CIFS sharing stopped working

[Bernard Mentink]

Will nobody help!! I am just about ready to ditch FreeNAS and put something on my server that works ...

 

[rogerh]

Would if I could, but I am always so surprised when Samba *does* work as expected that I try not to think about it too much. My only observation is that I have found that unless you have a proper domain controller Windows boxes are apt to forget even where other Windows boxes on the same subnet are. And that's been true for about twenty years. I wish you better luck with another implementation.

 

[Bernard Mentink]

So the widows box does not even see the WORKGROUP, only it's own "domain" of ECHO_PC, is the issue on the windows pc or Freenas?
Should I try and kill the network setup on the windows PC and start again?

I don't have a domain controller as such .. doesn't SAMBA on Freenas meant to setup a "domain"
I have no idea the difference between domains and workgroups ..

 

[rogerh]

So the widows box does not even see the WORKGROUP, only it's own "domain" of ECHO_PC, is the issue on the windows pc or Freenas?
Should I try and kill the network setup on the windows PC and start again?

I don't have a domain controller as such

No, in the sense that if you haven't got a Windows domain (nothing to do with a DNS domain!) then you really need all machines to have the same workgroup to have any chance of things working; but it doesn't guarantee it.

My best suggestion would be to back up (possibly in a different dataset on the same machine) all your CIFS shares and then destroy the original folders or datasets. Then remake them exactly according to the instructions in the manual and never share them via another protocol. If you can remake the directory structure below the shares and just transfer the original files with suitable new inherited permissions all the better, if this is not too much work.

This may not be sufficient though as it may be necessary to destroy some stored data about your network on all the machines involved and it may be necessary to tweak some permissions from a Windows box. But more detailed instructions are beyond my Windows pay grade I fear.


Edit: AFAIK if you haven't got a domain controller then you haven't got a Windows domain. You can make FreeNAS run a Windows domain controller but there is a significant administrative burden and in a household there may be some resistance to the domain admin role!

 

[Bernard Mentink]

Well the workgroup is the confusing issue. My CIFS share is set to WORKGROUP, my windows box is set to WORKGROUP, the default.
But when I try to map a network drive, all it sees is ECHO_PC which it calls a "Domain", it does not see WORKGROUP. (Echo_PC is the windows machine name)

I have no idea what I need to do to destroy the saved info about the network on the windoze box ..

 

[rogerh]

Well the workgroup is the confusing issue. My CIFS share is set to WORKGROUP, my windows box is set to WORKGROUP, the default.
But when I try to map a network drive, all it sees is ECHO_PC which it calls a "Domain", it does not see WORKGROUP. (Echo_PC is the windows machine name)

I have no idea what I need to do to destroy the saved info about the network on the windoze box ..

This is honestly too difficult for me, and I wish a CIFS expert would help, but is it possible that your Windows box is set up as a domain controller? You don't want this to happen unless it is on all the time and, possibly, put in charge of authentication on the network??

 

[Bernard Mentink]

This is honestly too difficult for me, and I wish a CIFS expert would help, but is it possible that your Windows box is set up as a domain controller? You don't want this to happen unless it is on all the time and, possibly, put in charge of authentication on the network??

So How do I stop the windows box being a domain controller, I don't remember ever setting that up ..

 

[rogerh]

So How do I stop the windows box being a domain controller, I don't remember ever setting that up ..

Well we don't know that it is the Windows box, we just know the domain is named after it! And I don't know for a fact the Windows only refers to a 'domain' in these circumstances. Are you sure the FreeNAS box isn't set up as a domain controller in the GUI? There is a whole menu item for this across the top of the GUI called 'Directory' and a 'Domain controller' item in the 'Services' dialogue. Are there any other suspect machines on your network? If not, I suggest look up domain controller and your version of Windows with Google.

 

[Bernard Mentink]

Well we don't know that it is the Windows box, we just know the domain is named after it! And I don't know for a fact the Windows only refers to a 'domain' in these circumstances. Are you sure the FreeNAS box isn't set up as a domain controller in the GUI? There is a whole menu item for this across the top of the GUI called 'Directory' and a 'Domain controller' item in the 'Services' dialogue. Are there any other suspect machines on your network? If not, I suggest look up domain controller and your version of Windows with Google.

If you mean the menu item "Directory Service", then no, there is nothing setup as a domain controller under there ..

By the way the windows machine name is set as "Echo-PC", but the "domain" it thinks it is under is "ECHO_PC"
I have no idea where that is setup ...

 

[rogerh]

Ever since DOS days, Microsoft has arbitrarily changed cases. For instance, workgroups always used to be all upper case however you entered them. Nowadays, Windows seems to make ad hoc cosmetic decisions about case which can be a little confusing. What version of Windows are you using? Not that I think I can really help any more than I have. I don't really know much about the subject!

 

[Bernard Mentink]

Thanks for all you help.

The windoze version in Win 7 ultimate

By The way, I tried using the wizard to create a new CIFS share but I get stuck on the page asking for a domain name DNS and Domain Account name and Domain Account passord. The latter two are auto populated to "root" and my root password ... the domain name is blank though ..

 

[rogerh]

Thanks for all you help.

The windoze version in Win 7 ultimate

By The way, I tried using the wizard to create a new CIFS share but I get stuck on the page asking for a domain name DNS and Domain Account name and Domain Account passord. The latter two are auto populated to "root" and my root password ... the domain name is blank though ..

I have just tried the Wizard and on my setup it seems to work if you leave the 'Active Directory' dropdown untouched, fill in nothing, and just press 'next' There is NO autopopulation. I am not sure what this means, if anything, but I would look for more directory entries in your GUI. I also suspect that by Windows seven you need a server version to work as a domain server. BICBW. Have to go to bed now anyway - good luck.

 

[Bernard Mentink]

Ok, I created a new share, but like the other one. I can see and use them in Linux, just can't see them on the wondoze box. I am convinced the issue is the windoze machine .... need to talk to someone with windoze experience to help resolve the issue ..

 

[Bernard Mentink]

I notice that my Linux machines see the share under

smb://freenas/echo_share

instead of

smb://WORKGROUP/freenas/echo_share

could this be the issue windows is not seeing it?

 

[anodos]

I notice that my Linux machines see the share under instead of
could this be the issue windows is not seeing it?

"smb://workgroup/freenas/echo_share" is wrong.

 

[rogerh]

AFAIK

\\freenas\echo_share\

would be the correct syntax for Windows.

 

[anodos]

AFAIK


would be the correct syntax for Windows.

Lol. I had just woken up when I wrote that. @rogerh 's post is much more helpful and actually provides the correct syntax for windows. :D

 

[rogerh]

For extra points I should have tried to explain what actually was the use of workgroups!

 

[Bernard Mentink]

AFAIK


would be the correct syntax for Windows.

Many Thanks ... that did the trick. :)

I do wonder why though, that the windoze discovery did not pick up the share anymore .... when I initially linked a drive to the share,
I could browse the network for it, that no longer works, I had to manually enter your syntax above .... windoze bah!!

Thanks again for the help everyone.

 

[rogerh]

Glad to hear you got it working in the end - I think quite a few people have had problems with network discovery in SAMBA peer networks, including me.