Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of poko2121
poko2121

asked on

os x leopard samba networking

Hi guys I'm running Mac OS X leopard on my laptop and trying to network with pc's in the house.  The problem is that when I enable sharing on a folder on the mac it won't show up in the "network places" of windows xp on the pc.  The only way it will show up is if the folder I am sharing is not in my home folder.

So if I place a file in the root folder and share it then it will show up in windows network shares, but otherwise if it's in my home folder it won't show up.

Any ideas?
Please help

Thank you
Avatar of Eoin OSullivan
Eoin OSullivan
Flag of Ireland image

I think you are experiencing one of the side-effects of the new "Guest" sharing features of OSX Leopard.  From a Windows PC you can browse shared volumes on OSX that are available to GUEST users. Guest users can access shared folders .. but not users home folders by default.

Check on the Accounts section in the System Preferences and see if the Guest Account is enabled or disabled. Personally I disable it to avoid any confusion.

In the Sharing pane in System Preferences. Click on a User Home Folder or any folder inside the User Home Folder and you'll see the access permissions.  Under the Options button in the sharing pane you can ensure that SMB is enabled and which user account has permissions.

From a windows PC you want to access the OSX User Home Folder .. i.e.

\\MAC.IP.ADDRESS-or-MacName\username
You should be prompted to enter your mac username and password .. and then you'll have access.

Avatar of poko2121
poko2121

ASKER

I do have my guest account disabled...it is only being used for sharing purposes.  So are you saying that there is no way for a pc to access a folder in the mac home folder as a guest?  I have SMB enabled on the admin account.  I dont want people logging in with a username and having access to a bunch of stuff.

Let me know if there is a way for pc under guest to browse a shared folder in User Home Folder

Thank you
With the current configuration ... it seems that sharing of folders INSIDE a Users Home Folder DO NOT work for guest users.

I guess that the permissions and ownership override the Guest sharing permissions.

There are reported issues with Windows Sharing in Leopard not working 100% and your issue is one of several related problems.
http://hornware.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?p=1919&sid=c1935222f6c39b5f2da71d413ed24958

Previously I'd have recommended you use Sharepoints by Hornware but there is not yet a Leopard version
http://www.hornware.com/faq/index.php?qid=23&frommostrecent=yes

It is also possible that the soon to arrive 10.5.2 update will address these issues.

In the meantime .. you could try editing the SAMBA configuration files .. if you are brave enough.
/private/etc/smb.conf
/var/run/smb.conf


ya I used to use sharepoints on tiger, was hoping it would be integrated better in leopard, but I guess not.  

When I browse the mac from windows, it automatically enters the computer as guest and so the shared folders won't even show up, is there any way to make it ask for a password so that I can login from gui, rather than having to go through "run" and enter \\ip-address\username

thanks
poko2121 - You are now entering the strange world of SMB and Windows interaction .. To answer your question .. I am not sure if the issue lies in Windows or on the Mac ..

You want to be able to browse the network as a specific user and be able to see what shares are visible to that user.  In a peer-to-peer network .. I am not sure whether there is some setting in Windows or in Samba that you need to set in order to make this possible.

Anyone else have an idea??
sounds like they are on separate workgroups
i think mac's default is Workgroup and pc might be on mshome or something else... (usually if u click on view entire network it can be navigated to other workgroups but it is in efficient )

on the pc try setting the work group to the same as the mac or the other way around... i will check back later but i am at work and dont have my mac to check how to change them... i think on the PC go into control panels and then check the system and then network identification  tab or something like that
I have all computers in the house on WORKGROUP and still can't figure out why it won't even ask me for a password when i browse to network shares on the pc
Well, I have said this many times, but Network Neighborhood and the Netbios API is not the best way to access shares on a remote computer, regardless of the type of OS on the remote system...  

Have you tried to access the MAC share from the Run Line?  

i.e:  \\ipaddress of MAC\sharename or username from MAC
Ya, I can access shares from run line

from gui it always browses using guest though and using guest I have no access to any shares that are in user home folder, regardless of the access rights on the folder being shared.

So is it just a samba problem?  A mac problem?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Eoin OSullivan
Eoin OSullivan
Flag of Ireland image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
thanks for the help guys