samba configuration between linux and win98

Check the following on the win98 machine:

1. workgroup set to same name as other machines

2. client for microsoft networks installed and bound to TCP/IP

3. do a find computer (start, find, computer) on \\sambaname (use the name of your samba server in place of sambaname)

hi on the win98 machine i can see all the other machines on the network including the linux box, however it will not let me access the linux box because it is asking for a password like it does on win2000 so i can just click ok without entering a password on win2000 and it can map and see the linux, but when i click ok on win98 it does not accept the password.  (on win98 the box is visable just cant access it to see the files)

When you start windows you should be presented with a username/password box. For Samba to work properly you need to enter a username and matching password that are vaild on the Linux machine. The password box presented when you attempt to access a share is what is sometimes refered to as the IPC password and no password you enter will work.

I am not familiar with w2000 so I don't know how it is working on those machines. It most likely has to do with the various flavors of password encription. Here is full documentation on Samba passords:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba/chapter/book/ch06_04.html

Could you please post your smb.conf file? On RH7 I think it is in /etc/samba/

Remove NetBEUI from protocols on win98 box.

It sounds like the Window98 machine is not sending the password in clear text which is what Samba needs rather than the encrypted MS password Win9x usually sends.

Try the following text pasted into a file called:
pxtx_on.inf

; Decrypt.INF
; Copyright (c) 1993-1995, Microsoft Corporation

[version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"

[DefaultInstall]
AddReg=Enable.Plaintext

[Enable.Plaintext]
HKLM,System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\VNETSUP,EnablePlainTextPassword,1,01,00,00,00


right click and choose install to activate PlainText Passwords - I think you will need a restart for it to work.

The following pasted into a file called ptxt_off.inf will undo this:

; Encrypt.INF
; Copyright (c) 1993-1995, Microsoft Corporation

[version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"

[DefaultInstall]
AddReg=Disable.Plaintext

[Disable.Plaintext]
HKLM,System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\VNETSUP,EnablePlainTextPassword,1,00,00,00,00

Regards,

Bart.

I have had a look for the two files u suggested (ptxt_off.inf pxtx_on.inf) on the win98 machine but cannot find them anywhere!!!!!!! or anything like them?. I also did an MSDOS search for them but no luck.

What vanderwee is suggesting is a pair of registry patches. The first will change the win98 machine to use plaintext passwords and the second will change back to encrypted passwords.

Samba can operate with either plaintext of encrypted passwords. This is why I would like you to post your smb.conf file.

You are entering a username/password when win98 starts correct? The username/password is valid on the linux box correct?

Sorry i didnt put this up sooner, but here is my smb.conf file on my linux box.

# This is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the
# smb.conf(5) manual page in order to understand the options listed
# here. Samba has a huge number of configurable options (perhaps too
# many!) most of which are not shown in this example
#
# Any line which starts with a ; (semi-colon) or a # (hash)
# is a comment and is ignored. In this example we will use a #
# for commentry and a ; for parts of the config file that you
# may wish to enable
#
# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command "testparm"
# to check that you have not many any basic syntactic errors.
#
#======================= Global Settings =====================================
[global]

# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
   workgroup = workgroup

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
   server string = delllinux

# This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict
# connections to machines which are on your local network. The
# following example restricts access to two C class networks and
# the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see
# the smb.conf man page
   hosts allow = 194.194.194. 194.194.194. 127.

# if you want to automatically load your printer list rather
# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
;   printcap name = /etc/printcap
;   load printers = yes

# It should not be necessary to spell out the print system type unless
# yours is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
# bsd, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
;   printing = lprng

# Uncomment this if you want a guest account, you must add this to /etc/passwd
# otherwise the user "nobody" is used
;guest account = pcguest
null passwords = yes
username map=/etc/samba/names

# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
# that connects
;   log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
   log file = /var/log/samba/smb.log

# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
   max log size = 0

# Security mode. Most people will want user level security. See
# security_level.txt for details.
   security = user
# Use password server option only with security = server or
# security = domain
;   password server = <NT-Server-Name>

# Password Level allows matching of _n_ characters of the password for
# all combinations of upper and lower case.
;  password level = 8
;  username level = 8

# You may wish to use password encryption. Please read
# ENCRYPTION.txt, Win95.txt and WinNT.txt in the Samba documentation.
# Do not enable this option unless you have read those documents
  encrypt passwords = yes
;  smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd

# The following are needed to allow password changing from Windows to
# update the Linux sytsem password also.
# NOTE: Use these with 'encrypt passwords' and 'smb passwd file' above.
# NOTE2: You do NOT need these to allow workstations to change only
#        the encrypted SMB passwords. They allow the Unix password
#        to be kept in sync with the SMB password.
;  unix password sync = Yes
;  passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
;  passwd chat = *New*UNIX*password* %n\n *ReType*new*UNIX*password* %n\n *passwd:*all*authentication*tokens*updated*successfully*

# Unix users can map to different SMB User names
;  username map = /etc/samba/smbusers

# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
# of the machine that is connecting
;   include = /etc/samba/smb.conf.%m

# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
# See speed.txt and the manual pages for details
   socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192

# Configure Samba to use multiple interfaces
# If you have multiple network interfaces then you must list them
# here. See the man page for details.
;   interfaces = 192.168.12.2/24 192.168.13.2/24

# Configure remote browse list synchronisation here
#  request announcement to, or browse list sync from:
#      a specific host or from / to a whole subnet (see below)
;   remote browse sync = 192.168.3.25 192.168.5.255
# Cause this host to announce itself to local subnets here
;   remote announce = 192.168.1.255 192.168.2.44

# Browser Control Options:
# set local master to no if you don't want Samba to become a master
# browser on your network. Otherwise the normal election rules apply
   local master = no

# OS Level determines the precedence of this server in master browser
# elections. The default value should be reasonable
   os level = 33

# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. This
# allows Samba to collate browse lists between subnets. Don't use this
# if you already have a Windows NT domain controller doing this job
   domain master = yes

# Preferred Master causes Samba to force a local browser election on startup
# and gives it a slightly higher chance of winning the election
   preferred master = yes

# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
# Windows95 workstations.
;   domain logons = yes

# if you enable domain logons then you may want a per-machine or
# per user logon script
# run a specific logon batch file per workstation (machine)
;   logon script = %m.bat
# run a specific logon batch file per username
;   logon script = %U.bat

# All NetBIOS names must be resolved to IP Addresses
# 'Name Resolve Order' allows the named resolution mechanism to be specified
# the default order is "host lmhosts wins bcast". "host" means use the unix
# system gethostbyname() function call that will use either /etc/hosts OR
# DNS or NIS depending on the settings of /etc/host.config, /etc/nsswitch.conf
# and the /etc/resolv.conf file. "host" therefore is system configuration
# dependant. This parameter is most often of use to prevent DNS lookups
# in order to resolve NetBIOS names to IP Addresses. Use with care!
# The example below excludes use of name resolution for machines that are NOT
# on the local network segment
# - OR - are not deliberately to be known via lmhosts or via WINS.
; name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast

# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable it's WINS Server
;   wins support = yes

# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
#      Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
;   wins server = w.x.y.z

# WINS Proxy - Tells Samba to answer name resolution queries on
# behalf of a non WINS capable client, for this to work there must be
# at least one      WINS Server on the network. The default is NO.
;   wins proxy = yes

# DNS Proxy - tells Samba whether or not to try to resolve NetBIOS names
# via DNS nslookups. The built-in default for versions 1.9.17 is yes,
# this has been changed in version 1.9.18 to no.
   dns proxy = no

# Case Preservation can be handy - system default is _no_
# NOTE: These can be set on a per share basis
;  preserve case = no
;  short preserve case = no
# Default case is normally upper case for all DOS files
;  default case = lower
# Be very careful with case sensitivity - it can break things!
;  case sensitive = no

#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
[homes]
   comment = Home Directories
   browseable = no
   writable = yes

# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
; [netlogon]
;   comment = Windows Logon
;   path = /home/netlogon
;   guest ok = yes
;   writable = no
;   share modes = no


# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
# the default is to use the user's home directory
;[Profiles]
;    path = /home/profiles
;    browseable = no
;    guest ok = yes


# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
# specifically define each individual printer
;[printers]
;   comment = All Printers
;   path = /var/spool/samba
;   browseable = no
# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
;   guest ok = no
;   printable = yes

# This one is useful for people to share files
;[tmp]
;   comment = Temporary file space
;   path = /tmp
;   read only = no
;   public = yes

# A publicly accessible directory, but read only, except for people in
# the "staff" group
;[public]
;   comment = Public Stuff
;   path = /home/samba
;   public = yes
;   writable = yes
;   printable = no
;   write list = @staff

# Other examples.
#
# A private printer, usable only by fred. Spool data will be placed in fred's
# home directory. Note that fred must have write access to the spool directory,
# wherever it is.
;[fredsprn]
;   comment = Fred's Printer
;   valid users = fred
;   path = /homes/fred
;   printer = freds_printer
;   public = no
;   printable = yes

# A private directory, usable only by fred. Note that fred requires write
# access to the directory.
;[fredsdir]
;   comment = Fred's Service
;   path = /usr/somewhere/private
;   valid users = fred
;   public = no
;   writable = yes
;   printable = no

# a service which has a different directory for each machine that connects
# this allows you to tailor configurations to incoming machines. You could
# also use the %u option to tailor it by user name.
# The %m gets replaced with the machine name that is connecting.
;[pchome]
;  comment = PC Directories
;  path = /usr/pc/%m
;  public = no
;  writable = yes

# A publicly accessible directory, read/write to all users. Note that all files
# created in the directory by users will be owned by the default user, so
# any user with access can delete any other user's files. Obviously this
# directory must be writable by the default user. Another user could of course
# be specified, in which case all files would be owned by that user instead.
[public]
   path = /home/public
   browsable = yes
   public = yes
;   only guest = yes
   writable = yes
   printable = no

[Diale]
   path = /home/Diale
   public = yes
   browsable = yes
   writable = yes
   printable = no

[uniquiz]
   path = /home/catt
   public = yes
   writable = yes
   printable = no

# The following two entries demonstrate how to share a directory so that two
# users can place files there that will be owned by the specific users. In this
# setup, the directory should be writable by both users and should have the
# sticky bit set on it to prevent abuse. Obviously this could be extended to
# as many users as required.
;[myshare]
;   comment = Mary's and Fred's stuff
;   path = /usr/somewhere/shared
;   valid users = mary fred
;   public = no
;   writable = yes
;   printable = no
;   create mask = 0765

Nothing really stands out except

  hosts allow = 194.194.194. 194.194.194. 127.

which I am not sure is correct. You are currently using encrypted passwords so that should not be a problem.

Since that one is fairly long try this:

[global]
   workgroup = WORKGROUP
   server string = delllinux
   printcap name = /etc/printcap
   load printers = yes
   printing = bsd
   security = user
   encrypt passwords = yes

[printers]
   path = /var/spool/samba
   browseable = no
   guest ok = yes
   writable = no
   printable = yes

[homes]
   browseable = yes
   writable = yes
   available = no
   public = no
   only user = no

[Diale]
   path = /home/Diale
   public = yes
   browsable = yes
   writable = yes
   printable = no

[uniquiz]
   path = /home/catt
   public = yes
   writable = yes
   printable = no

Remember to do a samba stop then samba start to make the changes take effect. Running testparm after changing smb.conf is a good idea.

I may be being weird here but I still have not heard an affirmative answer to the username/password question. Have you logged into the win98 machine with the username/password that works on on of the win2k machines? The statement "because it is asking for a password like it does on win2000" makes me think you may not be logged on. With user level security you must enter a username/password when windows starts. If windows does not prompt for one change the Primary Network Logon in Network Neighborhood to Client for Microsoft Networking.

Let me know...

Hi i will try the 2 suggestions tonight and let you know tommorow how i get on thanks.

Hi Thanks for all the help i have finally got it going.  Wot i hadnt done which got it working straight away is to 1) uncomment the following lines
  smb passwd file = /etc/smbpasswd
and then

3) create smb password for the users by typing
  smbpasswd -a username


Thanks again everyone for all your help

Brgds

Adam