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**Telengard** · Feb 27, 2010, 08:43 PM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

Alt+F2 -> konsole

Code:

smbtree -N

The result should be a complete list of all shares on all hosts in the Windows workgroup. Is it?

**ScottyK** · Feb 27, 2010, 09:29 PM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

I entered Alt+F2, entered the command, and nothing happened.

Opened up Konsole and typed the same thing, and this is what I got.

Code:

 failed negprot: ERRnomen

came up on two lines, the same error statement.

**Telengard** · Feb 27, 2010, 10:14 PM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

Please show me exactly what is happening. Copy and paste the text of the command and the response from the Konsole window.

**Telengard** · Feb 27, 2010, 10:47 PM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

I've been searching for over an hour now and I find very little about this message. Since I've never encountered it before, and I know very little about your network, I'm about ready to give up. Here are some suggestions which might help:

Make sure the NETBIOS names of all hosts contain only letters and digits. Don't use any special characters or punctuation.

Reboot every computer on the network.

Try this in Konsole. Your results should be similar:

Code:

$ ps -A | grep -i "[ns]mb"
 5428 ?    00:00:05 nmbd
 5430 ?    00:00:02 smbd

Work your way through Howto: Fix Windows share browsing issues - Ubuntu Forums

Keep at it and don't give up. When you find a solution or workaround, please share it here and mark your thread "[solved]".

HTH

**ScottyK** · Feb 28, 2010, 06:43 AM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

Ok, I typed in that command and this is what came back.

Code:

1385 ?    00:00:00 nmbd
 1389 ?    00:00:00 smbd
 1406 ?    00:00:00 smbd

I'll go reboot every computer, and verify that the names are just numbers and letters. Later this morning I'll also work through the link you supplied and post the results.

**ScottyK** · Feb 28, 2010, 06:59 AM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++partial success!

I rebooted the Windows7 machine, and now Under Samba Shares I can see "Skynet", and then click on the Windows7 and it actually tries to connect. Now I'm presented with a "username password" request for Skynet. my regular windows logon information isn't working, so I need to figure out what it wants.

Just out of curiousity, I ran that command again and now I get this.

Code:

1385 ?    00:00:00 nmbd
 1389 ?    00:00:00 smbd
 1406 ?    00:00:00 smbd
 2324 ?    00:00:00 kio_smb
 2325 ?    00:00:00 kio_smb
 2329 ?    00:00:00 smbd
 2360 ?    00:00:00 kio_smb
 2361 ?    00:00:00 kio_smb

getting closer!

**Telengard** · Feb 28, 2010, 09:02 AM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

Here's what I know about the output of the ps -A | grep "[sn]mb" command:

smbd is the Samba server daemon. I don't know why there would be three instances of it running, but right now there are four instances of smbd on my Hardy machine.
nmbd is a daemon related to Samba that has something to do with name resolution. I haven't looked into it far enough to know exactly what it does, but I think it may be related to the nmblookup command.
kio_smb is some kind of KDE interface to the Samba client tools. It runs when you use Dolphin to browse the network and Remote Places.

So it looks to me like all the requisite daemons and client tools are present and accounted for. IMHO we are left with the possibility of configuration problems. If you have recently upgraded this Kubuntu, or if you carried over some of your config files from an older Kubuntu version, then that might be something to look at.

The reason for rebooting every host on the network is because I don't know which one is serving as browse master. Browse master maintains a list of all shares on the network, and you should be able to view the list with the smbtree -N command in Konsole. One computer on the network is elected to be browse master according to some arcane rules that few people outside Micro$oft really understand. The one sure fire way I know to force an election is to reboot every host on the network. Additionally, rebooting is a magic fix for many network problems.

Authentication is the hardest part of Windows networking to understand IMHO. Micro$oft has changed the way clients must authenticate for share access with every version of Windoze since 3.x. All I can say for sure is that the configurations of both server and client are critically important, and you may have to fiddle a bit to make it work. Try all these combinations:

user name and password of an admin on the Windoze machine
user name and password of a non-admin on the Windoze machine
user name and empty password (just press the Enter key in the password prompt)
empty user name and empty password (works more often than you'd think for connecting to Windoze machines)

Try creating a new share from scratch on the Windoze machine and make it read/write accessible to everyone without password. I can't even guess how to do so in Windoze 7. You can also try making the Windoze Public folder shared on the network.

Possibly helpful information: Use Samba With Windows 7 Clients - www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com

Just in case it isn't clear yet, I am just taking pot shots at your problem. I still don't have a clue what exactly is going wrong here.

**ScottyK** · Feb 28, 2010, 04:04 PM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

Making progress this afternoon.

Rebooted the machines a few more times, and now Kubuntu is able to see the network, without asking for a user/password.

Once I select a computer, things get weird.

On the 7 machine, every time I go up/down a directory, I'm asked for authorization requesting a username and password.

Whatever I put in doesn't seem to matter, as I'm allowed to navigate the directory structure.

However once I find a file and try to open it, nothing I enter will satisfy the authorization request.

On the XP machine, I'm able to freely navigate the directory structure without being asked anything. But once I select a file, then I'm asked for username/password, and nothing will satisfy it.

**skunk** · Feb 28, 2010, 05:51 PM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

Originally posted by ScottyK

However once I find a file and try to open it, nothing I enter will satisfy the authorization request.

On the XP machine, I'm able to freely navigate the directory structure without being asked anything. But once I select a file, then I'm asked for username/password, and nothing will satisfy it.

Just to make sure...
Did you try a valid userid/password from an account on the Windows machine you are trying to access?

**ScottyK** · Feb 28, 2010, 09:21 PM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

Yes. On all of my machines, I use the same name/password to keeps things simple.

Should I change them around, give different machines different names/passwords?

**Telengard** · Feb 28, 2010, 09:27 PM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

In Konsole, use the smbclient -L command to list the shares on your Windows XP host. When you are prompted for a password, just press the Enter key. Example session:

Code:

$ smbclient -L //mickey
Password:
Domain=[MICKEY] OS=[Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium 6002 Service Pack 2] Server=[Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium 6.0]

    Sharename    Type   Comment
    ---------    ----   -------
    ADMIN$     Disk   Remote Admin
    C$       Disk   Default share
    D$       Disk   Default share
    IPC$      IPC    Remote IPC
    print$     Disk   Printer Drivers
    Public     Disk
Domain=[MICKEY] OS=[Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium 6002 Service Pack 2] Server=[Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium 6.0]

    Server        Comment
    ---------      -------

    Workgroup      Master
    ---------      -------

**ScottyK** · Mar 02, 2010, 09:09 PM

[Solved]Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

Wahoo, it works! Not quite sure what I did, but now I'm able to access the other computer, pull files across, and push files to the Windows box.

Thanks for helping me get through this!

**Telengard** · Mar 02, 2010, 10:05 PM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

Glad to hear it is working now. Its too bad we don't know what the problem was though. Are you sure your network cables are in good condition, and that your router or switch is functioning correctly?

**ScottyK** · Mar 04, 2010, 06:21 AM

Re: Windows can access Kubuntu, but Kubuntu can't see any Windows Computer?

I logged on this morning to change this to "Solved", but I discovered that it's asking for user name/password again to get on the workgroup again.

What changed from last time it was working (Tuesday) was I did some updates in KpackageKit.

Now KpackageKit won't install anything, saying I don't have the necessary privledges.

Windows 7 definitely was a problem in network sharing. When I got on the 7 machine and scaled back a lot of the "helpful" features, suddenly everything was working.

Windows 7 is not long for that machine anyway.

So by doing upgrades last night, something broke. Now it's off to figure out what happened!