[PLUG] Resolved: Samba configuration on Ubuntu 8.04 for Win98

[Richard C. Steffens]

A very helpful resource for creating smb.conf is to be found at:

http://us1.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-Guide/

The first example showed me what I was missing in my smb.conf:

guest ok = Yes.

Other confusion came about from the proliferation of standards. Somebody 
once said, "The great thing about standards is that there are so many to 
choose from." As with Windows, in Nautilus there is a way to mark 
directories so that they may be "shared" by other computers. When that 
is done, they will appear in the tree in Windows Explorer. I had marked 
a few directories that way before my attempts to reconfigure Samba. 
Those entries could be clicked on, but always asked for a password. On 
XP, I could specify the user name, and it accepted my password. On 
Win98, I could not change the user name from IPC$, and not knowing 
IPC$'s password, those attempts to connect always failed. Using

gksu nautilus

I have un-marked the "shared" directories, and they no longer appear in 
Windows Explorer. I had never marked my home directory that way, thus it 
was available from those Windows machines on which the user name is also 
rsteff. Now, it's also available from my wife's machine. I realize that 
it would also be available to the entire Internet if it weren't for my 
router, or to any machine I allow to plug in to my home network. That's 
an acceptable level of security, here.

My needs are simple: I want to be able to get to any files in my Linux 
home directory from any other machine in the house. I don't need to 
share any printers, since my printer is a stand-alone network device. 
The following is my very simple smb.conf:

rsteff at moonguide:~$ cat /etc/samba/smb.conf
#
# Configuration file for the Samba suite based on the Samba-Guide, Samba 
by example
# found at:
# http://us1.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-Guide/
#

#======================= Global Settings =======================

[global]
  workgroup = House
  security = SHARE
[rsteff]
  path = /home/rsteff
  read only = No
  guest ok = Yes
rsteff at moonguide:~$

Thanks to all who offered ideas. Eventually, they got me to search for a 
HOWTO style of setting up smb.conf.

-- 
Regards,

Dick Steffens