Can't access Windows shares in Mint 13 (Maya) + MATE

[tarkus]

I run my laptop on a corporate IT network that is unfortunately totally MS-centric. I had been running LinuxMint 11 happily for the best part of a year and able to access all smb shares and cifs servers I required access to. Last week I upgraded to Maya + MATE, and suddenly I can only access shares within the workgroup "WORKGROUP", which doesn't contain anything useful. All attempts to access shared folders on servers in other workgroups fail, either with a "Failed to mount Windows share" error, or a "Cannot display location "smb://xxxyyyy/" Failed to retrieve share list from server".

I did try editing samba.conf and changing the "WORKGROUP" reference to the name of our main corporate domain I need to access. Then I restarted Samba, but it didn't help at all.

What the heck changed between these two versions?? I'm seriously considering reverting back to Mint 11 now....

[yusufbolu]

I had the same problem. I could not solve it then and reverted back to 11 (Katya).
But later, using a live DVD, without installing Mate, I modified samba configuration file with WORKGROUP="mycompanynetworkgroup".LOCAL
I mean I added .LOCAL to end of the network name. Then It worked. I was asked user name and password, then I was able to access the shared folders again.
However, I was too lazy to install Maya again, I stayed with Katya. I think I'll install Maya by the end of this year.

[tarkus]

Thanks for that tip. However, when I tried it, I found that my computer was now the only server in a new workgroup called "COMPANYDOMAIN.LOCAL". This doesn't appear to be too suprising if we consider that the relevant comment text in the smb.conf file says "# Change this to the workgroup/NT-domain name your Samba server will part of". In this case I'm actually trying to change the name of the default domain my smb/cifs client is part of, not the server.

So I'm wondering, if I really should have edited a different configuration file.....

[yusufbolu]

Somebody in Turkish Community forum says that he solved the problem with two programs in OpenSuse's yast control center. The names of the programs are "Samba Server" and "Register to Domain" (I translated from Turkish, don't know original names). Then he pasted his /etc/samba/smb.conf file, which is:

Code: Select all

# smb.conf is the main Samba configuration file. You find a full commented
# version at /usr/share/doc/packages/samba/examples/smb.conf.SUSE if the
# samba-doc package is installed.
# Date: 2011-11-02
[global]
    workgroup = SUPERSTARJEANS.LOCAL.COM
    passdb backend = tdbsam
    map to guest = Bad User
    logon path = \\%L\profiles\.msprofile
    logon home = \\%L\%U\.9xprofile
    usershare allow guests = No
    local master = Yes
    os level = 65
    preferred master = Yes
    usershare max shares = 100
    ldap suffix = 
    wins server = 
    wins support = No
[homes]
    comment = Home Directories
    browseable = No
    read only = No
[profiles]
    comment = Network Profiles Service
    path = %H
    read only = No
    create mask = 0600
[users]
    comment = All users
    path = /home
    read only = No
[groups]
    comment = All groups
    path = /home/groups
    read only = No
[printers]
    comment = All Printers
    path = /var/tmp
    create mask = 0600
    browseable = No
[print$]
    comment = Printer Drivers
    path = /var/lib/samba/drivers
    force group = ntadmin
    create mask = 0664

[netlogon]
    comment = Network Logon Service
    path = /var/lib/samba/netlogon

He also says that Turkish characters in shared files names can be problem.
Maybe this helps.
Additionally, there is something which seems relevant: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=52144

[tarkus]

çok teşekkürler

Unfortunately, trying some more edits of samba.cnf, using the SUSE version as a guide, I got no improvement. I suspect this file only deals with the samba server, and the smb client settings live somewhere else. I will read the thread you mentioned, and carry on searching.

Worst case, I will reinstall Katya....

[tarkus]

I also tried the methods described in this thread, http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 46&start=0 Still no joy. I read somewhere that Samba has been changed to make it more secure, and I'm now suspecting this is some kind of a permissions issue, since when you click on the desired domain it gives the message, "Failed to retrieve share list from server". However, I do have full access rights into the Windows servers in that domain and can access them from other machines running Win 7 or my previously-installed Mint 11.

[ofx210p]

Interestingly Linux Mint 11 Katya doesn't suffer this problem.

13 (despite my love of it) has been too hard to solve at this time and as i needed a quick reliable fix (i use linux mint as a media player at my work) , I grabbed a mint 11 64bit disc and installled that on a system. No problems whatsoever.

However just so you know this is not a linux mint problem, as i also tried live versions of fedora, and pclos and others (recent copies) had the same problem.

Sorry i don't have an answer other than to use Mint 11.

Regards

[ofx210p]

In addition to this - on one of my machines here at work i run Linux Mint maya 13 and i have a virtual machine inside it running windows XP and guess what - maya doesnt see the network shares - xp within maya does lol

Awesome.

[tarkus]

Yes, I also had an XP virtual machine in VirtualBox, for those very rare occasions when some corporate IT rogue app forced the use of Windows. And indeed I found the very same issue with Maya, but not with Katya.

[tarkus]

I wonder if any progress has happened with this issue. I'm now in a different job, where they unfortunately also have an MS-centric IT strategy. I'm trying again with Mint 14.1, and appear to be hitting the same issue, which I was hoping may have been fixed by now.

[Hvilsted]

I wonder if any progress has happened with this issue. I'm now in a different job, where they unfortunately also have an MS-centric IT strategy. I'm trying again with Mint 14.1, and appear to be hitting the same issue, which I was hoping may have been fixed by now.

Excuse me - it's a silly question - but does Katya and 14.1 run same version of Samba?

I'm very new to using Linux and configuring Samba, and I cannot give you any useful info, other than I'm running version 16 (even though I know it's a very new release), and sharing between Windows 7 and Linux works perfectly with Samba. I can even access my shares from my Sony Xperia Z. I plan to upgrade to version 17 in half a year - which will be a LTS release as you probably know.

What I am suggesting is:
1: There must be a difference in the Samba versions or configurations on the distros you have tried - maybe examening the difference will reveal the problem?
2: Try version 16 - I know it works, at least on a very simple level of sharing.


It's very basic, I know - and you sound experienced - so I know my "advice" may not be worth much to you.

[tarkus]

All help and advice gladly received!

What I found is that file sharing between Windows and Linux works fine - provided you stick with the default domain name of "WORKGROUP". I'm guessing you've probaby got everything running on default. If your employer uses a different cifs/smb domain name, and most of them do, then you can't access Windows shares in that domain from the Samba client.