Mint 18.1 Networking Wizard/Tutorial? [SOLVED]

[piso mojado]

I'm brand new to Linux. I just installed 18.1 64-bit on a NUC6CAY which I want to network with an HTPC running Windows 7 and another Mac desktop running Sierra in order to share files.

I'm looking for an up-to-date tutorial, but most of what I'm finding is for older systems, talking about XP and such. I've read the word Samba a few times, but then again, this altair4 fellow says NOT to use it, there's a better, Linux way. However, when I tried to follow his guide, step 3 failed for me (a file wasn't created).

Nautilus-share? Nemo-share? Samba? I'm so confused!

[austin.texas]

The reason Step 3 failed for you is because that command works in Mint 17.3, which has the gedit text editor. You are using Mint 18.1, which uses the xed text editor.
So for you the command is:

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gksu xed /etc/avahi/services/samba.service

Also, please note that Mint 18.1 does not have samba installed by default. See instructions here

[altair4]

You need to tell us what desktop environment ( DE ) you are using: Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE, or KDE?

Each version of Mint18 has messed up Samba in a different way so it matters which one you are using.

The only things that are desktop agnostic are:

** You need to install samba first:

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sudo apt-get install samba --install-recommends

** If Windows is involved go through the checklist: Samba Browsing Problems Checklist
** If you only have Linux and/or macOS then use: viewtopic.php?f=157&t=185410#p960482
I tried to edit that post to add a note about xed instead of gedit but it's locked. Why I do not know.

Where you go from here depends on which DE you use.

[piso mojado]

Thanks for the instructions. I followed them and now I can see and transfer files to and from my Linux box (running 18.1 Cinnamon 64-bit) from my Mac and Windows 7 machines. However, although I see those machines from the Linux box, I get the error "unable to mount location" when I try to connect to them. Since the Windows 7 machine is the HTPC media server, this is still a problem. But I feel like it's halfway solved, which is encouraging!

[altair4]

...
Let's talk about macOS first:

There is a bug - in both samba and macOS - that impacts how the samba client accesses a macOS SMB share. Samba has a fix for this in version 4.4.5 but Ubuntu refuses to allow that version in the repositories for Ubuntu 16.04 ( which is the basis for Mint 18 ).

You have two choices:

[1] Do a CIFS mount of the macos share - this is how mine looks:

** I create a mount point for the macos share:

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sudo mkdir /media/DMBP-smbuser

** Then I added the following line to /etc/fstab:

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//dmbp.local/smbuser /media/DMBP-smbuser cifs username=smbuser,password=smbuserpw,uid=1000,noauto,nounix,user 0 0

That line will automatically create a launcher on the side panel of Nemo ( you didn't specify what DE you are using so I will assume it's Cinnamon ). When I click on it the share will be mounted.

For more on this technique: On Demand CIFS Mounting of Shares

[2] Install and use Ubuntu 17.04 instead of Mint.

Ubuntu 17.04 ( and it's variations like Xubuntu, etc.. ) have the newer version of samba where the fix has been applied.

[altair4]

...
Now it's time for Windows:

If by "public" you mean a share on Windows that does not require a password to access then it's another bug. Bottom line is that access to a Windows Public share through smbclient ( which is what Nemo uses ) is not permitted.

I should note that in some cases users have been able to fool the smbclient process by passing their own Linux user name and password to the Windows machine. Use "Connect to Server" for that. You might try that first. Worst case you may need to add your linux user to the samba password databse which makes even less sense:

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sudo smbpasswd -a your-user-name

[/color]

Again, You have two choices:

[1] Use the same CIFS mount technique you used for the mac.

** Create a mount point for the share:

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sudo mkdir /media/Win7Share

** Then add the following line to /etc/fstab and secify the user "guest":

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//server/share /media/Win7Share cifs username=guest,uid=1000,noauto,nounix,user 0 0

Guest access in a CIFS mount is permitted. Guest access from smbclient is not. Welcome to Linux.

[2] Create a user on the Windows machine ( I call mine smbuser ).

And make the share accessible to that user. When prompted for credentials pass smbuser and the password you assigned for that user.

[piso mojado]

Thanks very much for the instructions. I didn't know it would be so easy! (j/k) I had a professional programmer pal come over and work on it a couple hours this morning. He says:

At first when trying to mount I kept getting "mount error 115 operation in progress". I created a user on the windows machine matching the mint user and gave full control but I was still getting the mount error. However when I did this:

rearrange the order to make bcast first by adding a line to the [global] section of /etc/samba/smb.conf - right under the "workgroup" line:

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name resolve order = bcast host lmhosts wins

It suddenly worked.

Thanks again for your help.

[altair4]

rearrange the order to make bcast first by adding a line to the [global] section of /etc/samba/smb.conf - right under the "workgroup" line:

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name resolve order = bcast host lmhosts wins

It suddenly worked.

Thanks again for your help.

See, a 6 year old HowTo and it still works.