Need help setting up Windows Share - Also, lost my Home Network

[new2freenas]

Hello all,

So...I was trying to setup my first Windows Share (while following instructions in the FreeNAS user manual, to setup basic/quick access to as "guest/anonymous"), and while I was initially able to see the share (albeit, an empty one), when I did try to copy files (from my Windows machine) onto the NAS share, I kept getting an "access denied" error.

So, I fiddled with a couple of settings here and there (can't remember exactly what I did and/or in what sequence), but now I can neither see the NAS share (which I believe used to show up - on my Windows machine - as "WORKGROUP"), and neither am I able to access my home network i.e. none of my PCs can see the shared drives/folders of other machines on my home network.

Would greatly appreciate any and all help in having me resolve both of these issues i.e. getting my home network to work again, and having me setup and access a NAS share - to/from which I can both read and write files.

Thanks guys

 

[cyberjock]

If you don't have any important data maybe you should try resetting FreeNAS to defaults?

Also, I would strongly recommend reading the manual. It has some really important information in there you really need to know.

 

[silvergoat]

I had the same problem up until last night. After a couple of days of messing with stuff as I had time, I figured out that the "group" in the Freenas GUI is the Windows group (when share is set to Windows ACL)....

I then map the network drive \\"freenas server name"\, and either login as user (= windows login) and password (as created for that user in Freenas GUI) or as a separate user within that "group" by checking the "login with different credentials" option when mapping the drive.

For future reference- try changing only one thing at a time and then testing to verify function at every step.

 

[new2freenas]

Okay guys (silvergoat & cyberjock),

Thanks for posting some helpful suggestions...but as it turns out, this is what happened (mostly good-ish news, but a bit of bad news as well):

1. So my Windows network issue seems to have been resolved (after I restarted the freeNAS box), and I can once again access all of my computers' shared drives/folders. So one down

2. I have somewhat resolved the issue of not being able to see my freeNAS share (within the "Workgroup" entry of Windows Explorer (Microsoft Windows Network)...because I can now see the "FreeNAS Server (Freenas)" entry there, but the problem is that once I double-click the entry to get into it, I get an error message that reads like so:

\\Freenas is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator ....blah blah blah. The network path was not found

So...it looks to me like I'm really close to getting this resolved (and working like a charm), and there's potentially just 1 or 2 little things that I'm missing, or goofed up on. Perhaps some access/restriction setting, I don't know! Any thoughts/suggestions guys?

Oh BTW (and this is for those who might end up in a similar situation), I think I may have solved issue # 2 above, by doing the following

Selecting: Shares -> Windows (CIFS) -> Selecting & Editing my defined share -> Clicking the "Advanced Mode" button -> Removing my IP address from the "Hosts Allow" textbox.

As it turns out, when I enter my IP address into the box again (and save), I am able to recreate the issue i.e. I cannot see the share entry titled "FreeNSA Server (Freenas)".

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks again.

 

[silvergoat]

Manually adding an IP address makes it so that only those listed IP addresses can access the share......I made that mistake too.

 

[new2freenas]

Manually adding an IP address makes it so that only those listed IP addresses can access the share......I made that mistake too.

That's how I understand it as well...but the funny thing is that the IP address that I entered, is for the computer from which I'm trying to access the share...so there's no reason why I should not be able to see the share...unless the logic is reversed. Confused

 

[cyberjock]

In your situation I'd start with making a share that has full read and write with guest permissions. See if you can access that. Once you can then you know that it is working and you can begin tackling the real issue(most likely permissions). Take small steps to prove stuff is working. You'll learn alot and you'll be sure to find the problem. :)

 

[new2freenas]

In your situation I'd start with making a share that has full read and write with guest permissions. See if you can access that. Once you can then you know that it is working and you can begin tackling the real issue(most likely permissions). Take small steps to prove stuff is working. You'll learn alot and you'll be sure to find the problem. :)

Thanks for the suggestion.....I'll try that....but would you (by any chance) be able to provide me with the exact set of instructions to do so (making a share that has full read and write with guest permissions)? The manual that I'm following, doesn't seem to have very detailed steps in trying to achieve that.