[SOLVED] Mint 15 folder sharing problem Sky router DG934G

[tsdadam]

I've got a laptop and a PC both running Mint 15 Cinnamon. They both connect to the router by DHCP; laptop wifi, PC wired. Both can connect to the internet perfectly.

As far as I can tell, I've got Samba setup on both the same (both using WORKGROUP workgroup), and I've shared folders on both.

smbtree on both only lists the local computer in each case.

It's really, really annoying, and I'm sure it must be something simple, but I cannot figure it out. If I browse to network in Places, both just show themselves and a windows network, both with only themselves in it.

Is there any output or more information I can give to try to get to the bottom of this?

[altair4]

Connect from one machine to the other by ip address just to make sure samba itself is working - something like this:

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nemo smb://192.168.0.100

If that works then try to access the same box this way:

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nemo smb://hostname.local

Where hostname is the host name of the other Min15 machine. And don't forget the ".local".

If the second one works then you can bookmark it so it shows up on the left side panel of nemo just like a "mapped drive" does on windows.

[tsdadam]

I can connect via IP as per your first suggestion, but I'm still having trouble with hostnames. I know the hostname is set on the remote machine.

I can bookmark shares with an IP address, that's fine, I just don't understand why I can't see/browse the other computer under network in Nemo.

[altair4]

Gona try this one more time:

Can you or can you not access the other machine this way:

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nemo smb://hostname.local

If you can we can fix the browsing issue if that's still important.

[tsdadam]

Sorry, that's what I was trying to say in my first reply. Connecting via hostname.local doesn't work for me.

My only thinking so far might be something to do with DHCP? The router's assigning IP addresses for me, and the computer I'm trying to connect to was previously booted with a windows install. Given that the NIC would have the same MAC address, is it maybe possible that the router is hasn't refreshed any hostnames? I'm really guessing here

I still can't see anything on smbtree.

[altair4]

The *.local mechanism relies on mDNS and is built into every modern Linux, OSX, and iOS operating system.

** Disable the firewall on both machines just in case you did anything with it:

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sudo ufw disable

** On both machines make sure avahi is running:

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sudo status avahi-daemon

If it's not running start it:

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sudo start avahi-daemon

** Then ping one machine from the other using mDNS:

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ping hostname.local

EDIT: Oh and one more thing. Make sure smbd is running:

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sudo status smbd

Side note: Samba has 2 parts: smbd and nmbd. Smbtree is a client diagnostic utility that uses the nmbd part of samba but nmbd is Windows specific. It will work in this case but mDNS + avahi provides a superior way to access and browse by hostname in an all Linux or a Linux/OSX environment. It does share one requirement with the nmbd way however and that is all machines have to be on the same subnet.

[tsdadam]

Thanks, I'll try those when I get home and report back.

[tsdadam]

Ok, I've tried all of the above, on both machines, and still no joy. All of the services that should have been running, were.

If I try to ping the remote machine by hostname.local, I get an error of unknown host. This happens both ways. If I try to ping the localhost with hostname.local, that works (as you'd expect).

I've assigned the machine I'm trying to access mostly with a static IP now, but I notice if I look at the router's 'connected devices' page, it's still showing the hostname of the windows install on that machine.

i.e. on the WIndows install the computer is named 'adam-pc'. I've since installed Mint, and assigned it a hostname of 'bigbox'. The router's status page still shows it listed as adam-pc, even after changing to a static IP. I assume this is based on MAC address?

Is there anything else I should be looking at? Do you need to see any config files or terminal output?

[altair4]

Can't you clear the information in the router so that it reads the correct host name from the host?

There's not much else you can do on the client end - client of the router.

The alternate way - the Windows way - is to follow this checklist: [url=http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=88146&start=0]Samba Browsing Problems Checklist[/url]

I seriously doubt that will work either though since the hostname on the host is in constant conflict with the hostname on the router. The router needs to be fixed.

[tsdadam]

I've changed the IP of that computer and reset the router. The good news - that mac address doesn't show adam-pc any more. The bad news is that despite the new IP address showing up on the router, it doesn't show the hostname (bigbox). I think my hosts/hostname are set correctly on that machine:

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adam@bigbox /etc $ cat hostname
bigbox
adam@bigbox /etc $ cat hosts
127.0.0.1	localhost
127.0.1.1	bigbox

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

[tsdadam]

Ok, a little progress.

Following the notes in that guide (thanks for that), I've edited the smb.conf on both machines to have a netbios name, and changed the order of name resolve too.

From this machine (laptop) I can now browse the shares in nemo by name i.e. in Nemo ctrl+l, smb://bigbox shows the shares now.

However, I still can't ping .local either way, and I can't see each other machine when I choose 'network' from the side panel - it only shows the shares on the machine I'm currently on.

Thanks again for the help, I'm getting there slowly...

[altair4]

I can't answer you questions since I have no idea what your router is doing. mDNS ( the *.local thing ) and Bonjour ( i.e., Avahi ) is how all apple products have been able to find each other in a network for a generation. From what you're telling me it wouldn't work in your network. I have no experience with it not working so I can't offer any suggestions.

If you have given all your machines static ip addresses however I'm not sure why you need to browse to them. Run the following command:

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nemo smb://192.168.0.100 

When nemo opens up to that location bookmark it: Bookmarks > Add Bookmark. It will then show up on the side panel of Nemo just like a "mapped drive" does in Windows.

I would like the name of your router though so I can put it on my list.

[tsdadam]

At this stage with it working as such, it's not so much that I need it working, more that I want to know why it doesn't.

The router in question is the one Sky supply (or certainly used to), the Netgear DG934G

[altair4]

You may or you may not find the following interesting:

Tried to find out some information on the DG934G and it seems that is a Sky re-branding of a DG834G. That led me to an interesting post about that router and mDNS: [url=http://www.belle-aurore.com/mike/2010/06/dg834g-and-bonjour-woes/]DG834G and Bonjour woes[/url]

That pointed to an apple forum post describing the same phenomenon: Why my Routeur Netgear DG834G doesn't allow to share my ITunes library ?

Short version: mDNS is disabled between two hosts when using this router if one is wired and the other is wireless.

My focus in this investigation was specifically around mDNS because with the addition of a simple avahi service file all your browsing problems can be solved. I have no idea if there is a similar impediment to the windows / netbios way of name broadcasting but it may be likely.

The apple forum ends with the user updating his firmware to solve the problem but since your model was supplied by Sky:

** Does Sky offer a firmware update?
** Do you want to update the firmware?
** Who knows if the update will fix this particular issue.

As with many other things in technology your current situation isn't exactly broke so you may not want to mess with it.

It would however be interesting if you could experiment and see if having both machines wired or both wireless fixes this issue.

[tsdadam]

This is actually really interesting, so thanks very much for posting it.

I've had issues with the laptop (wireless) with several things, and I thought it might have been because the drivers from broadcom act a bit strangely (wireless defaults to eth1 etc). I had massive problems getting a DLNA server running on it recognised by anything else on the network.

In answer to your questions, unfortunately Sky control all the firmware upgrades, and there's no way of manually updating that I know of.

I have a d-link at home that I might try instead, which in theory should completely sort it out.

Thanks again for your efforts here, I didn't know enough about the likes of mDNS to get there on my own.