Linux, Samba and windows file sharing..

[daviator]

This is more of a vent so I apologize in advance if it comes off whiny.

I have scoured the web looking for reasons why I cannot access my shared Linux drives on my Windows 7 or Windows 8 PC. There are a lot of great "How To's" but I have yet to find a simple AND yet accurate checklist for the process. I am fairly new at Linux so of course I am NOT an expert.

Many sites contradict each other and one often ends up with a mess. I have re-installed Linux no less than 6 times over the past week trying to find a flavor that actually works storing and sharing files on my Linux server from my Windows PCs.

It looks like a snap to setup unless you don't know that...

- Samba/Linux does NOT like shares on a second or third hard dives (internal or external).
- Samba/Linux does NOT like sharing an NTFS formatted drive. (I can see and open the drives, folders and files just fine in Linux but sharing does not work)
- Setting permissions via the GUI only works on folders.
- At some point in the last couple of years (judging my the dates on the posts I've seen) sudo service smbd restart stopped working.
- No matter what you put in the smb.conf you still can't correctly share files unless you also change the file permissions manually and NOT use NTSF.
- Webmin may have worked well in older versions of Linux but now it just makes a mess.
- sudo apt-get remove --purge samba does NOT remove Samba

I truly appreciate all of those who have answered countless questions and taken the time to write tutorials. So thank you!

I only wish that I had know the items from my list above (especially the first 2) as it would have saved me a week's worth of headaches.

I think I'm close now as I can map a drive from Windows to my Linux shares and open folders (but not files, "Access Denied")

[Fornhamfred]

Sorrry to hear you have had so many problems.

It may help if you could explain a little clearer what you are trying to achieve.
Do you have both win7 and win8 machines and is linux on a separate machine?
Are you using a wired or wireless network?
What version of linux do you have installed?

[daviator]

Wow, thanks for the reply and not ripping my head off
I have a fresh copy of Linux Mint 16 Cinnamon installed on my HP Micorserver's 250GB hard drive.
(results from uname: Linux MicroServer 3.11.0-12-generic #19-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 9 16:12:00 UTC 2013 i686 athlon i686 GNU/Linux)

I have two 1TB internal drives also installed in the machine.
The server is wired to the network and the Win 7 box is also wired. The Win8 machine is wireless. I have turned off HomeShare and all machines share the same Workgroup name. (I can see the PCs on the Linux box under Network)

I want to be able to copy files to and from my Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs to the one of the 1TB drives. Then I will occasionally manually sync the files on both 1TB drives as a backup in case one drive fails.

I can "see" the server and it shared folder when I attempt to map a drive but I always get "Access Denied". I have tried creating a user on the PCs with the same username and password as the server but that doesn't work either.

After a week of this and trying every fix I could find, I tried sharing a folder on my Linux OS 250GB drive and that worked! I was able to map a drive in Win8 and Win7 to that shared folder. (BUT, it only works when open the folder to everyone, which I can live with if I have to).

But I'm still having trouble accessing anything on my shared 1TB drives.
Do I share them from media/username/shared drive?
What is the difference between right-clicking of the drive I wish to share and choosing Properties > Share vs. going to File System > Media > username > and right-clicking on it there and choosing Properties > Share?
Why if I chose Allow others to create and delete files in the folder and Guest access do I still need to set the permissions in the Permissions tab? And, if I do it out of order the drive is no longer shared?
Why do I have to reshare the drives after I reboot my server?

Many thanks!
David

[altair4]

Please post the output of the following commands so we can see how you are set up:

Code: Select all

testparm -s

Code: Select all

net sershare info --long

EDIT: Sorry, typo on the last command:

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net usershare info --long

None of the items you mentioned on your checklist are accurate so if you could also tell us:

Which type of Mint you are using: The main edition or LMDE?
Which version: 15, 16, 17 ...?
What desktop environment: Cinnamon, Mate, XFCE, ....?

[daviator]

Thanks for your offer of help!

I have a fresh install of Linux Mint 16 Cinnamon Main Edition. (Linux MicroServer 3.11.0-12-generic #19-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 9 16:12:00 UTC 2013 i686 athlon i686 GNU/Linux)
I have three internal hard drives:
1 250gb drive for the O.S.
2 1TB drives for the shares

Server and Win7 machine are hard wired, Win 8 is wireless. All are on the same workgroup and HomeGroup is NOT running on the Windows boxes.
I have matching usernames and passwords on all machines all with Admin rights.

When attempting to map a drive via Windows I can see the server name and share name but then I get access denied. After a week of this and re-installing a host of Linux flavors and desktops, I tried sharing the Documents folder on the OS drive and that worked.

However I could duplicate the same results for the 1TB drives.

results for the testparm:
david@MicroServer ~ $ sudo testparm -s
[sudo] password for david:
Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
rlimit_max: increasing rlimit_max (1024) to minimum Windows limit (16384)
Processing section "[printers]"
Processing section "[print$]"
Loaded services file OK.
Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE
[global]
server string = %h server (Samba, Linux Mint)
map to guest = Bad User
obey pam restrictions = Yes
pam password change = Yes
passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
unix password sync = Yes
syslog = 0
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size = 1000
dns proxy = No
usershare allow guests = Yes
panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
idmap config * : backend = tdb

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

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



results for net usershare info --long:
[backup1]
path=/media/backup1
comment=
usershare_acl=Everyone:F,
guest_ok=y

info_fn: file /var/lib/samba/usershares/share1 is not a well formed usershare file.
info_fn: Error was Path is not a directory.

[altair4]

I do not understand (or at least my Linux box doesn't) "net sershare info --long"

Because it's a typo. Try this instead:

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net usershare info --long

[altair4]

Ok, so you are allowing guest write access to a share at /media/backup1.

Does Linux allow "others" to write to that folder:

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ls -al /media/backup1

[daviator]

Ok, so you are allowing guest write access to a share at /media/backup1.

Does Linux allow "others" to write to that folder:

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ls -al /media/backup1

total 188
drwxrwxrwx 17 david david 4096 Mar 7 12:10 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Mar 7 09:21 ..
drwxrwxrwx 14 root root 4096 Sep 18 19:29 Aircraft E Books and Scans
drwxrwxrwx 9 root root 4096 Aug 20 2013 Aircraft Photography
drwxrwxrwx 5 root root 4096 Apr 9 2013 Artwork
drwxrwxrwx 57 root root 16384 Jun 30 2013 Documents
drwxrwxrwx 4 root root 4096 Apr 7 2013 Downloaded software
drwxrwxrwx 85 root root 12288 Aug 17 2013 Flightsim Projects
drwxrwxrwx 15 root root 20480 Feb 20 19:10 Fonts
drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 16384 Mar 7 08:32 lost+found
drwxrwxrwx 3 root root 4096 Apr 9 2013 Movies
drwxrwxrwx 7 root root 77824 Apr 9 2013 Music
drwxrwxrwx 4 root root 4096 Apr 9 2013 old desktop backup for valerie
drwxrwxrwx 61 root root 4096 Aug 31 2013 Pictures
drwxrwxrwx 6 root root 4096 Mar 7 11:54 Pictures to check
drwxrwxrwx 2 root david 4096 Mar 24 2012 shop
drwxrwxrwx 15 root root 4096 Aug 17 2013 websites

[altair4]

So what's the issue. Everyone and your Aunt Tilly has free access to the folder and at least all of it's subfolders.

[altair4]

Unless that's the one that works and it's a share that you removed that doesn't:

But I'm still having trouble accessing anything on my shared 1TB drives.
Do I share them from media/username/shared drive?

Nobody mounts to /media/username/shared on purpose so I'm guessing these are not mounted on boot - in other words you have no entry for them in /etc/fstab.

If that's the case then you have 2 impediments:

[1] You need to open nemo and mount the "drives" first.

[2] /media/username is getting in the way becasue of an Access Control List on that folder. If all of your shares are going to allow guest access then make your samba clients appear to be "david" - at least for these samba shares:

Edit smb.conf as root:

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gksu gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

Add a line to the [global] section - right under the workgroup line:

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force user = david

Save the file and back in the terminal restart samba:

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sudo service smbd restart

Samba, when dealing with a network with Windows machines, is a temperamental thing so you will have to wait a few minutes for the network to settle down before trying to access anything on this server.

Now when you share /media/david/shared the remote samba client will appear to be david for that share.

[daviator]

So what's the issue. Everyone and your Aunt Tilly has free access to the folder and at least all of it's subfolders.

So it seems except I get "Access Denied" in Windows.

as for force user = david in the smb.conf, been there done that, nada.

[altair4]

If you're getting an Access Denied when trying to access the share of /media/backup1 even with a "force user" and with those Linux permissions it's something I cannot reproduce.

At the moment I can't even think of a situation where that's possible.

[Hiero2]

This is more of a vent so I apologize in advance if it comes off whiny.

I have scoured the web looking for reasons why I cannot access my shared Linux drives on my Windows 7 or Windows 8 PC. There are a lot of great "How To's" but I have yet to find a simple AND yet accurate checklist for the process. I am fairly new at Linux so of course I am NOT an expert.

Many sites contradict each other and one often ends up with a mess. I have re-installed Linux no less than 6 times over the past week trying to find a flavor that actually works storing and sharing files on my Linux server from my Windows PCs.

It looks like a snap to setup unless you don't know that...

- Samba/Linux does NOT like shares on a second or third hard dives (internal or external).
- Samba/Linux does NOT like sharing an NTFS formatted drive. (I can see and open the drives, folders and files just fine in Linux but sharing does not work)
- Setting permissions via the GUI only works on folders.
- At some point in the last couple of years (judging my the dates on the posts I've seen) sudo service smbd restart stopped working.
- No matter what you put in the smb.conf you still can't correctly share files unless you also change the file permissions manually and NOT use NTSF.
- Webmin may have worked well in older versions of Linux but now it just makes a mess.
- sudo apt-get remove --purge samba does NOT remove Samba

I truly appreciate all of those who have answered countless questions and taken the time to write tutorials. So thank you!

I only wish that I had know the items from my list above (especially the first 2) as it would have saved me a week's worth of headaches.

I think I'm close now as I can map a drive from Windows to my Linux shares and open folders (but not files, "Access Denied")

Actually, your "list" is - to a degree - accurate. And, I think I know at least one reason you are having the issues you are finding.

So, let's dig in.

Many sites contradict each other and one often ends up with a mess.

Two tutes I will recommend. First, and simplest, are the nixie pixel tutes on you tube. Search youtube for nixie pixel. Second, better, and more detail, are from user swerdna, currently at http://www.swerdna.net.au/. Swerdna's tutes are getting slightly outdated, but not too bad yet. You already ran into one difference, as we will see shortly. BUT, follow his tips, and you will be a-ok.

Along these lines - one of the things I will recommend or suggest - is to make sure you are starting the process from a DEFAULT smb.conf setup. Don't make changes, then undo, then edit, then undo, then edit - and expect things to turn out ok. Go back to the default. Start there until you get things to work. AFTER you get things to work - make edits.

- Samba/Linux does NOT like shares on a second or third hard dives (internal or external).
- Samba/Linux does NOT like sharing an NTFS formatted drive. (I can see and open the drives, folders and files just fine in Linux but sharing does not work)

These are true. Now, there are some exceptions, but what you say is mostly correct. So, no, don't try to share an ntfs drive with samba. However, you CAN share 2nd and 3rd drives - but you will find glitches. When you MOUNT the 2nd or 3rd drive ON THE SERVER, and then share a higher-level folder that contains those mounts - you can run into issues. Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't. I can't tell you why, but I know that this is TRUE. And, the problem isn't really the DRIVE, it is the PARTITION. You get the same issues by using different partitions on the same drive. So, the best answer is to share the partition directly. E.G. (on client) d:/share1, e:/share2, f:/share3, etc. On SERVER: /whatever/shares/share1 = partition sdb2, /whatever/shares/share2 = partition sdb3; /whatever/shares/share3 = partition sdc1; etc. Now, if you try to connect by having all that hdd acreage in ONE folder on the server, and share that ONE folder, you can get issues. So, better answer is, in smb.conf, each share has it's own section, so that when you connect, you ARE NOT trying to connect to /home/shares/( which contains share1, share2, share3), but directly to share1, share2, share3. Crossing partitions SHOULD, and usually DOES work, but SOMETIMES IT DOES NOT. Sshfs is even buggier on this matter. Conclusion, better to share it directly. I hope that is understandable.

- Setting permissions via the GUI only works on folders.

Hmmm - should not be true. Maybe another issue you are having.

- At some point in the last couple of years (judging my the dates on the posts I've seen) sudo service smbd restart stopped working.

Well, yes. True. We are in the middle of a big sea change for Linux. The old init system, "SystemV", is outdated and long in the tooth. Ubuntu has shifted to "Upstart", and OpenSuse has shifted to systemd. Idk about anybody else. The start/stop commands vary from system to system, and release to release. This is because the developers are trying to "honor" the old SystemV commands, but in the new system. The new systems are also developing and growing. So, yeah, the old command may not work - and if you know why, and google the problem, you should be able to find out what will work. Don't say it, I know: major PITA. Still, it is what it is.

- No matter what you put in the smb.conf you still can't correctly share files unless you also change the file permissions manually and NOT use NTSF.

True. You have to change the permissions to the shared sections.

I would strongly suggest this: you set up a GROUP that has access to the shared folders. You make them rwx to the group. You make any ppl sharing a member of that group. Personally, I use MY group on my home LAN. I also set the default file ownerships to belong to me. Everything in the share belongs to me, and is shareable by my group. NOT the whole world - just my group. Provides a small level of security, predictability, and stability. Next - we already touched the ntfs issue.

ALSO, you probably do NOT want to touch the DOMAIN names - not anywhere, on any machine, client or server. Doing the DOMAIN names is for post-doc dissertation level of experience only, ok? You MAY be having problems because you set or touched a DOMAIN name somewhere, when you thought you were setting WORKGROUP.

Last - I STRONGLY recommend ONLY Ubuntu, OpenSuse, and Fedora for setting up your Samba server. NOT because they work better - any linux will work just as well. They have significantly better forum and online support, and tend to work better out-of-the-box. Ubuntu has the best forums, and the best YouTube vids, from the Ubuntu community. I know Mint is just Ubuntu - but when you have a MINT problem, you can't really go to the UBUNTU forums without hearing "you should be going to the Mint forum". And the Mint forums are not as active. Opensuse has excellent forums, and excellent online documentation, just not as good as Ubuntu. Fedora comes in next - they do a good job, too. I can not stress enough that an ACTIVE forum means better support. But, not 100%. Debian has an active forum, but they are such a bunch of negative-thinking, snark-spouting, "negative nabobs", that I could not get any good out of the forum in the long run. Vector, on the other hand, is a small distro, with an excellent, active, and helpful forum. But, they are based on slack - which gives me issues. YMMV! But, just sayin', don't go for the glamor on the distro. Go for the linux equivalent of a Toyota Camry - reliable, not flashy.

Once you are more familiar with getting things working - THEN play the field!

[altair4]

Let's talk a little about this "Access Denied" error you claim to be getting. Exactly when do you get this error:

When trying to access the share?
Or when trying to edit a file within the share?

The reason I'm asking is because you posted completely contradictory statements:

I think I'm close now as I can map a drive from Windows to my Linux shares and open folders (but not files, "Access Denied")

I can "see" the server and it shared folder when I attempt to map a drive but I always get "Access Denied".

Side Notes:

*** I think it would be in your own self interest to have these non system internal partitions mount at boot time especially the ntfs partitions. I can show you how to do that if you like. Once that's done you will find that creating a samba share of an ntfs partition is actually easier than creating it's counterpart on a Linux partition because of the immutable nature of permissions on an ntfs partition.

*** Another contradictory post:

as for force user = david in the smb.conf, been there done that, nada.

Per the output of "testparm -s" you have done no such thing - perhaps you put it in the wrong place in smb.conf or preceded the line with a ";" which commented it out.

*** And one more confusing post:

I have tried creating a user on the PCs with the same username and password as the server but that doesn't work either.

You do realize that it's the other way around right?

[] You have to create users on the server to match the Windows users.
[] Then you have to add them to the samba password database - as in "sudo smbpasswd -a david"

It's academic at this point since you have only guest accessible shares so you don't need any samba users to be created.

[daviator]

I have backed up the data on my shared drives to an external drive. So if anyone is willing to help, I will be happy to wipe EVERYTHING clean and start fresh.

TO get started, I'd need:
Recommended Linux flavor/desktop. (I do NOT like KDE as it seems to run much slower than Mate or Cinnamon).
Tips on reformatting the 2 1TB drives and what settings I need to use to get them formatted and mounted correctly.
Tips for setting up shares and the best method to do so (GUI, Terminal, etc.)

I'll even give TeamViewer access if someone is willing to logon that way and take a peek.

Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions!

[Hiero2]

I have backed up the data on my shared drives to an external drive. So if anyone is willing to help, I will be happy to wipe EVERYTHING clean and start fresh.

TO get started, I'd need:
Recommended Linux flavor/desktop. (I do NOT like KDE as it seems to run much slower than Mate or Cinnamon).
Tips on reformatting the 2 1TB drives and what settings I need to use to get them formatted and mounted correctly.
Tips for setting up shares and the best method to do so (GUI, Terminal, etc.)

I'll even give TeamViewer access if someone is willing to logon that way and take a peek.

Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions!

Based on what altair4 said, I'm wrong about the ntfs partition - maybe you can mount if you know how? I didn't think you could.

I stick by my recommendation of the two tutes - nixie pixel and swerdna. I also stick by what I said about not trying to mount a "high-level" share that has partitions mounted inside it. Share the partitions directly.
Folder heirarchy like this on the server:
/home/ .............................partition 1
.........share/................partition 2 --> don't share at this level
................1TBhdd1/................partition 3 --> share here
................1TBhdd2/................partition 4 --> share here

Get something simple working first. Probably with "guest" users allowed, not user names. That is the simplest to set up the first time.

I think I also mentioned distro recommendations: Ubuntu or OpenSuse, xfce is a top-notch lighter desktop, but still all gui if you want it that way. KDE and Mate are known to be slower. Cinammon doesn't seem quite as bad to me, but is still slower than xfce. Xfce is a good choice if the big DE is too slow.

[daviator]

Thanks all. I appreciate all of the input.
I have tried many of the suggestions including loading OpenSuse (xfce) and Ubuntu but neither seemed to work any better than Mint. I also tried SME Server but it didn't like my NIC. I also tried ClearOS but it wouldn't install either.

I have tried reformatted my extra drives in ext3 and ext4 formats but that didn't make a difference either. I still cannot figure out how to get the drives to mount when the machine boots and then make them shareable as \media\shared vs. media\username\shared

I tried webmin again but again it throws a fatal error when trying to restart samba

At this point I'm ready to throw in the towel and just buy Windows Home Server 2011. Yes, I know it's a discontinued product and has it's flaw as well but with recent updates I know it will at least allow my Windows (7 & 8 ) machines to connect to my server and see my shared drives.

The disagreements among users on this thread (who clearly know more than I do) sort of makes my point that the answers are not very clear and there are no clear and accurate, start-to-finish directions. (I have found some instructions but they are only good if you only have one hard drive and does not work for additional drives)

Thanks again!
David

[altair4]

Here is the output of "sudo blkid -c /dev/null" for a partition on one ( of 3 ) secondary drives:

/dev/sdc1: LABEL="Backup" UUID="0424FBBE24FBB0B2" TYPE="ntfs"

Here is how I automount it from fstab:

UUID=0424FBBE24FBB0B2 /BACKUP ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,uid=1000,umask=0000,windows_names 0 0

And this is the the samba usershare definition for a folder that I share on that partition - from "net usershare info --long":

[MACBOOK]
path=/BACKUP/MACBOOK
comment=
usershare_acl=Everyone:F,
guest_ok=y

This share can be accessed from 2 Windows machines, other Linux boxes, and I've lost count of the number Macbook Pro's in this part of the asylum.

So in conclusion:

*** a secondary "drive" can in fact be made to automount to just about anywhere you want - although some places are better than others
*** you can in fact not only automount an ntfs partition but also use it as the basis for a samba share. - in fact for a guest share as I have created it's easier to use ntfs than ext4.

You are exactly where you were a year ago when you told the fedora forums to go procreate itself so I don't think it's an OS issue or a Samba issue. It may be a network issue although you stated earlier that you have no problem sharing a folder where the OS lives. The problem from my perspective is the part of your system between the keyboard and the chair seat.

Your decision to go with Windows Home Server 2011 is a wise one.

[daviator]

I'm sorry but I went back to that thread do not see where I told the fedora forum to " to go procreate itself". I was having the same issues with the same configure. I had sort of worked it out but each time I rebooted the server I lost my sharing and so I have been searching for a newer solution. I also never said that it can't be done I just said that I can't figure out how to make it work and that many of the suggestions didn't work for ME.

And after re-reading that forum I see that I had received several responses that prove my point about confusing/conflicting options:

"It is difficult because your are trying to share with a windows system." Some say yes, some say no.
"As for Samba, it seems that recent updates have broken at least some of its functions. (This might just be me though). Fedora is changing from Samba 3 to Samba 4 and there are changes, and probably bugs." Is/was it buggy or again, was it just me? I have seen some flavors downgrade or remove samba from one version to the next.
"Check out Filezilla and vsftpd" OK so NOT use Samba but use FTP instead?

My intent was not to bash Linux or Samba or those in this forum (or the other one) who tried to help and I don't feel I was doing so.

I was trying to point out that with so many choices of linux flavors and desktops it makes it difficult to find a working solution and to find a step-by-step instructions for what I wanted to do. And again, there seemed to be disagreement among those on this thread as to the best solution. And again, I am NOT saying it's because one is offering bad or incorrect advice. And AGAIN this NOT me disrespecting those who so kindly offered their help but rather an attempt to point out why it is so confusing to ME.

So yes, as I had pointed out before it most likely is a PEBKAC issue. Sorry to bother as I guess I have just have trouble hitting a moving target.

[pettijohne]

I haven't read the entire post. I read the original post a day or two ago and decided to try and get a samba share going myself. It was a pain in the @ss. I was using Ubuntu 12.04 on my server and hardwired to my wireless router with one laptop running mint16, one macbook, and one imac in the network. I was able to get the samba share working with webmin, but I couldn't get it to work the way I wanted it to work. So I went to work altering configuration files following every tutorial I could find. I was convinced that samba was broken on ubuntu, so I installed Debian and did away with ubuntu. I followed procedure 1.3 from http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Sam ... #id2551655 and was able to get it working. Not sure if it mattered or not but under procedure 1.1 on the same page it says "an EXT3 filesystem is suitable" so I went ahead and made an ext3 filesystem for it to share. Unfortunantly I can't test it on a windows machine, but hopefully that will help you some.