Networking w/ XP

[ukemike]

Yesterday I installed the current version of kubuntu on my son's computer. (He had a much older version before and it was messed up, couldn't install anything always some cryptic dependency issue). Before I upgraded to this version I managed to get samba working and copied all of his files onto my winXP computer. Now I would like to copy them back. I could copy all the files but one with a thumb drive, but that one is a movie and it's too big.

I believe I have correctly installed samba on his computer, but dolphin does not see the workgroup or my pc. I have turned off the firewall on my pc, and I have allowed sharing on the folder in question. It is likely that I am doing things wrong on both ends. I've always been good with computers but when it comes to networking it all seems like black magic to me. Prior to posting this question I searched for answers for quite some time. I found a tutorial on the but it applied to kubuntu 6.something and things are different in the system settings, and following it didn't get me results.

BTW once I figured out that the new kde did not treat the desktop as just another folder I've been quite impressed with the features.

[drumkitcat]

Re: Networking w/ XP

I've had some similar problems recently as well. There's a lot of good documentation available for Samba, but it's definately not all in the same place!

I use Kubuntu 9.1 on my laptop, and my main home office computer runs WinXP and it's connected directly to my home internet high speed modem/router. All the computers in my house are networked together to access it and files across any of the other ones. My laptop is the only Linux based system in the bunch.

I've found with Samba, you have to ensure the following things:
1. enable file sharing on any of the Windows XP machines you want to get/send files to.

2. I've found it's easier to use the Linux computer to navigate the network than using the XP machine to navigate Linux. - If you choose to have the XP machine navigate Linux, you'll have to make sure you enable sharing on the Linux directories/files accordingly beforehand otherwise they won't show up from the XP machine side.

Hope that helps!

[dibl]

Re: Networking w/ XP

I've always been good with computers but when it comes to networking it all seems like black magic to me.

Soulmate!

You said you had Samba working on the prior version -- did you use the same smb.conf file? Half the magic is trimming that humongous default smb.conf file down to what you actually need.

Also, don't forget to start the samba service on the Kubuntu side -- it does not necessarily start automatically unless you set it to.

[Telengard]

Re: Networking w/ XP

For your very large movie file you need to be somewhat careful. Windows XP Home Editiion (but not Windows XP Professional!) puts some obscure and difficult to understand limitations on file sharing. In my experience, if a file is greater than about 2 gigabytes in size then Windows XP Home will not allow it to be copied from the shared folder.

Kubuntu should be able to access shares on a Windows machine right out of the box, because the Samba client software is part of the default install of Kubuntu. To test whether Kubuntu can access the shares on the Windows machine, just open Konqueror (Alt+F2 -> konqueror) and type smb:/ into the location bar. That should give you a lists of the SMB workgroups on your LAN.

If you can not view the list of workgroups with Konqueror, then make sure that both computers are on the same IP network. If both are connected to the same router then most likely they are on the same IP network, but you'll have to check anyway. SMB shares usually aren't route-able, which is why you can't normally access the shares of random Windows machines across the Internet.

To share files from Kubuntu to Windows hosts, you do need to install and configure the Samba server. These posts may help you. Be sure to read the pages linked from them as well.

• Configuring and testing the Samba server from the command line
• Mounting SMB shares from the command line

[ukemike]

Re: Networking w/ XP

Well, I fiddled more on the win side (that's XP pro btw). I renamed the workgroup to MSHOME since that's the default, and sure enough that workgroup appeared in the samba shares folder on the kubuntu pc, but my win pc. I turned off the firewall hoping that would help. It hasn't yet.

[GilGib]

Re: Networking w/ XP

Check the permissions on the smb.conf file. I had a problem when I did a fresh install of 9.10
and used a copied smb.conf from 9.04

[dibl]

Re: Networking w/ XP

I turned off the firewall hoping that would help.

Make sure you really nailed it -- you have to go in from several directions. Open Control Panel and check:

- "Security Center"
- "Windows Firewall"
- "Network Connections > Network Tasks > Change Firewall Settings "

If they're all set to "Off", you'll have a chance.

[ukemike]

Re: Networking w/ XP

the firewall is definitely off. the mshome workgroup shows up the the samba shares, but the workgroup is empty.

[ukemike]

Re: Networking w/ XP

In dolphin after opening the mshome workgroup, I tried to enter the local ip address for my win computer. That got a login prompt! entering my login name and password did not work. I enabled the guest account and entering guest and the password did not work. Boy do I feel dumb.

I would have given up long ago if I could get the kubuntu pc to read a burned disk instead, but that also fails to work.

[ukemike]

Re: Networking w/ XP

alright, well I'm giving up. I have better things to do.

I got the cd to work. I'd stuck that cd in there a dozen times with no result. I tried a different cd and it worked, so I took it out and put the first one back in an presto. I'm now copying all the files into their places, except for that one movie. It's a bit too big to burn to a dvd. My son will have to do w/out Benji.

[athlon52]

Re: Networking w/ XP

I've been using ssh for windows xp and it has worked quite well. No fiddling around.