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**bweinel** · Jan 02, 2013, 04:40 PM

A few things come to mind which may be helpful...

First off, do you have 'smbfs' installed on your kubuntu box? If not, you will probably see the windows systems, but not be able to access the file systems via samba. Sounds like on at least one box this ins't a problem.

Secondly, do you use a domain controller for your windows network? If so, you will likely need to have winbind installed on your kubuntu box and point samba to your domain controller (wins server = x.x.x.x).

Finally, do you have DNS resolution setup on your local network to resolve machine names? (You can check to see if you can access a windows file system via a 'smb://<ip address of windows box>/<share name>' type path... if so, then your domain name resolution is likely not working properly.) This is usually the biggest sticking point for running samba shares between kubuntu and windows boxes.

On my home network, I run the samba NMBD server as the wins master for the network (i.e.: wins support = yes) and also run bind9 on the same box for local DNS service on the network. (ok ...probably overkill :cool: ) But to simplify matters you can just setup a host file (or lmhosts file) on your windows boxes to do name resolution. In windows, the host (or lmhosts) file can be placed in /Windows/system32/drivers/etc/ for name resolution. In samba, the lmhosts file is placed in /etc/samba/ directory. Both of these are just text files. See 'man lmhosts' for more info on the structure.

cheers,
Bill

**rayfoulkes** · Jan 02, 2013, 05:16 PM

Hi Bill, some answers below:

Originally posted by bweinel View Post

First off, do you have 'smbfs' installed in kubuntu? If not, you will probably see the computer systems, but not be able to access the file systems via samba.

Nope, but I do now on Kubuntu 12.04. However I don't in Kubuntu 12.10 'cause it isn't available in the respository. See below for accessing file systems.

Originally posted by bweinel View Post

Secondly, do you use a domain controller for your windows network? If so, you will likely need to have winbind installed on your kubuntu box and point samba to your domain controller (wins server = x.x.x.x).

Nope, my installation here is relatively simple. I have one NAS box(tigru) which offers Samba, ftp, apple protocols, streaming etc. one fixed XP computer(arena), two Ipads, one PS3, an on-line TV, one EEEPC linux box and one heavyweight Linux virtual host running, OpenSuse, Kubuntu 12.04(gandalf), Kubuntu 12.10(pussinboots), Windows 7(Win7virtual), Windows Xp(gromit) and an older Ubuntulxf. I run them all in a single workgroup called (unremarkably) WORKGROUP.

Originally posted by bweinel View Post

Finally, do you have DNS resolution setup on your local network to resolve machine names? (You can check to see if you can access a windows system via a smb://<ip address>/ type path... if so, then your domain name resolution is not working properly.) This is usually the biggest sticking point for running samba shares between kubuntu and windows boxes. On my home network, I run the samba NMBD server as the wins master for the network (i.e.: wins support = yes) and also run bind9 on the same box for local DNS service on the network. (ok ...probably overkill :cool: ) But to simplify matters you can setup a host file (or lmhosts file) on your windows boxes to do name resolution. In windows, both host (and lmhosts) files can be placed in /Windows/system32/drivers/etc/ for name resolution. In samba, the lmhosts file is placed in /etc/samba/ directory. See 'man lmhosts' for more info.

I have just gone through a trauma of name resolution in another thread and solved it with a lmhosts file.

but you might be interested in the current state.
1. All the windows machines can see each other with no problems.
2. Both gandalf and pussinboots list all the computers in the workgroup, so name resolution is now working.
3. When I click on a computer name in Dolphin pussinboots can open files in only one computer, gromit. There it can read files with no problem. For all the other computers it returns an error reading "The file or folder on smb://tigru/ does not exist". BUT if I type into the address bar the address of a shared folder e.g. smb://tigru/raysfolder/ it opens the folder and I can read files no problem.
4. When I click on a computer name in Dolphin, gandalf can open NO computers directly. However the same applies as 3 above. i.e. if I put in a known path, then the folder opens up no problem and I can read the files.

Thus the only problem I have is that Dolphin refuses to show the available shares with one exception on one computer where it behaves correctly. I am baffled. I cannot see the difference between (for example) gromit and tigru.

If i use smbtree -N
then the two computers show their shares thus:
\\TIGRU\IPC$ IPC Service (tigru)
\\TIGRU\Multimedia System default share
\\TIGRU\Download System default share
\\TIGRU\Recordings System default share
\\TIGRU\Web System default share
\\TIGRU\Usb System default share
\\TIGRU\Public System default share
\\TIGRU\Network Recycle Bin 1 [RAID5 Disk Volume: Drive 1 2 3]
\\TIGRU\raysfolder junk drop from all computers
\\TIGRU\gilliansfolder A place to keep non-photo-non-music junk
\\GROMIT BigPortable
\\GROMIT\C$ Default share
\\GROMIT\ADMIN$ Remote Admin
\\GROMIT\I$ Default share
\\GROMIT\SharedDocs
\\GROMIT\D$ Default share
\\GROMIT\IPC$ Remote IPC
\\GROMIT\iongromit used to be I on Gromit
i.e. there is nothing stopping neither gandalf nor pussinboots seeing the available shares, So why do they try to open up / on the computer? Sigh.
I'm off to bed now, g'night.
Ray

**bweinel** · Jan 02, 2013, 10:33 PM

Ok Ray...

I think I have a bit better grasp of your situation now.

The fact that you can see 'gromit' from 'pussinboots' and read files there is very good. That means that networking, name resolution, and firewalling are likely ok on both 'pussinboots' and 'gromit'. Since the windows machines can see each other, things are likely ok there as well. So that leaves the NAS unit...

Though you didn't say... I suspect that 'tigru' is your NAS server. A couple of things come to mind there. I notice that you have no default share listed in the smbtree listing for tigru (i.e. \\tigru\c$ ). This may be the reason you can't access smb://tigru/ (as it's not a samba share per se) but you can access all the shares below it (as they are listed explicitly. Also remember that any samba share listed with a trailing '$' will be invisible in a browse listing... but still accessable via a mount command.) You also didn't mention what brand your NAS was or what it is using for an O/S (likely embedded linux of some flavor.) Depending on your NAS O/S there may be some nameserver stuff you need to take care of there (based upon some limited past experiences I've had with setting up both Netgear and Buffalo NAS servers.)

You didn't say if you had installed winbind on your kubuntu machines. Eventhough your not using an explicit domain controller, I beleive it would be a good idea to add winbind to the kubuntu machines if its not already there.

Code:

sudo apt-get install winbind

Finally I wanted to inquire if you had firewalling (ufw) enabled or disabled on either pussinboots and gandalf. You can check by using the the following:

Code:

sudo ufw status
Status: inactive

Should it be enabled, you probably want to disable it for testing purposes:

Code:

sudo ufw disable
Firewall stopped and disabled on system startup

If none of these thoughts help move things along in the right direction, you'll probably need to post up your NAS config and smb.conf files for review.

BTW: In the interest of moving things along a bit quicker without re-inventing the wheel... there's a very good thread on samba setup which covers pretty much everything you can run across in samba setup in detail at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=202605

cheers,
Bill

**rayfoulkes** · Jan 03, 2013, 12:02 PM

Solved (well, avoided at least).

Hi Bill, I have resolved the problem, but I will follow through with your comments before explaining what the fix was.

Originally posted by bweinel View Post

The fact that you can see 'gromit' from 'pussinboots' and read files there is very good. That means that networking, name resolution, and firewalling are likely ok on both 'pussinboots' and 'gromit'. Since the windows machines can see each other, things are likely ok there as well. So that leaves the NAS unit...

Though you didn't say... I suspect that 'tigru' is your NAS server. A couple of things come to mind there. I notice that you have no default share listed in the smbtree listing for tigru (i.e. \\tigru\c$ ). This may be the reason you can't access smb://tigru/ (as it's not a samba share per se) but you can access all the shares below it (as they are listed explicitly. Also remember that any samba share listed with a trailing '$' will be invisible in a browse listing... but still accessable via a mount command.) You also didn't mention what brand your NAS was or what it is using for an O/S (likely embedded linux of some flavor.) Depending on your NAS O/S there may be some nameserver stuff you need to take care of there (based upon some limited past experiences I've had with setting up both Netgear and Buffalo NAS servers.)

The NAS unit is behaving fine; you are right it is tigru. FYI it is a QNAP TS-419PII running a version of linux. However, I treat it as a black box. It can be seen just fine from all windows machines so I don't want to fiddle with its internals.

Originally posted by bweinel View Post

You didn't say if you had installed winbind on your kubuntu machines. Eventhough your not using an explicit domain controller, I beleive it would be a good idea to add winbind to the kubuntu machines if its not already there.

Code:

sudo apt-get install winbind

Well I hadn't installed winbind so I did it today. The effect was disatrous, I couldn't even see all the computers. I read up about that and it seems that you have to be running using a domain controller which I am not. I am just running a workgroup as in Windows 98 on a single LAN. I uninstalled it and everything sprang back to life.

Originally posted by bweinel View Post

Finally I wanted to inquire if you had firewalling (ufw) enabled or disabled on either pussinboots and gandalf. You can check by using the the following:

Code:

sudo ufw status
Status: inactive

Should it be enabled, you probably want to disable it for testing purposes:

Code:

sudo ufw disable
Firewall stopped and disabled on system startup

I checked, there are no firewalls running on any of the linux machines.

Originally posted by bweinel View Post

BTW: In the interest of moving things along a bit quicker without re-inventing the wheel... there's a very good thread on samba setup which covers pretty much everything you can run across in samba setup in detail at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=202605

Well I tried that but it failed at the first hurdle - I guess it needs updating.

Code:

/etc/samba$ sudo /etc/init.d/samba stop
[sudo] password for ray: 
sudo: /etc/init.d/samba: command not found

I think it should probably be:

Code:

sudo service smbd stop
sudo service nmbd stop

So, how was the problem fixed? Well you gave me the courage to continue experimenting with the name resolution.
I mentioned that I had set up lmhosts on all the machines. Well, I made an error and that showed me the way to the solution. Eventually I noticed that on pussinboots, gromit was missing from lmhosts, but it was the only computer on which gromit could be browsed! i.e. the only one which theoretically could not look up gromit showed its shares, AHA! how so?
The reason was the line
name resolve order = lmhosts bcast
which was on all the smb.conf files.
I changed the line to:
name resolve order = bcast
and all the computers can now browse all the shares.

So, just to summarise, if you use lmhosts to resolve names for smb then Dolphin cannot browse the shares. If you use the old, crude broadcast query, all it well. Figure that one out!

Many thanks for your attention - I am always encouraged when someone points me in a direction to investigate.
Regards, Ray

**bweinel** · Jan 07, 2013, 04:47 PM

Well I hadn't installed winbind so I did it today. The effect was disatrous, I couldn't even see all the computers. I read up about that and it seems that you have to be running using a domain controller which I am not. I am just running a workgroup as in Windows 98 on a single LAN. I uninstalled it and everything sprang back to life.

Whew... well I do run a domain controller here... so hence my using it (it actually solved a bunch of problems for me.) However I'm glad it didn't leave any lasting results on your end.

Well I tried that but it failed at the first hurdle - I guess it needs updating.
I think it should probably be:

Code:

sudo service smbd stop
sudo service nmbd stop

Yep.. Thats right. The thread is a bit dated as it was started a few generations of ubuntu back.

The reason was the line
name resolve order = lmhosts bcast
which was on all the smb.conf files.
I changed the line to:
name resolve order = bcast
and all the computers can now browse all the shares.

Great! I was thinking that we probably would need to investigate the smb.conf files next... but it sounds like you beat me to it. :-) I'm happy to know that I could provide of some small measure of help in locating the issue. Samba is usually not to bad to configure... but due to its many options, it can get a bit sticky at times.

All the best Ray...

cheers,
Bill

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