[Solved?] Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

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DoctorWizard
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[Solved?] Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

I'm trying to improve my Linux skills, so I built a multi-purpose server from an old machine and put Linux Mint 20.x on it.
One of it's primary functions is a media file server, with all my music, movies, TV shows on it. This used to be handled by a Windows 10 file server.
For those not familiar, standard naming conventions for movie and TV files replaces spaces with dots. That is causing havok when I try to watch a movie file (from the new Linux server) on a Windows machine! I have narrowed down that SOME of the files with dots in their name is causing the error "System cannot find the path specified" when trying to open the file. This was never an issue when those very same files were on the Windows server.
While I have figured out it has something to do with a dot in the name, there is apparently an additional factor involved since not all the files with dots have the problem. Even more confounding, it varies by application! Some movie and TV files will open fine in VNC, but give that error in MPC, while other files work in MPC and fail in VNC. Likewise with Windows Media Player, Clementine, and other players.

I have spent several hours Googling and reading articles. There are many causes of this error, but none of the stuff I have found relates to my situation and the fact that the files were moved from a Windows file server to a Linux one. Despite trying numerous search terms and getting very specific with my searches. How do I fix this? Renaming the files- even if I understood the naming condition causing it- is not a good option since the file are named according 'official' standards.

Also note: The Windows machine has the optional NFS client, and SMB 1.0/CIFs clients installed under Windows 'features'.
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by Moonstone Man »

DoctorWizard wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 6:53 pm How do I fix this?
You start by a) providing a good spread of clear, real life examples of file names and full paths that exhibit the issue, b) provide clear advice as to what operating system experiences the issue, and c) provide technical detail on your network sharing configuration. There is a link at the top of this page labelled "how to get help". You should read it.

Also, if you need to post output from a terminal, enclose it in code tags

Code: Select all

output.here
. You'll see the code tags icon </> when you reply.
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

I started collecting a list of which files had the problem, and which didn't, but realized that would reveal more about me that I care to disclose (no, it's NOT <violates forum rules>! 😄)
Also, while I am ripping shows captured on my own DVR, recorded from my own cable subscription, to save for my own future enjoyment (and to skip commercials) and not to share, that is fair use according to the landmark 1984 "Betamax" Supreme Court https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Corp ... dios,_Inc. decision. Which has not since been overturned or any real caveats or exceptions added. But considering the entertainment industry's very draconian interpretation (in their favor) and enforcement of the DMCA, I really don't care to tangle with a bunch of their lawyers and a lawsuit I cannot afford.
While starting to collect that list of filenames, I discovered that the problem stems not from dots in the name of the actual file, but rather from dots in the folder name. If I copy that folder from the shared Linux drive down to the Windows local drive, or to a different Windows share, there is no problem even though the folder name is exactly the same. I still have not been able to establish a pattern though, and amongst very similar named folders, some (~ 3/4) work and some (~ 1/4) don't. I also discovered I was mistaken about it working in some players and not others. The problem is in fact consistent across different player apps. I will keep running some experiments to try and narrow it down further and establish some sort of pattern.
Oh, and I also considered the possibly of corruption of the drive or file system, but I have run checks several times with no problems found.
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by Moonstone Man »

DoctorWizard wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 10:00 pm I started collecting a list of which files had the problem, and which didn't, but realized that would reveal...
If you can't or won't answer the most basic questions required to resolve the problem then neither I nor anyone else can assist you.

I'll leave you to it.
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

Gonna try and try and narrow it down more and get you more specific details... Computers aren't (usually) random, there's has to be a pattern here but so far it eludes me. Had been hoping tho, that someone would recognize the symptoms and say "Oh, you just need to change the such-and-such option".
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

I still cannot find any logic to this...

File TV.Show.Name.S03E10.720p.mp4 in folder /Videos/TV Shows/Show Name/TV.Show.Name.S03E10 -- Plays in Windows (I've tried 4 of them!).
File TV.Show.Name.S03E11.720p.mp4 in folder /Videos/TV Shows/Show Name/TV.Show.Name.S03E11 -- Plays.
File TV.Show.Name.S03E12.720p.mp4 in folder /Videos/TV Shows/Show Name/TV.Show.Name.S03E12 -- Won't Play in Windows, error "System cannot find the path specified" or "The directory name is invalid" (depending on whether I double click it in File Explorer, or try to open it from the file menu in the player)(on all 4 Win machines)
File TV.Show.Name.S03E13.720p.mp4 in folder /Videos/TV Shows/Show Name/TV.Show.Name.S03E13 -- Won't Play, same errors.
File TV.Show.Name.S03E14.720p.mp4 in folder /Videos/TV Shows/Show Name/TV.Show.Name.S03E14 -- Plays.
The problem is occurring with at least 3 different shows and at least 2 different movies.
(Various episodes of 3 complete different shows, not just 3 episodes of one show)

If I rename the file, including to something simple like "MyShow.mp4", it still won't play.
If I rename the folder, including to something simple, it still won't play.
If I copy the file, to any location, including the original folder, it plays!!
If I copy the folder, to any location, including the same Linux share, it plays.
If I try it from a Linux machine, even without copying, renaming, or doing anything at all to it, it plays.
If I try it from the media browser on our Samsung SmartTV, it plays.
If I try it from the media browser on the Rokus, it plays.
If I try to stream it using Plex, it plays (no surprise there, Plex Server is running on the same machine as the share)
So the problem appears to be specific to Windows accessing Linux shares (no surprise there, %$#@ Microsoft!)

All the files and folders were created one week apart, by the same script, using the same codec, on the same Windows machine, by the same user. And that same Windows machine is also one of the ones throwing errors when trying to play back certain files.
If I try to play one of the bad files in VLC, either by associating .mp4's with VLC and double-clicking in File Explorer, or using Open With... it won't play and gives the error. However, If I open one of the bad files in VLC from the file menu, it plays! VLC however, is the only player that can do this. If I try to open one of the bad files from the file menu in any other media player including MPC, Clementine, Media Monkey, Foobar 2000, Windows Media Player, I get the error.

The problem seems restricted only to video files. I am able to open the .log and .srt files in Notepad++ without issue.
I have tested the integrity of the video files with ffmpeg, and it reports no errors.
I never had this problem until I moved stuff to the Linux server. I've been ripping shows from my TiVo for years.
The codecs have not been updated recently.

I have tested the drive with fsck and GParted several times, including a full surface scan.
The share has it's own drive. The drive is a brand new Western Digital 4TB, it is formatted btrfs.
It was starting to look to me like maybe a permissions problem, but I checked and both the good and bad files and folders all have the same permissions and ownership (-rwxrw-r-- l myname myname for files, drwxrwxr-s l myname myname for folders)
The server has been rebooted several times. So have the Windows machines.

So there are some workarounds for me and I have ways to play the files. Problem is, there are 7 people in our household and none of the others are computer literate. Furthermore, 3 of them are old, don't like change, and are easily confused. Plus the grandkids, nephews, nieces, and other people that visit often. They are used to just double-clicking a file on their desktop/laptop to watch it which has always worked before.

Is there something else I should check?
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by djph »

looks like you've got spaces in your paths. Those are potentially bad news.

That being said, it's a stab in the dark since you're providing "fake" examples, instead of the real examples.

What're you using to share? samba?
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

The only data I scrubbed from the example is the actual name of the shows, but the example is an accurate representation of the naming scheme. What's odd is that it is affecting certain episodes and not others where literally, the only difference between the filenames and paths is a single numeric digit in the name (the episode number). Of the 11 some shows that our household records weekly, this problem is occurring with all but one, and in the case of that one, I'm pretty sure it is just random* chance that that one hasn't been affected--- yet. The problem is also affecting movies and other one-off shows being recorded. It is affecting roughly 20-25% of the recordings (seemingly randomly), the rest are OK. It is also affecting shows and movies without spaces in their names or paths, although there is still dots separating the episode number and resolution (and of course, the extension). It is also affecting files that have no spaces in the path, example /Videos/Movies/Kids/CGI/Aquanaughts.720p(2008).mp4. I am using the "standard" naming convention that tens of thousands (if not more) of other people are using for their video libraries, across all platforms. Using this standard allows me to share and scrape show data from several repositories.
I'm an old skool computer geek and I know computers very rarely do anything that is truly random, and there must be SOMETHING different between the good files and the bad ones, but after many hours of diagnosing and running experiments I have yet to put my finger on just what the heck that difference is. The problem files are consistent in that the same files always fail, from multiple computers, with multiple attempts, and likewise the good ones always work. Everything ripped/recorded before I switched servers is OK.

It does not appear to be a problem with the filesystem, as it has passed numerous tests.
It does not appear to be a problem with the physical drive, as it has passed two complete surface scans. Also this drive was purchased new, now about 4 months ago, just for this server-- that does not mean it does not have errors though, but as I said, it's passed 2 scans. Also, the S.M.A.R.T. data shows no reallocated sectors or CRC errors.
It does not appear to be a problem with permissions, as they are all exactly the same, and all the files were generated from the same machine, same script, same user... Renaming the file and/or folder does not correct the problem (but copying does).
I considered that perhaps the encoding was messed up somehow, possibly even due to some sneaky DMCA trick the channels might be using. But merely copying the file, even to the very same folder/path, fixes it. Testing the integrity of the file with

Code: Select all

ffmpeg -v error -i file.avi -f null - 2>error.log
reveals no errors. I also suspected encoding issues since I have -so far- only noticed this problem with video files. But that is the majority of the content on the server and video files tend to be huge, so, well, I'm not sure what to think. And the timing of the start of the problem coincides with when I switched the file server from Windows to Linux. The ripping/encoding is occurring on the same Windows machine it always has, I've only changed the storage share. And the error is that the path is invalid, but copying a bad file to the very same path, fixes it.
There is also somewhere north of 800 audio CDs that have been ripped to flac and mp3 format and so far I haven't found problems with any of them. But all of them were ripped well before the server switchover.
The drive is formatted btrfs and I'm starting to question my decision to use that. At this point I am considering moving everything to an ext4 or ntfs drive but 3.2 TB takes a while to copy to a temp location, and then back again. That wouldn't immediately tell me if that was the problem anyway, because as I said, copying a file fixes it. I would have to wait and see if any NEW rips exhibit the issue.
I should also note that I am a greybeard, retired IT and developer, with a master's degree in electrical engineering. I am very knowledgeable of Windows. Linux, not so much. But I've lost my patience with MS and there are many things I like about Linux so I am forcing myself to learn it. That was the main reason for switching the server OS-- as a learning experience. Speaking of losing my patience with MS, the problem is certainly Windows related since that is the only type of client exhibiting the issue. I have also posted this problem on a couple of Windows tech forums, but no-one there knows much about Linux.

If anyone has a suggestion on what else to look at, check, compare, or test, I'm all ears!

Samba is version 4.11.6-Ubuntu
Here's the system info:

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.4.0-71-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6 
           wm: Metacity dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Z600 Workstation v: N/A 
           serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 6 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 0B54h v: D serial: <filter> BIOS: Hewlett-Packard 
           v: 786G4 v03.56 date: 01/30/2013 
CPU:       Topology: 6-Core model: Intel Xeon X5650 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Nehalem rev: 2 
           L2 cache: 12.0 MiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 63840 
           Speed: 2660 MHz min/max: 1596/2661 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2660 2: 2660 3: 2660 
           4: 2660 5: 2660 6: 2660 7: 2660 8: 2660 9: 2660 10: 2660 11: 2660 12: 2660 
Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA G96GL [Quadro FX 380] driver: nvidia v: 340.108 bus ID: 0f:00.0 
           chip ID: 10de:0658 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa 
           unloaded: nvidia resolution: 800x600~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: N/A v: N/A direct render: N/A 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 82801JI HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:3a3e 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-71-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel 82571EB/82571GB Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard NC364T Quad Port Server driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: d000 
           bus ID: 2a:00.0 chip ID: 8086:10bc 
           IF: ens4f0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel 82571EB/82571GB Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard NC364T Quad Port Server driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: d020 
           bus ID: 2a:00.1 chip ID: 8086:10bc 
           IF: ens4f1 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-3: Intel 82571EB/82571GB Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard NC364T Quad Port Server driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: e000 
           bus ID: 2b:00.0 chip ID: 8086:10bc 
           IF: eth2 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-4: Intel 82571EB/82571GB Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard NC364T Quad Port Server driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: e020 
           bus ID: 2b:00.1 chip ID: 8086:10bc 
           IF: eth3 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 12.96 TiB used: 8.64 TiB (66.6%) 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB 
           speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> 
           ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD4000FYYZ-01UL1B1 size: 3.64 TiB 
           speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
           ID-3: /dev/sdb vendor: Seagate model: ST4000DM004-2CV104 size: 3.64 TiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s 
           serial: <filter> 
           ID-4: /dev/sdc vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EADS-22M2B0 size: 931.51 GiB 
           speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
           ID-5: /dev/sdd vendor: Western Digital model: WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 size: 931.51 GiB 
           speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
           ID-6: /dev/sde type: USB vendor: Western Digital model: WD My Passport 25E2 
           size: 3.64 TiB serial: <filter> 
RAID:      Hardware-1: Intel SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 bus ID: 00:1f.2 
           chip ID: 8086.2822 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 230.59 GiB used: 21.27 GiB (9.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 
           ID-2: /boot size: 3.81 GiB used: 502.9 MiB (12.9%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sdc1 
           ID-3: /home size: 230.59 GiB used: 21.27 GiB (9.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 
           ID-4: swap-1 size: 2.29 GiB used: 32.8 MiB (1.4%) fs: swap dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 
USB:       Hub: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0 chip ID: 1d6b:0002 
           Hub: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0 chip ID: 1d6b:0002 
           Hub: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Hub: 4-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Hub: 5-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Hub: 6-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Hub: 7-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Hub: 8-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Hub: 9-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 1 rev: 2.0 chip ID: 1d6b:0002 
           Hub: 9-1:2 info: VIA Labs Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.1 chip ID: 2109:3431 
           Hub: 10-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0 chip ID: 1d6b:0003 
           Device-1: 10-4:2 info: Western Digital My Passport (WD40NMZW) type: Mass Storage 
           driver: usb-storage rev: 3.0 chip ID: 1058:25e2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 35.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com ulyssa main upstream import backport
           2: deb http: //la-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http: //la-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http: //la-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http: //archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plexmediaserver.list 
Info:      Processes: 384 Uptime: 21h 01m Memory: 11.68 GiB used: 3.82 GiB (32.7%) Init: systemd 
           v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Client: Unknown python3.8 client 
           inxi: 3.0.38 
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by djph »

OK, so you are using samba then. That "could" play a factor in things.

For a file that works (vs. doesn't), is there _ANYTHING_ different at all in the permissions (owner / group, mode bits)? What about time (e.g. you just added it to the directory right before you tried playing it)? Also, all media files are on a linux-native filesystem, right?

Or is it random failures -- e.g. episode 03 works, episode 04 doesn't , but 05 does; and all three were added at the same time (or close enough to).
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

I switched over from a Windows file server to the new Linux one approx. 10 weeks ago. The problem started almost immediately.
The machine ripping the files from the TiVo, re-encoding them, and saving them is a Windows machine, nothing about it has changed.
Time/Date somehow appears to be a factor (?), as the bad files seem to come in clusters*. I've been delving into that, checking logs, and can't find any corresponding errors or changes, the machines are on UPS's and rarely restarted. The few restarts do not correspond to good/bad files.
Both the good and bad files and folders all have the same permissions and ownership (-rwxrw-r-- l myname myname for files, drwxrwxr-s l myname myname for folders). The frustrating part is that I have not been able to figure out WHAT is different between them.
The files that are bad have always been that way and have stayed that way across numerous attempts at playing them (at least until copied), likewise the good ones.
The file server is Linux Mint 20, the drive is formatted btrfs.
Is there a good alternative to Samba?

*Even the clusters aren't consistent. Looking at one cluster of files, 11 shows recorded over 1 week, organized by date I get bad, bad, bad, good, bad, good, good, good, bad, bad, good. Other weeks, all 11 are good.
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by djph »

Okay, so it's sounding more and more like it's limited in scope to "just" samba. Do all the machines use the same samba account to access the share(s)? or are there numerous accounts in play? What version of samba is running (and what version(s) of SMB/CIFS is it presenting to the network)

Are the Win machines that're trying to access this share all Win10? If so, their NFS client might be a better option than fighting with samba, as it sounds like everything else "just works", and the challenges are limited to samba shares themselves.
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by SMG »

DoctorWizard wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:36 pmI switched over from a Windows file server to the new Linux one approx. 10 weeks ago. The problem started almost immediately.
The windows manager is supposed to be muffin and not metacity. Usually when we see metacity in the data it means Cinnamon is running in fallback mode. So if Cinnamon is not running properly, then I'm not sure what else might not be running properly.

System:
Kernel: 5.4.0-71-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6
wm: Metacity dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

Did you RDP into this? The graphics info does not look correct, but it usually does not look correct when RDPing in. If you logged in locally and this was the info then your graphics driver is not installed properly.

Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA G96GL [Quadro FX 380] driver: nvidia v: 340.108 bus ID: 0f:00.0
chip ID: 10de:0658
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa
unloaded: nvidia resolution: 800x600~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: N/A v: N/A direct render: N/A
Image
A woman typing on a laptop with LM20.3 Cinnamon.
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

it means Cinnamon is running in fallback mode.
Did you RDP into this?
Correct, that is a separate(?) issue I am aware of but have not troubleshot yet. My hunch tho is that the server is running 'headless' with no monitor plugged into the video card (an old nVidia Quaddro) because I usually just RDP into it with NoMachine. To test my theory, I need to plug in a monitor and reboot but the location of the server, tucked away under a cabinet, will make that difficult (but not impossible).
But do you think Cinnamon in fallback mode would affect file sharing?
Samba version is 4.11.6
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

Are the Win machines that're trying to access this share all Win10? If so, their NFS client might be a better option than fighting with samba
Clients, include numerous Windows 10 home and pro, one Windows 7, two Linux Mint, two smart TVs, and four Rokus, and Plex Media server (which is installed/running on the file server).
The TVs, Rokus, Plex, and Linux machines will all play the videos just fine. Only the Windows 10 (and I'm not sure about the Win 7) are the ones with the problem. Windows somehow thinks the path is invalid when I try to play it any any media player, but File Explorer see them just fine and will let me copy, move, get properties, etc. And then the weird part is just copying it fixes the path problem and makes it playable.
Samba is 4.11.6, Cifs is 2:6.9-1
Windows machines have SMB 2.0 support by default, and the optional SMB 1.0 support is also installed, since I need 1.0 to access a drive plugged into my router (which I no longer do, so I could uninstall SMB 1.0 from the Win machines if req'd)
I'm fairly diligent when it comes to installing updates for everything.
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by SMG »

DoctorWizard wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 10:19 amBut do you think Cinnamon in fallback mode would affect file sharing?
Samba version is 4.11.6
We do not know what caused Cinnamon to run in fallback mode, so we would not know if that affected file sharing. I also do not know exactly what happens and gets changed or turned off when Cinnamon runs in fallback mode, so I do not know. I just know people tend to have problems if Cinnamon is installed and not running properly.

FYI: I do not know what kernel you are currently running, but linux-image-5.4.0-71-generic breaks cifs. Bug reports have been filed on the issue.
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DoctorWizard
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

but linux-image-5.4.0-71-generic breaks cifs
And that indeed, is the version I've been running recently! 5.4.0-72 is now available in the Mint Update Manager, so I have just installed that. (Must have been released recently, just checked for updates not that long ago). I tracked down the changelog, and there is 188 changes that in some way relate to cifs. Lets see how it goes!
5.4.0-72 is what's available in the Mint Update Manager, but I see that the mainline stable release is up to 5.11.15. Can/Should I update to that (or do I need to wait for a Mint version)?
Since Cinnamon is the desktop window manager, I would think (hope) that issues with it would not affect file sharing. (??) But I'm not real experienced with this stuff yet.
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Re: Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by SMG »

According to the changelog for the upcoming 5.4.0-73 kernel, that specific cifs bug will be fixed in that release.
* CIFS DFS entries not accessible with 5.4.0-71.74-generic (LP: #1923670)
- Revert "cifs: Set CIFS_MOUNT_USE_PREFIX_PATH flag on setting
cifs_sb->prepath."
So you can revert to 5.4.0-70 to have it working or wait until 5.4.0-73 is released.

To revert back, you would boot into grub and select the 5.4.0-70 to continue booting. Then go to Update Manager to remove the newer kernels. View > Linux Kernels and click Continue. Click the 5.4 in the left pane. Click the 5.4.0-71 kernel on the right pane to reveal the Remove button. Remove it and the 5.4.0-72 and the system will automatically boot to the 5.4.0-70 kernel.

Mainline kernels are not Ubuntu-supported (Mint) kernels.
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Re: [Solved?] Windows Error: "System cannot find the path specified" Mint File Server

Post by DoctorWizard »

Its been about a week since I updated the kernel, and so far, all new recordings this week are playable without issue. Since the issue was intermittent and since I never was able to establish a pattern to, I can't be certain that it's solved, but it appears to be, and since it was a known bug, I am hopeful that it IS.
A tremendous THANKS! to all the people who contributed to this topic!
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