Samba stopped working

Question

I have a downstairs PC running Windows for the family, my Mum's laptop running Windows, and the PC in my bedroom running Arch. The Windows computers can access each other on the network, but they get an error about permissions when attempting to access the Arch computer - although at least it is visible. At the moment I'm not too concerned about this anyway because I probably just need to reconfigure the permissions on my Linux PC. What I am more concerned about is that I cannot access the Windows shares from Arch at all, even though I have made sure I am in the same workgroup. I see that the downstairs computer is visible in Konqueror Network Folders but when I click it I get the error: 'The file or folder smb://white-foxconn/ does not exist' (the downstairs PC). This is confusing because I can only assume that my Windows shares have the correct permissions since the laptop and downstairs Windows computers can access each others shared folders. Furthermore, it was working fine without me needing to mess with the smb.conf file because KDE generated one for me, but now it isn't working anymore. I am wondering if it is something to do with my router or dhcp. I have my dns configured ok in /etc/resolv.conf though.
I have set the hostname of the upstairs Linux PC to Asus in /etc/rc.conf and in /etc/hosts:
#<ip-address> <hostname.domain.org> <hostname>
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain Asus
192.168.1.101 Asus
# End of file
Here is the KDE generated smb.conf file that used to work:
[global]
# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name, eg: MIDEARTH
workgroup = Workgroup
netbios name = Upstairs PC
# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = Samba Server
# Security mode. Defines in which mode Samba will operate. Possible
# values are share, user, server, domain and ads. Most people will want
# user level security. See the Samba-HOWTO-Collection for details.
security = user
# This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict
# connections to machines which are on your local network. The
# following example restricts access to two C class networks and
# the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see
# the smb.conf man page
; hosts allow = 192.168.1. 192.168.2. 127.
# If you want to automatically load your printer list rather
# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
load printers = yes
# you may wish to override the location of the printcap file
; printcap name = /etc/printcap
# on SystemV system setting printcap name to lpstat should allow
# you to automatically obtain a printer list from the SystemV spool
# system
; printcap name = lpstat
# It should not be necessary to specify the print system type unless
# it is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
# bsd, cups, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
; printing = cups
# Uncomment this if you want a guest account, you must add this to /etc/passwd
# otherwise the user "nobody" is used
; guest account = pcguest
# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
# that connects
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
max log size = 50
# Use password server option only with security = server
# The argument list may include:
# password server = My_PDC_Name [My_BDC_Name] [My_Next_BDC_Name]
# or to auto-locate the domain controller/s
# password server = *
; password server = <NT-Server-Name>
# Use the realm option only with security = ads
# Specifies the Active Directory realm the host is part of
; realm = MY_REALM
# Backend to store user information in. New installations should
# use either tdbsam or ldapsam. smbpasswd is available for backwards
# compatibility. tdbsam requires no further configuration.
; passdb backend = tdbsam
# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
# of the machine that is connecting.
# Note: Consider carefully the location in the configuration file of
# this line. The included file is read at that point.
; include = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m
# Configure Samba to use multiple interfaces
# If you have multiple network interfaces then you must list them
# here. See the man page for details.
; interfaces = 192.168.12.2/24 192.168.13.2/24
# Browser Control Options:
# set local master to no if you don't want Samba to become a master
# browser on your network. Otherwise the normal election rules apply
; local master = no
# OS Level determines the precedence of this server in master browser
# elections. The default value should be reasonable
; os level = 33
# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. This
# allows Samba to collate browse lists between subnets. Don't use this
# if you already have a Windows NT domain controller doing this job
; domain master = yes
# Preferred Master causes Samba to force a local browser election on startup
# and gives it a slightly higher chance of winning the election
; preferred master = yes
# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
# Windows95 workstations.
; domain logons = yes
# if you enable domain logons then you may want a per-machine or
# per user logon script
# run a specific logon batch file per workstation (machine)
; logon script = %m.bat
# run a specific logon batch file per username
; logon script = %U.bat
# Where to store roving profiles (only for Win95 and WinNT)
# %L substitutes for this servers netbios name, %U is username
# You must uncomment the [Profiles] share below
; logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U
# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable it's WINS Server
; wins support = yes
# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
; wins server = w.x.y.z
# WINS Proxy - Tells Samba to answer name resolution queries on
# behalf of a non WINS capable client, for this to work there must be
# at least one WINS Server on the network. The default is NO.
; wins proxy = yes
# DNS Proxy - tells Samba whether or not to try to resolve NetBIOS names
# via DNS nslookups. The default is NO.
dns proxy = no
# These scripts are used on a domain controller or stand-alone
# machine to add or delete corresponding unix accounts
; add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd %u
; add group script = /usr/sbin/groupadd %g
; add machine script = /usr/sbin/adduser -n -g machines -c Machine -d /dev/null -s /bin/false %u
; delete user script = /usr/sbin/userdel %u
; delete user from group script = /usr/sbin/deluser %u %g
; delete group script = /usr/sbin/groupdel %g
include = /etc/samba/usershare.conf
restrict anonymous = no
domain master = no
preferred master = no
max protocol = NT
acl compatibility = winnt
ldap ssl = No
server signing = Auto
map to guest = Bad User
guest ok = yes
#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
read only = no
case sensitive = no
strict locking = no
msdfs proxy = no
path = /home/joe
# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
; [netlogon]
; comment = Network Logon Service
; path = /usr/local/samba/lib/netlogon
; guest ok = yes
; writable = no
; share modes = no
# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
# the default is to use the user's home directory
;[Profiles]
; path = /usr/local/samba/profiles
; browseable = no
; guest ok = yes
# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
# specifically define each individual printer
[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
browseable = no
# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
guest ok = no
printable = yes
[Games and stuff]
path = /mnt/os
read only = no
case sensitive = no
strict locking = no
msdfs proxy = no
comment = TV, games, movies, holiday photos, Aaron's DJ Stuff, etc
Last edited by shadeheim (2007-09-25 21:31:15)

Answer 1

I had the same problem and solved it by moving /etc/samba/smb.conf.default to /etc/samba/smb.conf and re-adding my old config bit by bit. I couldn't track down exactly what was causing the issue but I was able to get samba to start again.