Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

[Earthling]

Just to start getting a feel for Linux I've set up Kubuntu 6.06 as a virtual machine in XP on my laptop using VMware Player.  All the basic functions seem to be working ok, including internet.

I want to be able to access shared folders on a FAT32 partition on my PC via my router and when I go via Remote Places to Samba Shares I get an icon with the name of my XP workgroup underneath.  However when I click the icon I get "Timeout on server <network name>".

The PC's firewall is disabled so what might the problem be?

[Earthling]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

Poking around I think this is down to the inherent limitations of the VM version of Kubuntu that is currently available. The Zeroconf service does not even exist, neither does Lisa, and as I understand it at least one of them is required for local networking.

Can someone who actually understands this stuff confirm or deny this for me, in plain English please

[penguin.ch]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

Earthling,

I tend to deny your claim :P my reasoning:

On my primary workstation, running a Debian distribution as operating system, I'm using VMware Workstation 5.5 - with Kubuntu 6.06 as on of it's guests (originally downloaded as pre-installed image from VMware's web site).

And I have to admit, that all file (and printer) sharing between real and "unreal" machines is done via Samba, using Kunbuntu's SMB client "as is" - and it works like a charm, so to speak ...

Therefore, I'd rather assume that there are errors in the configuration of the SMB "server" (which, in this regard, is your Windoze machine).

If I'm guessing right, these Samba Docs are supposed to help you on.

HTH
Birdy

[javierrivera]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

The PC's firewall is disabled so what might the problem be?

No idea . But some more info can help:

- How is VMPlayer networking configured?
- Can you open a shell in both kubuntu and Windows xp and give us the result of the ipconfig (in winxp) and ifconfig(in kubuntu) commands?.

You don't need Lisa or Zeroconf or any other service (well, you do need basic networking) to be able to connect to a windows share. You only need the smbclient package.

Javier.

[Earthling]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

That in itself presents a challenge!  Anyway, here is the Kubuntu bit - I'll be back with ipconfig (/all?)

root@kubuntu-desktop:~# ifconfig
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0C:29:93:B3:C9
          inet addr:192.168.0.5  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::20c:29ff:fe93:b3c9/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:35029 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:29207 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:8748704 (8.3 MiB)  TX bytes:2931285 (2.7 MiB)
          Interrupt:185 Base address:0x1400

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:192 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:192 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:13109 (12.8 KiB)  TX bytes:13109 (12.8 KiB)

root@kubuntu-desktop:~#

[Earthling]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

Here's the rest -



Windows IP Configuration



        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : laptop

        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :

        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet8:



        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for VMnet8

        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-56-C0-00-08

        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.17.1

        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :



Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet1:



        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter for VMnet1

        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-56-C0-00-01

        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.73.1

        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :



Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:



        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection

        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-3D-62-74

        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3

        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.67.222.222

                                            208.67.220.220

        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 23 October 2006 17:57:21

        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 24 October 2006 17:57:21



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC

        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-76-F8-73-57

[javierrivera]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

I still need to know how is VMPlayer networking configured (Bridge, host-only or NAT), but it's probably bridged.

Did you manually set the Kubuntu ip address?

If you don't, it probably has received that 192.168.0.5 from DHCP, then networking is working right.

Try to ping you windows host:

$ ping 192.168.0.3

Now, let's see if smbclient is installed and working:

$ smbclient -L 192.168.0.3

If both commands works, open a konqueror window (the file browser) and type in the address bar:

smb://192.168.0.3/

A list of shares in your windows machine should appear (or a window asking for the username and password.

If the ip is configured manually, then you probably have some other network configuration. Try the above commands with the other ips (192.168.17.1, 192.168.73.1). Each one is tied to one kind of VMPlayer networking.

If it fails... tell use where.

Hope that it helps.

Javier.

[Earthling]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

I really appreciate your help with this Javier, and it looks as if the problem is with the smb client, as everything else seems correct -

VM config - both the ethernet and wireless adapters are using VMware Bridge Protocol

I can ping 192.168.0.2 and 3 (PC and Laptop wireless respectively)

smb://192.168.0.2/ displays all shares on the PC
smb://192.168.0.3/ displays all shares on the laptop

However smbclient -L 192.168.0.3 fails (Called name not present).  The same command to 0.2 produces a list of shares on the PC followed by the same error message.

Bearing in mind my L plate status with Linux, is this fixable?

[javierrivera]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

However smbclient -L 192.168.0.3 fails (Called name not present). The same command to 0.2 produces a list of shares on the PC followed by the same error message.

This is "normal". It's just that the windows machine is not answering for ip shares. It's quite easy to fix if the windows ip is fixed, but it doesn't need to be fixed.

So seens like you can access your windows shares, but can't browse the workgroup?.

This is usually quite difficult to solve .

You can try:

$smbtree

$smbtree -b

$smbtree -D

The first will try to build a net "map" querying the local browser
The second on will try to do the same by broadcastring
And the last will try to find other workgroups or domains.

Could it be that the ubuntu "workgroup" and the windows one are different?.

Javier.

[Earthling]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

The first two find my workgroup and both Windows computers, but in both cases report that the connection was refused.

The third finds my workgroup (and only that)

smb.conf has the correct name of my workgroup.

So near and yet.....

[javierrivera]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

So near and yet.....

Seens like everythong is working.

You can try to type smb:// in you konqueror address bar, and lan navigation should work.

Javier.

[javierrivera]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

You can try to type smb:// in you konqueror address bar, and lan navigation should work.

Sorry, smb:/

Javier.

[Earthling]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

It insists on smb://, but can't browse LAN - timeout on server again.

Thanks javier, you have been very very helpful, but I suppose you can't win 'em all

Bernard

[javierrivera]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

Sorry, but I get lost.

What does it mean "I can't browse LAN"?.

I mean, with smb:/ you can browse your lan?, don't you?.

And you can reach your windows shares, and write to them?

Javier.

[Earthling]

Re: Difficulty accessing Windows partitions

smb://192.168.0.2 in Konqueror opens up the shares on the PC, but smb://<workgroup>/<PCname>/<sharename> or smb://<PCname>/<sharename> all give a timeout error

smb://192.168.0.3 also times out

EDIT Forget that last. I have just removed all fixed addresses on both machines and allowed DHCP for IP addresses and DNS. I can now browse smb://192.168.0.3, but still get timeout errors if I use names instead.