[SOLVED] Can't access SMB share (Mint rolling release Xfce)

[Thumpdog]

Hi. I just installed Linux Mint Xfce, the rolling release edition, on a partition on the computer in the living room. I opened Thunar and went [Ctrl-L] and typed in the name of a share on the computer upstairs, and after some 20 seconds, Thunar returned the message: "Failed to mount Windows share."

The computer upstairs has Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, with a Samba server. Other distros on other partitions on the living room computer can reach it without a problem. This includes a couple of other distros with the Xfce 4.8 environment.

This is Thunar 1.2.1, which does recognize the SMB protocol, unlike some earlier versions. I ran a complete update on this Mint Xfce installation yesterday.

There is no firewall enabled.

Any ideas what might be wrong?

Thanks.

[altair4]

1st: make sure the following packages are installed and try it again:

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sudo apt-get install libsmbclient
sudo apt-get install smbclient

2nd: Some basic information. Please post the output of the following commands:

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hostname

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smbtree

[Thumpdog]

Hi Altair,

Thanks for such a fast reply.

The two packages were installed with the most recent versions. I have seen Mint shutting down the smbd and nmbd daemons while I log off.

I set the hostname to mintxfcelap during the install.

You asked for the output of the smbtree command. Here it is.

\\UBUNTULTS is the upstairs server that I'm trying and failing to reach. \\SUE-0.... is my wife's computer, which is still burdened with XP.

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eddie@mintxfcelap ~ $ smbtree
Enter eddie's password:
WORKGROUP
   \\UBUNTULTS            ubuntults server (Samba, Ubuntu)
cli_start_connection: failed to connect to UBUNTULTS<20> (0.0.0.0). Error NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL
   \\SUE-0C12CD8462       
cli_start_connection: failed to connect to SUE-0C12CD8462<20> (0.0.0.0). Error NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL
   \\MINTXFCELAP          mintxfcelap server
      \\MINTXFCELAP\Print_to_PDF      Print to a PDF File
      \\MINTXFCELAP\IPC$              IPC Service (mintxfcelap server)
      \\MINTXFCELAP\print$            Printer Drivers
eddie@mintxfcelap ~ $


I Googled NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL and found the following on a rather old samba.org mailing list archive:

NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL
is the generic "something went wrong" we use in Samba we we aren't given
a specific error back from the server.

After I posted my first question, I left Linux Mint Xfce and (successfully) got onto the Ubuntu server from another distro on this machine. That was to ensure I wasn't having a problem with the router or the Ubuntu server. I'm back in Mint now.

Thanks,

Eddie

[altair4]

To make absolutely sure this is not a samba problem you might want to confirm that the following command will connect to the remote share:

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thunar smb://192.168.0.100

Changing 192.168.0.100 to the ip address of the machine you are trying to connect to. If it connects then it's a network problem not a samba problem.

As for connecting by host name, This is a long shot but it fits a patterns with wireless so you might want to give it a shot:

Edit /etc/samba/smb.conf as root and add the following line to the [global] section:

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name resolve order = bcast host lmhosts wins

Then restart samba:

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sudo service samba restart

EDIT: I should have mentioned that every time samba is restarted you need to wait a few minutes for the network to settle down before you try to connect again.

[Thumpdog]

To make absolutely sure this is not a samba problem you might want to confirm that the following command will connect to the remote share:

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thunar smb://192.168.0.100

Changing 192.168.0.100 to the ip address of the machine you are trying to connect to. If it connects then it's a network problem not a samba problem.

This returned the same "failed to mount Windows share" message.

I also tried leaving Mint, coming back in, and restarting Samba before doing anything else, on the off-chance that things were bumping into each other during the boot cycle and not loading correctly. But that didn't work.

As for connecting by host name, This is a long shot but it fits a patterns with wireless so you might want to give it a shot:

Edit /etc/samba/smb.conf as root and add the following line to the [global] section:

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name resolve order = bcast host lmhosts wins

SOLVED! I was able to connect to the desired share upstairs, and very quickly.

Another problem got solved, too. I didn't mention that in previous sessions, the first time I launched Thunar after logging in, it was painfully slow -- like 20 - 25 seconds -- in loading, which is not like Thunar at all. I've left Mint and rebooted a couple of times since, and now not only can I get to those shares, Thunar is acting normally in other respects, too.

Thanks!!

Eddie

[ddalley]

The resolve host order line is commented out in the 201104 Xfce file and it is in a different order.

; name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast

Is one sequence better than the other?

[altair4]

name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast

If everything about your network was perfect it wouldn't matter what that sequence was as samba will flip though one then the next in order to find one that works. By default "lmhosts" and "host" are empty or missing and "wins" needs to be configured so that leaves "bcast" as the only one that is both operational ( as it is in Windows ) but last in order.

What appears to happen is that in order to match a host name to an ip address the probe will actually attempt to leave the network desperately looking for the host name and possibly a WINS server to find the machine and eventually times out never getting to "bcast". It happens most often when a user's ISP uses "DNS Redirect".

Placing bcast first ( or at least before wins ) makes sure the default method is the first choice.

[ddalley]

OK, I rearranged the service and put bcast first and rebooted.
There was no change.

Thunar is able to find the network and load it up to the point of actually loading the disk's file system, but it won't progress beyond that point.

Because of this, I can't set up the network printer on SAMBA, either.

[altair4]

Please start your own topic. This topic had a specific problem with a specific error message with ( luckily ) a specific solution and has been marked [SOLVED].

When you start your own topic it would be helpful if you posted the output of the following commands:

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testparm -s
smbtree
hostname