Windows XP machine can't see Linux box

[Hiawatha Bray]

My Linux machine automatically shows the shared folders on my Windows
computer. How can I get the Windows machine to display my Linux shares?
Thanks!

 

[Malke]

My Linux machine automatically shows the shared folders on my Windows
computer. How can I get the Windows machine to display my Linux
shares? Thanks!

man samba

You apparently have samba running on the Linux box, although I don't
think you've configured the Workgroup and shares section properly.

Malke

 

[Hiawatha Bray]

man samba isn't much help. Seems to be written in Greek

No matter; I figured it out anyway. Turns out you have to switch on the
Samba server feature. In my version of Linux, Suse 9.1, it's turned off by
default. I switched it on, set up a folder in my home directory for
sharing, and bingo. It shows up in Windows Network Places. I'm now good to
go.

Thanks much.

 

[Hiawatha Bray]

Oops...I spoke too soon. My Windows computer can see my Linux box now that
I've turned on the Samba server. But now, the Linux box can't see the
Windows machine. All I did was turn on the Samba server, but it seems to
have screwed up something else. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[David Efflandt]

My Linux machine automatically shows the shared folders on my Windows
computer. How can I get the Windows machine to display my Linux shares?

It would be better to ask in a Linux newsgroup how to get samba to share
with Windows XP. For example, to browse samba, you need a properly
configured guest account with no password (but preferably no shell login
allowed). But I have not used samba for a long time, so I do not know
current details.

 

[Malke]

It would be better to ask in a Linux newsgroup how to get samba to
share
with Windows XP. For example, to browse samba, you need a properly
configured guest account with no password (but preferably no shell
login
allowed). But I have not used samba for a long time, so I do not know
current details.

To Hiawatha - If you're going to use Linux, you have to learn how to use
man. You can also go to www.samba.org for more detailed help.
Basically, you have to configure your smb.conf file to make sure your
Windows network is in there correctly. Since you have SuSE, use YaST to
do this. You need to have both smbd and nmbd running. Again, use YaST
to configure this in the runlevels. You might also want to try running
a gui Samba configurator - SWAT. There is information about how to set
up SWAT on Samba.org.

You also need to add the Windows users and their passwords (identical)
on the Linux box *and* in Samba with smbpasswd -a. Make sure all shares
have appropriate permissions.

Malke

 

[Hiawatha Bray]

Guess you're right. What puzzles me is that I didn't have to do any of this
to get the Linux computer to see the Windows shared files. They were just
there. It's as if Linux' designers wanted to make it easy to work with
Windows, but the Microsofties had other ideas. Oh well...thanks.

 

[Malke]

Guess you're right. What puzzles me is that I didn't have to do any
of this
to get the Linux computer to see the Windows shared files. They were
just
there. It's as if Linux' designers wanted to make it easy to work
with
Windows, but the Microsofties had other ideas. Oh well...thanks.

Well, I don't think I agree with you. I don't think this is a case of
any particular developers not wanting to "make it easy". I think you
just have to put in the time to learn about how to set up the networks,
both Windows and Linux. Get your smb.conf right, get your Windows
networking right, and you should be good to go.

Good luck,

Malke