Looking for a hdd "share" guide for Mint 17.1 that isn't deprecated

Spent the last two days trying to setup a network share on Mint 17.1. Most guides involve utilizing a username/password (which do not work once trying to access the share from Windows). I assume it is the netbios naming application which I could find no guide for setting up. Regardless I would prefer NOT to have any login information.

The share folder is on an automounted 1TB ext3/4 formatted secondary hard drive (sata connected not external). I have done a recursive chmod on the folder to allow read write priveleges to everyone.

Mount location is the default /media/<user name>/<drive name>/<shared folder name>

I had done a samba purge and reinstalled (then had to do it again with samba-common purge to get it to install back in the /etc folder) and edited the smb.conf file so many times that I just reinstalled mint this morning. I have updated and upgraded, but not installed the samba GUI. (I forget exactly server-samba-config or something like that) Right clicking and sharing the folder and allowing guest access makes the folder viewable but windows tells me I do not have permission to open the folder"

Any guides I have found get me no further than this point, Or send me to an endless username/password request. Most of the settings they recommend are deprecated but I could not find what the new version of those settings was. (for instance security = share no longer works.)

I do not want to make ANY changes on the windows PCs (they outnumber the nix box) only make the changes necessary in nix.

Using the GUI sharing options right now, broadcasts the share, but does not give anyone permission to access it, despite having "guest access" option checked.


One further slightly related question. Is it possible to add an NFS v2 capable share within an existing smb/cifs share? There is a large group of files I want searchable from the windows side that we can also access from HPUX 10.20 machines. If not I can just duplicate the files and rsync them.

Thanks for any help.

So there are a few questions.

1) is this a domain?
2) what is the objection to using username and passwords in samba? If you use smbpasswd -a <some username> This always works in windows. If the windows boxes are on a domain you have to do
3) sure you have make an nfs share within the samba share. They are not aware of each other so nfs would just think its sharing out a normal file/folder structure (which it is). There is *potential* for some wierd locking issues which I have seen in the past though

Usernames and passwords did NOT work which is why i wanted to just not have them at all.

No username and password will save me getting phone calls later

I tried using both setting user and pass in terminal amd via the samba config gui. Both resulted in login loops.

The pcs are not on a domain, there is no server setup. Every pc had hdds shared on the workgroup. Our windows 7 workstation that was acting as our share drive heldball files. Xp machine could copy them from the windows 7 box to one hpux machine. Other unix machine talked to the first.

Hell of a frankenstein setup but it worked.

You need to start producing logs in order for us to help. I have never once run into a situation where a properly configured samba server with local usernames and passwords has failed with windows 7 or below (no experience with windows 8+)

As it stands I dont have enough information to troubleshoot

Ok I will retry doing the password terminal entry and try again. I am sure I did something incorrectly. Hence why it was not working

Why are you looking for exactly testparm output or smb.conf?


Anything else you want?

Thanks for the help.

EDIT: I shared the folder via the explorer right click option in mint. Folder is visible to windows and when I tried to browse it it just said inaccessible. When I tried to map it with the samba user/pass I just setup (sudo smbpasswd -a <username>), it says it is already mapped with those credentials. but it isnt.

*sigh

testparm does not even show the share. Only the defualt printer share. Looks like I will have to enter the share manually tomorrow. Or do you think that using "system-config-samba" would be okay?

Thanks again for the assitance. I will check the thread when I get home and be able to test more in the morning.

try ignoring the nautilus implementation and just do a straight up smb.conf share.

Since I dont use a gui for the most part on my servers I dont use nautilus-share plugin. It could be the cause of your grief

Got it working after multiple attempts and all kinds of squirrelyness.

Removing the share via nautilus also removed the automount of the drive!?!?! WTF Added it back via startup application guide I found using UUID after perusing the Linux options and not seeing somewhere to set that in the "control panel" (a term I use in jest since I have not found a control center in linux Mint yet, apart from terminal). It changed the mount location so I had fix that, but it does mount before samba starts so I dont have to set a script to restart samba after logging in. Thank Goodness for Small Favors.

Only issue (other than requiring login) is that the XP box does not have an option to remember the credentials. That should not take too long to fix.

I will end up getting phone calls later I am sure but for now the login works.

I have two PCs mapped to the same username on samba. Is their a limit to how many can do this? I tried creating a second user (when I thought the information was correct that the samba user had to be the same as windows user name) but that did not work. No browsing through network panel always has to be the Z drive.


Going to read up on NFS versions next.

Thanks for all the help and pushing me to use the login information. Wasn't what I wanted but it is what works.

NFS is much simpler. Though a tad complex starting it out being forced to use a Windows machine. Once you get it up and going. It's all about making sure the shares exist and and the drive is ready to do its job. i.e. - power and network.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324089
http://superuser.com/questions/525473/how-do-i-mount-an-nfs-share-in-windows-8

For the Linux inclined:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpNFSHowTo

My NFS shares are all flat files now. If there is an issue. I ask for a reboot. If it persists. I check the flat files to make sure noboby took control and modified them. Otherwise, it's all about making sure there is power and network. It's actually reliable to a tee.

This is my Linux side:
I do the hosts.allow/deny then fstab, then do exports.

If Microsft can see it. Linux can share it. If there is an issue with an alien machine. I use the router for Samba. Not the target/client

The problem with NFS in a Windows environment is that you then have to map it everywhere which may not really be practical in some cases. Its also a little foreign to the Windows admins/users. Samba provides a sane recovery if/when the share goes down while NFS (autofs excluded) can cause stale mounts.

Myself, I favour samba for client/server and leave NFS for server-server connections.

Thanks guys.

I have to set up an NFS server so that I can have our HPUNIX 10.20 boxes communicate directly with the server instead of leapfrogging through an XP machine with Windows SFU installed.

At my boss's house I have a dual boot 7/Mint desktop both accessing an NFS share on an HPUX machine. These boxes are almost 20 years old and I would like to take as much work off of them as possible.

However I have to setup a NFS v2.0 server/share as I can't update the unix boxes to NFS 3 at this time.

(Still need to figure out how to get Vue instead of CDE running and updated on a much more powerful Visualize workstation. )



Back to this topic.

I need to monitor the share I setup in this thread for changes and possibly undo them as we are having a lot of trouble with missing files. Currently I have 2(3) PCs accessing the share with the same username/password as the local account. I believe I did NOT use LVM when I installed Mint because there were no demonstrable pros at the time of install. (I did not think to look up shadow copy support before).

The highest rated google hits so far are from the aughts I have tried clicking through some of the newer links but am I little confused with what I need maybe?

What I would like to do is be able to undo file renamings and more importantly file deletions that were performed by a remote user. Something with a GUI would be nice that I can preview files before undoing any changes would be extremely helpful.

changes made locally (IE By Me) are infalliable plus if I delete something it goes in a trash can


The shared folder is on a secondary HDD in the Linux box. If I convert it to an LVM I assume my share links will be broken, so would like to avoid LVM if possible.

Darnit,
I know exactly what you're talking about Neuromancer, I search and search for guides, follow them, and my windows 8.1 machines can see the LM 17.1 folders, but can't access them. I was really hoping by the end of this thread someone had sensible help, as I've got nothing to add. Nope.

Networking has never been my strongsuit. It doesn't help that they keep changing how it works, when it really should be simple, but I guess that would put IT guys out of work. My trouble is when I read about it, its like the adults in peanuts talking, "wah, wa, wah waaaa". If you do find a decent, up to date guide, please do share, and I'll keep looking and do the same.

I dont know if Mint has it or not but you can install system-config-samba. I haven't used it in Mint, but I have used it in the following:

Antergos
Ubuntu Gnome 14.04
Linux Deepin (based on Ubuntu 14.04)
Debian

All work just fine with Windows 7 clients. (Sorry I have no access to windows 8 clients)