samba - Dec 2004 - Windows XP machine cannot be accessed

I have a small peer to peer network of 4 machines, WinME, Win2K Pro SP4, Win XP
Pro SP2 and Linux Mandrake 10.1 Samba 3.0.10.1. I am pretty new at Linux but
have been around computers for a very long time.

The Linux installation went smoothly, MDK and KDE3 utilities make it simple for
newbies to get things running, so Samba went together quite easily but I now
have a problem I have been struggling with for days.

All of the Windows machines have no problems accessing shares on each other and
Mandrake. The Mandrake machine accesses the WinME an Win2K machines readily,
but the WinXP machine is not visible on any utility I have tried. I can ping it
OK. I have disabled firewalls etc in case this was the problem but no change.

I manually edited fstab and inserted what seemed an appropriate entry for a
share on the XP machine. In Konqueror for instance an icon appeared for the
share but when clicked up in was empty.

I have almost convinced myself that it must be some kind of authentication
problem, probably something basic I have overlooked and so simple I cannot see
it. Can anybody give me some ideas please?
John

> All of the Windows machines have no problems accessing shares on each
> other and
> Mandrake. The Mandrake machine accesses the WinME an Win2K machines
> readily,
> but the WinXP machine is not visible on any utility I have tried. I can
> ping it
> OK. I have disabled firewalls etc in case this was the problem but no
> change.
OK so Samba is working fine? yes? The windows machines can mount the samba
share off of the mandrake box? they get asked for a password and username
which you supply and then you can browse the shares from the windows
machines?
> I manually edited fstab and inserted what seemed an appropriate entry for
> a
> share on the XP machine. In Konqueror for instance an icon appeared for
> the
> share but when clicked up in was empty.
I don't have a linux desktop machine any more but I used to do this in fstab
(note that if the above is correct and samba works then this is an smbfs
problem, and appropriate to that list, not this one) :

#Samba filesystems, not auto mounted and any user.

//ukldnfs05/shared_area /mnt/smb/ukldnfs05/shared_area smbfs
noauto,users,credentials=/home/geoff/Crap/smbcred 0 0
//ukldninstall03/allsoftware$ /mnt/smb/ukldninstall03/allsoftware smbfs
noauto,users,credentials=/home/geoff/Crap/smbcred 0 0

then inside of /home/geoff/Crap/smbcred I had:

username=geoff
password=doggyp00
workgroup=dudenet

> I have almost convinced myself that it must be some kind of authentication
> problem, probably something basic I have overlooked and so simple I cannot
> see
> it. Can anybody give me some ideas please?
> John
these things are best done manually on the command line first to see if all
is working well, from memory:

mount -t smbfs //server/windowsshare /path/to/mntdir -o username=geoff

If the above manual stuff works then it must be another problem.

Tell us what you see.

Regards Geoff

Try going to the Authentication tab on the WinXP's Local Area Connection
Properties dialog screen and disabling the IEEE 802.1x authentication - just
for giggles.

Clay

> | these things are best done manually on the command line first to see if
> all
> | is working well, from memory:
> |
> | mount -t smbfs //server/windowsshare /path/to/mntdir -o username=geoff
> |
> | If the above manual stuff works then it must be another problem.
> |
> | Tell us what you see.
> |
> | Regards Geoff
> |
> If I use mount at the console in the format you suggest I get asked for my
> password and the XP share mounts and can be accessed (also through
> Konqueror
> etc.) When I attempt to write the equivalent into fstab, the folder
> appears but
> is empty. No messages. It has not auto generated a credentials file for
> the XP
> machine as it has for the other machines. Inserting user=john in fstab is
> OK
> for the WinME machine, but XP must want more. I guess if it cannot see the
> machine then it will not auto generate the needed access files.
> Regards
> John.
I manually created the credentials file.  Create one yourself and point the
fstab entry to that, as I mentioned before.  (rejig it so it suits your
needs of course)  

eg.
username=john
password=winXPlocalpassword
workgroup=winxpWorkgroup

once you have that plus an entry in fstab plus you have made a mount point
do: mount /mnt/winXpmountpoint  
take a look at any errors that you get.

Maybe smbmount needs to be Suid root for your mandrake user to mount it
properly.....

Regards Geoff

FYI

John,

If you wish to automount shares when you login, you can try pam_mount. It should
be a package on the mdk 10.1 CDs. You can set it to mount windows cifs and smb
shares to your mandrake box. It's possible because Linux supports pluggable
auth
modules(PAM)

I used it along with winbind auth to mount all my windows shares from servers at
work to my Linux mandrake workstation (laptop) When ever I ssh'd in, the
shares
mounted. It can be set to mount based on preferred authentication system (local
password file, winbind, nis, etc) and  protocol. ie. mount windows shares if you
login via ssh, or even if you login through the kde desktop (warning: kde
requires special files relocated when mounting home directories).

Having said that and seeing as how you are new, I believe Geoff's solution
is a
much easier way to go. You may however wish to read up on pam_mount anyway.

For more info do a google on pam_mount

Chris

Thanks for the input, folks. The clues you have given have let me fix the basic
problem. Previously when I tried manual editing of conf files etc. I was not
doing enough. I manually edited fstab and created an auth. file and checked
carefully against your model, Geoff. With a mild tweak with webmin, I can now
see the XP machine and it autoloads without any intervention from me. As I
suspected, it was so basic I was not seeing and doing everything necessary.
Mandrake will need to work on their Samba config in teh control panel to make
it proof to both newbies and idiots. Now when I get the permisions fully sorted
I should be on my way. I must keep a note in case. I think PAM needs a Windows
server? I only have a peer to peer network, but again thanks for the ideas.
Regards
John.



| > | these things are best done manually on the command line first to see if
| > all
| > | is working well, from memory:
| > |
| > | mount -t smbfs //server/windowsshare /path/to/mntdir -o username=geoff
| > |
| > | If the above manual stuff works then it must be another problem.
| > |
| > | Tell us what you see.
| > |
| > | Regards Geoff
| > |
| > If I use mount at the console in the format you suggest I get asked for
my
| > password and the XP share mounts and can be accessed (also through
| > Konqueror
| > etc.) When I attempt to write the equivalent into fstab, the folder
| > appears but
| > is empty. No messages. It has not auto generated a credentials file for
| > the XP
| > machine as it has for the other machines. Inserting user=john in fstab is
| > OK
| > for the WinME machine, but XP must want more. I guess if it cannot see
the
| > machine then it will not auto generate the needed access files.
| > Regards
| > John.
|
| I manually created the credentials file.  Create one yourself and point the
| fstab entry to that, as I mentioned before.  (rejig it so it suits your
| needs of course)
|
| eg.
| username=john
| password=winXPlocalpassword
| workgroup=winxpWorkgroup
|
| once you have that plus an entry in fstab plus you have made a mount point
| do: mount /mnt/winXpmountpoint
| take a look at any errors that you get.
|
| Maybe smbmount needs to be Suid root for your mandrake user to mount it
| properly.....
|
| Regards Geoff
|