On my home network, I'm trying to set up a PC running Redhat 8.0 to
share files with PCs running Windows 2000. I've installed Samba 2.2.7
on the Redhat PC, and on the Windows 2000 PCs they can see the Redhat
PC under Windows Network Places. However, when I double-click on the
Redhat PC icon to look at the specific shares I set up, I get a
message saying "\\redhathost not accessible. The network path was not
found."

Specifics about the network setup :
* Netgear gateway router, static IP address, running as a dhcp server,
connected to a cable modem
* PC running Redhat 8.0, getting IP address through dhcp, connected to
the Netgear gateway router
* other PCs running Windows 2000 SP3, getting IP address through dhcp,
connected to the Netgear gateway router
* the Netgear's dhcp table correctly shows all the Windows 2000 PCs
and the Redhat PC, including IP address, host name, and mac address
for each
* all PCs get IP addresses OK and can ping each other using their IP
addresses
* all PCs can ping the gateway router's IP address OK
* Windows 2000 PCs can ping each other using host names OK (e.g.,
"ping win2kpc1" from win2kpc2 works OK or vice versa)
* Windows 2000 PCs cannot ping Redhat PC using its host name (e.g.,
"ping redhatpc" from win2kpc1 leads to a "unknown host" message)
* Redhat PC cannot ping Windows 2000 PC using its host hame (e.g.,
"ping win2kpc1" from redhatpc leads to a "ping: unknown host win2kpc1"
message)
* I'm a Samba rookie, but I followed the docs to set everything up
correctly there...
  -- set encrypted passwords to yes (to match Windows 2000 PCs)
  -- set workgroup name with same workgroup name as on Windows 2000
PCs
  -- set netbios name to Redhat PC hostname
  -- set os level to 64, preferred master/local master/domain master
to yes
  -- set up shares on Redhat PC, with permissions set to 777
  -- set up accounts for each Windows 2000 PC on the Redhat PC
  -- set up accounts for each Windows PC user on the Redhat PC
Don't know if I missed anything important, but I hope you get the
idea.

Any suggestions on what else I can do to get this working?

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Request for Question Clarification by webadept-ga on 18 Jan 2003 21:27 PST

Do you have a web host you can post your smb.conf file on? so we can
take a look at it for you. It doesn't have to be much to through these
off. A missed space will do it. If you don't, I guess you could post
it in here, but that's quite a lot in these pages. I would really like
to see the conf file before starting to go through a list of things
until we get it right. Making sure that something is not wrong in
there would have to be the first step.

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Request for Question Clarification by webadept-ga on 18 Jan 2003 21:29 PST

Also, with the pinging you have going on there. Can you ping the IP
addresses.. in other words can the linux box ping the IP address of
the Windows box?

What IP addreses are you using, and what subnet mask?

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Clarification of Question by p16-ga on 18 Jan 2003 21:45 PST

on pinging other IP addresses...
Yes the Redhat PC can ping the Windows PCs if it uses an IP address,
rather than its host name. In other words, ping 192.168.0.x works from
the Redhat PC, but ping -a win2kpc1 doesn't work.

IP addresses: static 192.168.0.1, dynamic start at 192.168.0.101
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

---

Clarification of Question by p16-ga on 18 Jan 2003 21:53 PST

smb.conf file contents:
# Samba config file created using SWAT
# from redhatpc (127.0.0.1)
# Date: 2003/01/16 23:53:13

# Global parameters
[global]
	netbios name = redhatpc
	server string = %h (Samba version %v)
	encrypt passwords = Yes
	update encrypted = Yes
	log level = 2
	log file = /var/log/samba-%m.log
	max log size = 50
	add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd -d /dev/null -g machines -s /bin/false -M %u
	domain logons = Yes
	os level = 64
	preferred master = Yes
	domain master = Yes
	hosts allow = 127.0.0.1 192.168.0. 192.168.1.

[homes]
	comment = Home Directories
	read only = No
	browseable = No

[apps]
	comment = application files
	path = /data/apps
	read only = No
	guest ok = Yes

[music]
	comment = music files
	path = /data/music
	read only = No
	guest ok = Yes

[netlogon]
	path = /etc/samba/logon
	browseable = No

Here's what we have gone through thus far. 

http://www.lucidmatrix.com/uploads/answer_samba.html

webadept-ga

Well, after dinking around for more time than I care to admit, I
finally got this working. I'm posting this in case it saves someone
else the hassle I went through to get Samba to work with a PC running
RedHat 8.0 (default configuration) and others running Windows 2000.

Redhat 8.0 by default has iptables running as the firewall. It was up
& running when I was installing and configuring Samba, and trying
unsuccessfully to connect to the Samba shares on the RedHat Linux PC
from Windows 2000 PCs. Then, I stopped the iptables service and Samba
works from the Windows 2000 PCs -- I can finally access shares on the
RedHat PC. Great. Now the weird part -- I restarted the iptables
service on the RedHat Linux PC, and the Windows 2000 clients *still*
can access the Samba shares on the RedHat Linux PC. Why iptables
prevented Samba from working at first, then doesn't affect Samba
working, mystifies me. From my very limited understanding of security,
I'm guessing that iptables prevented the initial Windows 2000/Linux
authentication from happening. After that happened, Samba is working
great.