I've done a search of this problem of getting a home network Linux share set up and seen by a Windows 7 box but I can not find anything on windows 7 home. Could someone point me in a direction?

Go here -->http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/Networking

There are at least 3 tutorials on what to install, and how to configure samba.

On Mandy you need three packages. Samba client, Samba common, and samba server. I would also suggest you install Samba doc at the same time. If you have little experience, then Samba Swat is a graphical configuration tool that takes a lot of the pain out of editing the /etc/samba/smb.conf file. Instlal it. Once installed, you bring up swat from a web browser. Key in http://localhost:901 should connect you to swat. Log in as root so you can configure samba.

If you need help with the packages, post back.

Thanks much for your suggestion, however it seems I was not clear, I am sorry. I have a home network with 2 windows XP, 2 linux, 1 vista, and now two windows 7 boxes, my samba shares are seen by everyone excpet the windows 7 home.

If this is the case, then you have some sort of a problem on the win7 machine. This type of networking has not changed, because of win7. Do the basics first, make sure you can ping to and from the win7 system that is failing first.

Once you have IP connectivity, check the workgroup matches up with the rest of the systems. You might have to add the win7 system to the /etc/hosts file on the linux systems, and the rest of the win systems.

Beyond that, I don't have ( and never will have ) win7. I got to deal with 1 vista system, and that is bad enough.

thanks Cliff, I'll return to the basics and start over I can ping the box but no other machines can see it at this point so it has to be in there. BTW I am moving my other machines off vista, I am finding (other than this issue) win7 mow stable and the firewall actually works rather well for a change, vista however has been a crap so far. Again thanks for your input!

Cliff is correct in directing you to check, and perhaps change your Windows7 workgroup name. I will provide the steps to perform the check, and make the change below:

Note: Windows7 Home Premium does not support domain membership. Workgroup membership is supported.

Windows7 Starter edition supports neither domain nor workgroup membership. It is a very limited (crippled) edition, and should be avoided (note my attempt at political correctness).

To check, and perhaps change the workgroup name on a Windows7 Home Premium computer follow these steps:

1. Open the Windows Start Manu.

2. ALT+Click Computer in the navigation list (right) to open the System dialog.

The default screen (main pane) in the System dialog consists of four sections. The first is the Windows Edition section. Below it is the System section, followed by the Computer name, domain and workgroup settings section, with the Windows Activation section at the bottom.

Note: The default workgroup name for any Windows computer is WORKGROUP. If your LAN uses a workgroup name other than WORKGROUP, your Windows7 computers, by default, will not see any machine on the LAN until you join your Windows7 computers to that workgroup.

3. To change the Windows7 workgroup name (join a different workgroup), click the change settings link (right) in the Computer name, domain and workgroup settings section. (opens the System Properties dialog)

4. In the System Properties dialog, click the Change button. (opens the Computer Name/Domain Name Changes dialog)

Here you can edit your computer and workgroup names.

When finished, click the OK button to close the Computer Name/Domain Name Changes dialog, and save your changes. If you changed the workgroup name, Windows7 will welcome you to the new workgroup. Check that your spelling is correct, then click the OK button to close the welcome box.

Click OK again to close the System Properties dialog. If you changed the workgroup name, you will be asked to restart the computer. Confirm that you want to restart the system. After Windows7 restarts, you should see all the computers in your workgroup under Network when you open the Windows7 file manager (Windows Explorer).

HTH,

Ernie thanks for the suggestions but those also did not solve the issue I also walked through this document:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...ons-of-Windows

Which also did not help, note again that the rest of my home network is up and running with samba shares across window XP, windows vista, and mandriva, it is only the windows 7 that is blind on the network. I copied the hosts file onto the system32/etc and tried pinging across the network using each alias name in the host file this worked for all machine from the win7 box so it isn't a mater of not being on the correct network at all and I think there is something changed within the win 7 configuration.

Anyway I did solve my issue though not the problem, which I suppose I should have gone and tried before. I set up my win shares as FTP exports and from the win 7 start menu typed the \\ip addy and there they were.

Thanks everyone for your input, I am still learning.

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I am having the same problem as all of you. I'm using CentOS as my Samba server. I have a whole mix of machines on my network: Mac, Linux - OpenSuSE, Mandriva, etc. etc., Win 2000, Win XP and now Win 7 Starter and Win 7 Home Premium.

*** NOTE: I AM BEING VERY RESTRAINED WITH MY LANGUAGE ABOUT MICROSOFT HERE****

I have spent hours on this problem. Firstly, from my research and your posts, Win 7 Home/starter do NOT support domain membership. In short, if you move to these versions of the OS, you are DOWNGRADING your networking capabilities from Win95, Win98, 2000, XP or Vista!! For more money and hours of hassle, your OS has much less connectivity. Nice move, Microsoft. All of this after MS agreed to interoperability standards and gave the Samba team access to MS developers.

Now, let's consider the costs per licence of doing this. I think that Win 7 Pro domain membership may involve, at most, about four or five executables. This means that, per upgrade from Win 7 Home to Win 7 Pro, users are spending $80.00 retail for four executables times everyone who buys Pro. Hmmm, not a bad haul.

When I first used my Win 7 Starter machine, it connected fine to my Samba shares but I could not browse to them. I had to enter them manually and re-connect every time I logged on. My Win 7 Home Premium box has never even been able to connect. It keeps authenticating by making the user name MACHINE_NAME\USERNAME and the authentication fails. Foolishly, I tried upgrading Samba to the latest version. Now the Win 7 Starter box doesn't connect either. Arrgh!!

That's as far as I've been able to get with this mess. I've emailed the Samba team. All their testing appears to have been done with Win 7 Ultimate.

Windows 7 has an extra layer that is controlled by the network location type. When you select Home as the network location, it creates a secure workgroup called a HomeGroup. This is not compatible with any previous version of Windows. (Other anything else for that matter) This actually locks down the network so that only members of the HomeGroup can see or talk to each other.
My setup worked by selecting Work location type, ensured the Workgroup was correct. Enabled Network Discovery and File and Printer Sharing.