Another local network problem [SOLVED]

[Pascale]

Hello,

I read carefully the topic Communicate with Windows 7 Network Machines ? because it is exactly what I would like to achieve. Of course I'm a total newbie with Linux...
I'm sorry to ask a question that has already been answered, but I'm completely stuck.
My husband has 2 computers, one with Win 7 and another with Win 10. We have a local network with a NAS (I can access it without any problems) but also with a bunch of external disks plugged on the Win 7 computer.
In spite of Altair4's explanations which are very clear and precise, I still can't access the directory called Windows network ("unable to mount location"). I've installed Samba, changed the config file, restarted... We also tried with Windows 7 firewall disabled, but it changes nothing. Those disks are shared in Windows to "everybody".
What did I miss?

[altair4]

Please post the output of this command so we can see the samba client settings of your machine:

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testparm -s

You may need to install smbclient first:

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sudo apt install smbclient

EDIT: And remember if your Win7 machine has all the updates you likely have this issue: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=285490

[Pascale]

Hello Altair4,

Thank you for your answer.
Here is the result of the command:

Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
rlimit_max: increasing rlimit_max (1024) to minimum Windows limit (16384)
WARNING: The "syslog" option is deprecated
Processing section "[printers]"
Processing section "[print$]"
Loaded services file OK.
Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE

# Global parameters
[global]
client max protocol = NT1
dns proxy = No
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
map to guest = Bad User
max log size = 1000
obey pam restrictions = Yes
pam password change = Yes
panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
security = USER
server role = standalone server
server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu)
syslog = 0
unix password sync = Yes
username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
usershare allow guests = Yes
idmap config * : backend = tdb


[printers]
browseable = No
comment = All Printers
create mask = 0700
path = /var/spool/samba
printable = Yes


[print$]
comment = Printer Drivers
path = /var/lib/samba/printers

About Windows 7, it is an old version which can't be updated without making the computer crash (this computer doesn't work properly but is enough to plug some disks on it). It has not been updated for one year, or even more.

[altair4]

I was honestly hoping there was something wrong with smb.conf but there isn't. But please note the problem with this entry:

client max protocol = NT1

That will allow you to "see" other hosts by their netbios names but in the case of WIn10 you may not be able to access it because Win10 disables NT1 ( SMB1 ).

Do you see all your machines if you run the following command:

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smbtree

Are there any error messages?

In the mean time can you access the Win7 machine directly:

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nemo smb://192.168.0.100

Change 192.168.0.100 to the ip address of the Win7 machine.

[Pascale]

Altair4,

Thank you for your answer.

- smbtree doesn't seem to do anything. There is no error message, no result.

- some progress with smb://192.168.1.14/ . It lets me access the disks and their content.
But Windows network still doesn't nothing.

Anyway, Linux has kindly created shortcuts for the disks on my desktop. I restarted my computer in order to see what happens. Well, of course the shortcuts have disappeared.

[altair4]

some progress with smb://192.168.1.14/ . It lets me access the disks and their content.

That means samba itself is working.

smbtree doesn't seem to do anything
But Windows network still doesn't nothing.

That suggests netbios name resolution is not working.

Before this turns into a multi-page topic I have a suggestion. Static ip addresses on all your machines. If all of your machines had the same unique ip addresses every time they ran you could make a bookmark to the location in nemo and you wouldn't have to bother browsing for them. Your router should be able to do this for you under it's DHCP setting.

Anyway if you want to purse the netbios method edit /etc/samba/smb.conf again and right below the workgroup = WORKGROUP line add another line:

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name resolve order = bcast host lmhosts wins

** Save the file.
** Restart smbd:

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sudo service smbd restart

** Restart nmbd

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sudo service nmbd restart

** Make a pot of tea or take the dog for a walk.

Netbios is an antique. It is what has driven many a Linux samba user to alcohol or worse over the years. Microsoft itself deprecated it 20 years ago. When you reset nmbd everyone in the network recalibrates the cached names of things and it takes a while.

[Pascale]

I love the way you described Netbios!

Yes we should be able to set fixed IP to our machines on the router.
And now is the moment where the newbie that I am feels very very stupid... Well, how do I create a bookmark with Nemo?
Before this conversation, I didn't even know that Nemo the files manager...

[altair4]

At the top of Nemo there is a button labeled Bookmarks. If you click on that select the option Add Bookmarks and it will add it to the side panel of nemo. You can even right click > Rename it if you wish.

[Pascale]

I didn't even notice the bookmark element in Nemo menu!

Now my bookmarks are created but this is not the end of difficulties for me: 2 hours ago, they worked, and now they don't. The connection seems to have been terminated, because it has been inactive for a long time, maybe? The error message is not very clear.

I checked that the local IP of Win7 computer had not changed and tried again

nemo smb://192.168.1.14

But this time it didn't work.

Gtk-Message: 22:12:58.738: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.
sys:1: Warning: g_object_weak_unref: couldn't find weak ref 0x7fe4aedd6510(0x5575036b7530)

(nemo:10061): dconf-WARNING **: 22:13:14.617: failed to commit changes to dconf: Le délai d’attente est dépassé

(nemo:10061): dconf-WARNING **: 22:13:36.311: failed to commit changes to dconf: Le délai d’attente est dépassé

(nemo:10061): dconf-WARNING **: 22:13:39.621: failed to commit changes to dconf: Le délai d’attente est dépassé

[altair4]

I have never ever seen that error message before. I don't even know where to start to try and reproduce it.

This is going to take a bit.

[Pascale]

And another try of

nemo smb://192.168.1.14

gives this result:

Gtk-Message: 23:55:15.048: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.
sys:1: Warning: g_object_weak_unref: couldn't find weak ref 0x7fcca36ff510(0x565255485730)

with a timeout message in Nemo....


...

[Pascale]

And this morning, I can again access my disks... How strange...
I don't like when things are unpredictable...

[Pascale]

Hello,

I labelled this topic as solved but... things have changed!

Since the ADSL connection is awful in our "outback", we decided to subscribe a 4G+ offer, especially because my employer requires at least a 8 Mo/s connection for teleworking.
Our new box has been delivered and installed, and the connection is faster than the ADSL (for the moment...). The box is a Huawei B525-65a router.
The local IP have changed, but it was easy to find the new ones.
Problem: I'm back to square one. The Windows 7 machine is 192.168.8.2. When I try to access it with
nemo smb://192.168.8.2 I get an error message. I can't access anything on the local network. No changes have been done on the Windows 7 computer.

Once again, I'm totally puzzled...