Samba and XP pro Please help

[toys19]

Hi,
I can see and access the shared folders on my XP pro box from FC8. And in Xp I can see the shared folder on the linux box, but I cannot access it, getting the " you might not have permission" message. I have the linux firewall configured to allow samba, I'usimg Ghostwall on windows and I still have the same probs even when I disable it.
I'm stuck please help, I'll buy you a pint...
This my smb.conf:

[Global]
workgroup = workgroup
security = share
encrypt passwords = yes
nt acl support = no
server string = samba 3.0.28a-0.fc8
[Z]
comment = Z on wendy
path = /home/wendy/Z
writeable = yes
browseable = yes
valid users = alison$, debbie$, linda$, susan$, luke$

[scottro]

http://home.nyc.rr.com/computertaijutsu/rhsamba.html
Be sure to check the link in the "If all else fails" section.

[ppesci]

Check linux permissions in the folder /home/wendy/Z.

HTH

[bbfuller]

Hello toys19

I came across a similar problem the other day and it turned out to be a setting in SELinux.

If you have SELinux set to enforcing it appears to block access to home directory shares.

If you didn't take the step of altering it during setup then you do have SELinux set to enforcing.

The change to enable sharing can be made from the command line as full root, issue the command:

su -

to achieve that. It's a space and a minus sign after the su to gain full, not limited, root rights over your machine. Then issue the command:

setsebool -P samba_enable_home_dirs=1

Once you see the command, it's pretty easy to guess what it does and the normal default behaviour.

Hope that helps.

[toys19]

Hi Thanks for all your suggestions I have gone through everything, read the manuals and the pages you have recommended and its just not working.
I have selinux disabled.
Permissions in the folder and all files are set.

All I want to achieve is a basic file server with little or no security, I dont need it becasue I have a hardware firewall on my router that keeps everything outside out.

Now I have left my machines for a couple of hours and I come back and for some reason I cant see the windows boxes from Linux when I could before...

I'm getting to the point where I am just going to go and get another copy of xp and forget about Linux for this BOX. I mean I am a pretty switched on bloke, but this is just impossible, I'm trying to run a business and this has taken 3 days to set up and it still doesnt work. I dont have the time to become and expert in windows and Linux and samba. I cant understand the enthusiasm for Linux, people talk about security etc, but I have free firewall and virus protection on windows and have never had a problem, and it just does what I want. Linux quite frankly sucks.

[ppesci]

Can you try something more?
Change your share to:

[Z]
comment = Z on wendy
path = /tmp
writeable = yes
browseable = yes

and don't put the valid users
Just a try to see if this is a problem with unix permissions

HTH

[toys19]

Thanks ppesci
this works I have access to this file from windows xp.
so what next?
And now in fedora I can see the windows box in netowrk, but I cannot open it..

[bbfuller]

Hello toys19

Sorry you are having trouble with Samba and sharing. I assure you that what you want to do is possible because I do it all the time. I accept that for you 3 days is a large investment in time, but what you are doing is learning something new which never comes easy.

I struggled when I first set up Samba 10 years ago, now when I set up a new install I configure the machine in about 5 minutes.

You've probably done all of this, but in case not, the prerequisite is that you have your users created on the windows machine, you have those same users created on the Linux server as ordinary Linux users and you have those same users setup as Samba users. Three groups of users with the same name and password in all three places. That may not be strictly true if you are using 'share' security instead of 'user', but Fedora does have some oddities over sharing folders within a users 'home' area and you are trying to do that in wendys home.

If you now run the command:

smbclient -L localhost

in a terminal that belongs to the user Wendy on this server machine, do you see your share listed for export and if you go to your XP machine and login as Wendy do you not see the share then. For this to fully work Wendy must not only have access to the shared folder as a Linux user but she must also have access to it as a samba user. I know if we are using the user 'Wendy' that will probably all be in place but it gets forgotten many times when admins try to add other users to a share.

You might also try turning off the Fedora firewall temporarily if you still have it on.

Unless you know all there is to know about samba, and unless you have done more configuring and testing than you have told us, it is easier to keep the samba setup very simple at first and then expand rather than confuse the issue with multiple users.

I presume as well, that in 'Gnome System Menu - Administration - Services', you have both the 'smb' and 'nmb' services started and set to start at boot? That's a recent change in Fedora and catches a lot of people out.

If you are interested in continuing, try those and post back and we'll see where we go from there.

[toys19]

Hi bbfuller,
Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry about the rant, I was trying to do this to save money rather than shelling out for a NAS box..

Logged in as wendy:
smbclient -L localhost

the share is listed.

I dont have the user Wendy on my XP machine. I'm confused about this users thing. The xp machine on the network is called susan, with admin user called luke.
I wanted to call the linux box wendy, but linux instsed on me setting up a root account and a user account so I set up the user account wendy.

If we take a step back all I want to do is have easy read write access from 5 xp machines (+ visitors laptops etc) in the office to the linux box as a kind of NAS/storage device for our ever increasing files. We are an engineering consultancy and produce enormous CAD files and FEA results files anmongst other suff. I agree about the simple smb.conf file I think the multiple users ended up there after I read something about adding more users. Anyway I'd rather not have any security as I am protected exteranlly by a hardware firewall in my router, internally everyone needs easy acess.

[bbfuller]

Hello toys19

I think to see the share in the wendy area you would need a user on the XP machine called Wendy. As I said earlier, I believe Fedora has its own ideas on shares off a users home. I'd suggest either that, or if your sharing of /tmp is successful then make a new directory out of any home areas, say for example:

/data

and share that. Probably easier.

Linux/Unix is aimed to be a fully secure operating system whether we like it or not and if you use it you need to play by its rules.

One of its rules is users. Although on windows you can set up a machine name and just leave it at that. On Linux you may have a machine name but you must have users. The 'root' user is the administrative user and has full rights over the machine. It should only rarely be used for specific configuration requirements and then relinquished. You then need to set up ordinary users who work on the machine. The assumption is that those users will require independent existence and to be isolated from each other. The rules that govern that can be modified but that increases in complexity when you are trying to allow access from other machines. Once again the assumption is corresponding username/password combinations and complications if you wish to negate that.

[toys19]

Hey thanks for your help, simple conf, and it works, it all came down to permissions! Now I have 5 xp boxes all looking at my new /Z share and able to read and write. I cannot belive all the silly stuff I've tried over the last three days to try and give access to something stuck in /home/wendy...
I only have one problem, one of my fedora will not look at one of my xp boxes, its says "cannot display all of the contents" and shows the folder as a window, with nothing in it...

[bbfuller]

Hello toys19

Are your Fedora boxes all running 8 with a recent version of samba from the fedora repositories?

There was a version of Samba from some 18months back that exhibited that behaviour once the directory it was looking at grew over a certain size.

[toys19]

Just the one fedora box, (wendy) and yes I updated it this morning : Samba 3.0.28a-0.fc8
Its one of the xp boxes (susan) which is just not responding properly in fedora, the others all appear in fedora and I can see all their drives etc and copy files. Which is great after three days of racking my brains, I cannot thank you guys enough. If you are ever in Devon call in for a pint.

[toys19]

Hi bbfuller and ppesci, I have fixed it now, I removed the ip and name of the xp box (susan) from all hosts and lm hosts files on the linux box, and then bingo it all appears, dont ask me why but it works.
Once again thanks for putting me right, is there a positve feedback or gold star sytem because I want to recognise your help.. :)

[ppesci]

toys19:

Nice to hear you solved the problem.

Let me say, Linux is a different animal than Windows. A very powerful one, but has its own concepts and requires effort to understand.

This forum is here to help new and not so new users. You did the job. Congratulations. Maybe you become rant many times more :), but eventually you become more and more familiar to Linux and its power.

Welcome to this forum :).

[scottro]

Ubuntu has a thanks system on their forums, which is nice, but I think that most folks here, like comic book heroes, consider your thanks sufficient. :)
Don't worry about the rant, I suspect most of us have emailed friends at times, saying, "Did I ever mention that I HATE computers?"
I think ppesci said it best. "YOU did the job." Despite your rant, which was a minor one, actually, you went back and tried again rather than saying, the heck with it. You learned a little something and probably got a sense of satisfaction.