smb.conf for Mint 14 [SOLVED]

[turboscrew]

Can someone direct me to some way of configuring samba for Mint 14 such that
anyone that can access my home netrork can access my disk share and use printer (on that Mint machine)?

Preferably without passwords.

It seems that some configuration tools are not doing a good job:
GADMIN-SAMBA doesn't get the shares to be shared, and system-config-samba doesn't start - only asks for the password and disappears.

Oops, I forgot to mention.
The share is old NTFS partition with about 60 Gigs of stuff.

[altair4]

You've got a lot going on there.

... and system-config-samba doesn't start - only asks for the password and disappears.

Mint doesn't have that package installed by default so you need to add it:

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sudo apt-get install system-config-samba

It will show up in the Cinnamon menu after you logout/in again. If it still just disappears I don't have an answer for that except gadmin-samba of course.

Speaking of gadmin-samba. I won't touch any system where that has been used because it makes a mess of of smb.conf. Like an unable to troubleshoot kind of mess. I recommend removing gadmin-samba and starting over with a fresh ( almost default ) smb.conf:

(1) Make sure the following file exists:

/usr/share/samba/smb.conf

(2) Make a backup of your current smb.conf

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sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.bak

(3) Copy the default:

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sudo cp -a /usr/share/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/

(4) Correct one mistake in the new one:
Find the line:

encrypt passwords = false

Could also be listed as "no"

and change it to:

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encrypt passwords = true

(5) Restart samba

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sudo service smbd restart

Oops, I forgot to mention.
The share is old NTFS partition with about 60 Gigs of stuff.

That may be an issue depending on how you are mounting it. If you are mounting it through Nemo then it will mount to: /media/your-user-name/LABEL. The only user that will gain access to that share is "your-user-name" regardless of how you set up the share in smb.conf. One way out of this is to force the remote user to look like you for that share. You would do that by adding the following line in the appropriate place:

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force user = your-user-name

If you have shares defines in smb.conf then place the line within the share definition. And then restart smbd.

Note: It's normally here that I suggest posting the output of this command: testparm -s. But if you are still using gadmin-samba frankly I don't want to see it since it will look like the Sunday paper after the dog barfed all over it.

Note2: This won't work after gadmin-samba does it's magic but the easiest way to have done this was to open Nemo, browsed to the folder you want to share, select "Sharing Options" and mark all the boxes. For the ntfs folder you would still have to do the "force user" thing but placed the line right under the workgroup line towards the beginning of smb.conf

[turboscrew]

I installed system-config-samba.
I started it from menu.

I'm not using Cinnamon, MATE. ;-D

I already copied the original smb.conf to be safe.

Maybe it's that Nemo-mount.
So, I need to make my user name a samba user too and add the "force user"?

How do I remove Nemo-mount?
It might be better to use conventional mount via fstab?

BTW, I tried to ask about the tools, but didn't get any answers back then.
When I was using puppy and tried to configure samba TNG, I was threatened by almost lethal injection if I messed up the smb.conf with SWAT.

[altair4]

If you are using system-config-samba it will produce a share definition that looks something like this:

[NTFS]
path = /media/altair/NTFS
writeable = yes
; browseable = yes
guest ok = yes

You need to change the share definition to this:

[NTFS]
path = /media/altair/NTFS
writeable = yes
; browseable = yes
force user = altair
guest ok = yes

You do not need to make "altair" a samba user. "force user" refers to the local Linux login user not the samba user.
Then restart samba:

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sudo service smbd restart

[turboscrew]

Thanks.
I'll try it as soon as I can. (I'm not sure about this week end).

[turboscrew]

I removed system-config-samba and installed it again.
Tried to start it in control center, and again - it asks for password.
When I give it and press enter, it disappears.

It doesn't seem to work with Mint 14 + MATE.
Any ideas which log I could peek in to see ẃhat's wrong?

[altair4]

I'm running MATE 14 and it runs without issues.

Run the following command in a terminal and see what it's problem is:

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gksu system-config-samba

But you have to edit smb.conf anyway so just add the share definiton directly:

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gksu pluma /etc/samba/smb.conf

Don't forget to restart samba when you are done:

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sudo service smbd restart

[turboscrew]

OK, here we go:

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$ gksu system-config-samba
  File "/usr/sbin/system-config-samba", line 45, in <module>
    mainWindow.MainWindow(debug_flag)
  File "/usr/share/system-config-samba/mainWindow.py", line 116, in __init__
    self.samba_user_da$ gksu system-config-samba
  File "/usr/sbin/system-config-samba", line 45, in <module>
    mainWindow.MainWindow(debug_flag)
  File "/usr/share/system-config-samba/mainWindow.py", line 116, in __init__
    self.samba_user_data = sambaUserData.SambaUserData(self)
  File "/usr/share/system-config-samba/sambaUserData.py", line 46, in __init__
    self.readSmbPasswords()
  File "/usr/share/system-config-samba/sambaUserData.py", line 63, in readSmbPasswords
    raise RuntimeError, (_("You do not have permission to execute %s." % pdbeditcmd))
RuntimeError: You do not have permission to execute /usr/bin/pdbedit.ta = sambaUserData.SambaUserData(self)
  File "/usr/share/system-config-samba/sambaUserData.py", line 46, in __init__
    self.readSmbPasswords()
  File "/usr/share/system-config-samba/sambaUserData.py", line 63, in readSmbPasswords
    raise RuntimeError, (_("You do not have permission to execute %s." % pdbeditcmd))
RuntimeError: You do not have permission to execute /usr/bin/pdbedit.

There is no smb.conf at the moment (renamed it).
I installed system-config-samba from the synaptic.

[altair4]

There is no smb.conf at the moment (renamed it).

Then what do you expect system-config-samba to do, create one?

[turboscrew]

There is no smb.conf at the moment (renamed it).

Then what do you expect system-config-samba to do, create one?

Erm... yes - like gadmin-samba did.

Anyway, I copied my older try of smb.conf.old as smb.conf, startes system-config-samba, and it started.
(Before re-installing I tries also with smb.config, but it didn't start.)

Re-installing obviously fixed system-config-samba.)

With system-config-samba I re-browsed the disk to be shared, and then edited the "force user" in the smb.conf.
Restarted smbd (and nmbd just to be sure) and IT WORKED! THANKS!