the line tells samba to ignore it so you end up with the default which has bcast last. Go back into smb.conf, remove the semicolon and restart samba.

And if you can't access by scratchy.local then it could be the firewall again or avahi is disabled. Try starting it:

Code: Select all

sudo service avahi-daemon restart

And see if you can ping the windows machine that way:

Code: Select all

ping scratchy.local

[jirwin125]

Solved. Thanks so much. I really have got to learn more about syntax.

As soon as I removed the semicolon everything worked. I knew it was going to be something simple like that, lesson learned.

Appreciate the time you took to help me out.