About two months ago I bought a Lenovo laptop (ideapad 110 15IBR) which was brand new and came without any OS. I installed Linux Mint 18.1 (Serena) on it from an USB flash drive and everything went smoothly, more or less.
About a week ago I noticed a strange folder in the "Networks" section of files explorer (or whatever it's called in Mint). Please take a look at the screenshots.
As you can see, when I click it I get the error message "Unable to mount a location, Failed to retrieve shared list from server: No such file or directory".
The problem is, I never installed ANY windows network. I only ever used my little WiFi which I got from my internet provider and which doesn't require any hardware on my laptop and is not made exclusively for windows. It is not attached to my laptop via any cables, I just pick up the wi-fi signal from it. I connect to it through the Network which is already installed on Linux Mint.
If I remember correctly, that folder/link for Windows Network was NOT present when I installed my Mint for the first time (although I could be wrong... I might have not paid attention and maybe it was there all along). I suspected that someone might have tampered with my laptop while I was away from home so I reinstalled Mint on a different partition (the old partition was left intact), and that phantom Windows Network folder again appears under the "Network" section of Files Explorer.
I would like to ask the experts: Is this normal, and why does it appear there if I never even attempted to install any windows network? Could it be that it is picking up maybe a windows network from one of my neighbors? If so, why doesn't it appear in the Network under Hardware in Control Panel/System settings?
Phantom Windows Network in my Linux Mint
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Agarthon
Phantom Windows Network in my Linux Mint
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: Phantom Windows Network in my Linux Mint
"Windows Network" is Gnome-speak for smb:///.
The folks who put Linux together know nothing about smb / samba. The only thing they know for sure is that it's some kind of Windows thing. That's not true but ......
They could have called it "Samba Shares" like KDE does which is more accurate but then some folks might confuse that with the dance.
Anyhoo, it's not a phantom network. What it's doing is by design. Clicking on that will scan your network for anything running a Samba / SMB server - if there are any.
The folks who put Linux together know nothing about smb / samba. The only thing they know for sure is that it's some kind of Windows thing. That's not true but ......
They could have called it "Samba Shares" like KDE does which is more accurate but then some folks might confuse that with the dance.
Anyhoo, it's not a phantom network. What it's doing is by design. Clicking on that will scan your network for anything running a Samba / SMB server - if there are any.
Please add a [SOLVED] at the end of your original subject header if your question has been answered and solved.
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Agarthon
Re: Phantom Windows Network in my Linux Mint
Oh, I see. Thanks so much for clearing that up.
The thing that got me worried is that I don't remember having seen that Windows Network folder when I first installed Mint on this laptop, but I probably just didn't pay attention to it.
The thing that got me worried is that I don't remember having seen that Windows Network folder when I first installed Mint on this laptop, but I probably just didn't pay attention to it.