I have a Win98 box called WS001 connected to a RH Linux 8.0 box called Bootle. Bootle is running Samba with the following config file:

[global]
workgroup = COMPUTERLAB
netbios name = MICRON
server string = Micron Samba Server
encrypt passwords = Yes
log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
max log size = 0
socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
printing = cups

[public]
path = /mnt/data
read only = No
guest ok = Yes

[homes]
read only = No
guest ok = No

[printers]
path = /var/spool/samba
guest ok = Yes
printable = Yes

User "Toad" has an account on Bootle and WS001, both with the password "zombie." Toad also has a Samba account password of "zombie." When Toad logs on WS001 he sees the following shares in Network Neighborhood:

\\Micron\public
\\Micron\homes
\\Micron\Laserjet
\\Micron\nobody

Toad can access public and print to the printer. No matter what he does, Toad can not seem to access his share /home/Toad that is on Bootle. If Toad tries to access //Micron/homes, the system requests a password. No known passwords satisfy the system. So, two questions:

1) What does Toad have to do to access his share /home/Toad on Bootle without explicity defining this share in smb.conf?

2) Who is nobody and why does he have a share?

Thanks for the help.

OK, here is some more info. When Toad is on WS001 and has the public share open, smbstatus indicates that "nobody" is using the share. Evidently, Samba does not recognize Toad, even though he has an account on Bootle, WS001, and Samba -- all with the same user names and password.

Interesting situation.

Is seems as if Toad is accessing public with the guest account. This is due to the fact that

guest ok= yes

on the public share.


We can assume then that there is something missing from the password logic.

Please post the commands used to create the Linux user account and the Samba user account.

BTW, a quick test would be to have

guest ok = yes

on the home share and see if Toad has access. You would want to change it back after the test for security reasons.

I set up the users with the Red Hat 8.0 graphical utility (sorry,I am a Windows convert) and the Samba user name and password were set with the command smbpasswd -a Toad, at which point I entered the password. I have some other information that might help. When logged in as root, I can enter the command smbclient '\\Bootle\homes', at which point I am prompted for root's password. After entering the password I have access to /root, which is what I expect. When logged in as Toad, if I enter smbclient '\\Bootle\homes', I am prompted for Toad's password at which point I get the error NT_STATUS_WRONG_PASSWORD. In other words, Toad can't even access his home directory /home/Toad through Samba from Bootle. No wonder why things will not work from WS001. I assure you that the Linux and Samba user name and password for Toad are identical. Any ideas?

I think I am making progress. WS001 and Bootle are connected with a crossover cable. I swapped WS001 (Win98) with WS002 (XP Home) and everything worked perfectly! Toad can automatically see his home share with no further fussing. So, Bootle must be set up properly. Switching back to WS001, Toad has to click on the homes share at which point he is asked to enter a password. No passwords on the system satisfy the request. This is starting to sound like a problem that would be discussed in the Network forum, but I can't seem to track it down. Can someone throw me a bone here and help me find where this problem and it solution are discussed? Thanks.

Got it! Apparently Win98 converts all user names to uppercase when communicating with Samba. If I add

username level = 10

in smb.conf, Samba will try all different combinations of upper and lower case letters for 10 characters in a user name when it tries to match the Win98 user name with the Samba user name. Thus, with this setting in Samba, Toad is the same as TOAD, which is what Win98 is sending.