Fedora can't see Windows PC

chrisflynn · #1 9th May 2004, 07:16 PM

Have just installed Fedora Core 2 Test 3 and applied all the updates via yum. My home network has 3 other computers - one Windows XP Home, and two Windows 2K. My Fedora box cannot see the other computers. When I go from Computer to Network, the icon for Windows Network is display. Double-clicking shows no items. I have tried enabling SMB from the Authentication menu and have set the workgroup to WORKGROUP, which my Windows boxes use. All to no avail.

I am new to Fedora & would appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction. Thanks.

Jman · #2 9th May 2004, 08:05 PM

Sounds like you're trying out the smb functionality of the file manager but not seeing anything. If you're using Gnome, the default environment, you would get there by Main Menu > Network Servers.

Open a terminal window (Main Menu > System Tools > Terminal) and try running

Code:

findsmb

This might find your network.

chrisflynn · #3 9th May 2004, 08:43 PM

Yes, I am using Gnome and trying out SMB functionality. Here's the results:

*=DMB
+=LMB
IP ADDR NETBIOS NAME WORKGROUP/OS/VERSION
---------------------------------------------------------------------

It looks to me like my network isn't there for some reason. (I do have access to the internet via my router. )

chrisflynn · #4 9th May 2004, 11:23 PM

Update: I went to System Setting to Security Level and checked the box saying eth0 is a "trusted device". Now, findsmb gives:

*=DMB
+=LMB
IP ADDR NETBIOS NAME WORKGROUP/OS/VERSION
---------------------------------------------------------------------
192.168.0.101 TRAKKEN [TRAKKEN] [Windows 5.1] [Windows 2000 LAN Manager]
192.168.0.101 TRAKKEN [TRAKKEN] [Windows 5.1] [Windows 2000 LAN Manager]
192.168.0.102 GALLIFREY [WORKGROUP] [Windows 5.0] [Windows 2000 LAN Manager]
192.168.0.103 FAMILYROOM +[FAMILYROOM] [Windows 5.0] [Windows 2000 LAN Manager]
192.168.0.103 FAMILYROOM +[FAMILYROOM] [Windows 5.0] [Windows 2000 LAN Manager]

This is progress. There are still no icons in the Gnome file manager for my computers.

Jman · #5 10th May 2004, 10:38 PM

Note that WORKGROUP only has one machine, GALLIFREY, by the look of this.

Try running

Code:

smbclient -L GALLIFREY

to list the shares of that machine.

This probably won't help the nautilus filemanager, but I have had success adding hosts to the /etc/samba/lmhosts file. Format is ip number whitespace name. This is not the ideal solution to a dynamic DHCP environment, though.

I never was sure what made nautilus work for me.

For some reason getting Samba to find Windows workgroup browers to get the ip is difficult.

chrisflynn · #6 14th May 2004, 03:25 AM

findsmb is giving unexpected results. I doubled-checked each Windows box to make sure they belonged to WORKGROUP. They do and they talk to each other just fine. Nautilus' Connect to Server works when given the complete path to the shared folder smb://gallifrey/xxxx. This puts an smb icon on the desktop & I can then browse the shared folder's contents.

As an aside, I installed Mepis linux on another box and coonected to the network via the same port that the Fedora box uses (not at the same time). Mepis uses a KDE program SMB4K (I think). It correctly displays icons for the computers on the network & the shared folders therein.

chrisflynn · #7 20th May 2004, 01:36 AM

Fedora Core 2 Release works fine. File manager displays icons of the Windows computers & it can access shared folders. Did anything change from FC2T3 to the release version? Maybe it was something on my end?

Roody · #8 8th June 2004, 05:54 AM

I'm having this issue myself after installing FC2 yesterday. I have 3 Windows machines (2 WinXP Pro, 1 Win XP Home) and my linux box. I see the Network Icon, but nothing is inside.

dreamcatalyst · #9 8th June 2004, 07:20 AM

I have the same problem. Using the Gnome network browser I can sometimes mount a windows share with File > Connect to Server but when i try to duplicate it a second time it doesn't work saying the target doesn't exisit or it says authentication failed without even asking to authenticate even if no authentication has been done before. I know Gnome and smb have had trouble so i tried using smbclient and mount -t smb with no avail either.

I also have problems with two Fedora Core 2 systems connecting to eachother. The smb.conf are the same except for the netbios name. I connected once with no problem using "mount -t smbfs ...", the next time I tried the system hangs and I have to hit the restart button. Every susequent attempt has resulted in the same hangs.

chrisflynn · #10 8th June 2004, 09:47 AM

SMB browsing worked fine for me with FC2 just one time. That was right after it was installed. It has never worked properly since then. I can get to box on the network if I log onto it directly.

djf_jeff · #11 9th June 2004, 02:24 AM

I have the same problem

findsmb work fine

smbclient work fine

But nothing to do with nautilus browsing...

yeehi · #12 9th June 2004, 04:40 AM

chrisflynn,

I cant see my windows xp box from fedora core 2 either.
I tried your trust eth0 but still nothing showed up.

I remember reading that some special ports might need to be opened for xp, but i am clueless.

dreamcatalyst · #13 9th June 2004, 08:19 PM

one broblem is that Gnome doesn't use samba code, it uses it's own code. The explains why nautilus doesn't work. But will it ever?

dopeflish · #14 10th June 2004, 09:17 AM

Yep again, same problem, I posted this under the topic of Network Servers Problem a few topics down. smbclient works fine, but Gnome Network Servers shows nothing. It did one time, but not anymore. My firewall on this machine is trusted.

DF

May1950 · #15 16th June 2004, 01:07 PM

I had the same problem with FC2. My FC2 box could not see the other computers on my home network when I clicked on Windows Network. I spent hours trying to configure Samba without success and finally gave up. I went back and installed FC1 and the problem is gone. I didn't have to do any reconfiguring of Samba. Now when I click on the icon for Windows Network, I see all PCs on the network.

Regards,
Ron