Windows XP can't see the Samba share

[Phasma Felis]

So I've just set up a Samba share on my Ubuntu 11.10 file server. My OS X Snow Leopard MacBook can see it; so can my roommate's Win7 box. My XP machine can't.

I'm not really sure how to find a solution for this. Googling reveals a million different (contradictory) tutorials on setting up and troubleshooting an Ubuntu Samba share, but given that the other machines can see it, this seems to be a Windows problem, not Ubuntu, and none of them say a bloody word about that. Any suggestions?

Here's some outputs that a dude on the internet said would help, on the off chance that it is an Ubuntu problem. Note that, in the smbtree output, it's aware of Mnemosyne (the Ubuntu host) and Athens (the Win7 machine that can see the share). It's not aware of Titan (the WinXP machine) or, bizarrely, Argent (the MacBook that can see the share). So...I don't know what that means.

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phasma@Mnemosyne:~$ testparm -s
Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
rlimit_max: increasing rlimit_max (1024) to minimum Windows limit (16384)
Processing section "[printers]"
Processing section "[print$]"
Loaded services file OK.
Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE
[global]
        workgroup = ROSENET
        server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu)
        map to guest = Bad User
        obey pam restrictions = Yes
        pam password change = Yes
        passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
        passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
        unix password sync = Yes
        syslog = 0
        log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
        max log size = 1000
        dns proxy = No
        usershare allow guests = Yes
        panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
        comment = Home Directories
        read only = No

[printers]
        comment = All Printers
        path = /var/spool/samba
        read only = Yes
        create mask = 0700
        printable = Yes
        browseable = No

[print$]
        comment = Printer Drivers
        path = /var/lib/samba/printers
        read only = Yes

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phasma@Mnemosyne:~$ net usershare info --long
[fileshare]
path=/home/phasma/fileshare
comment=Rosenet fileshare
usershare_acl=Everyone:F,
guest_ok=y

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phasma@Mnemosyne:~$ hostname
Mnemosyne

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phasma@Mnemosyne:~$ smbtree
Enter phasma's password:
WORKGROUP
        \\ATHENS
ROSENET
        \\MNEMOSYNE                     Mnemosyne server (Samba, Ubuntu)
                \\MNEMOSYNE\fileshare           Rosenet fileshare
                \\MNEMOSYNE\print$              Printer Drivers
                \\MNEMOSYNE\IPC$                IPC Service (Mnemosyne server (Samba, Ubuntu))

[phlip]

Basic trouble-shooting... can you ping your server from your XP machine?

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ping <ip>

Can you see your server over NBT from your XP machine?

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nbtstat /A <ip>

Can you resolve its name?

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nbtstat /a MNEMOSYNE
ping MNEMOSYNE

Can you resolve any shares on that machine?

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net view \\MNEMOSYNE
net view \\<ip>

Can you navigate in Explorer directly to \\MNEMOSYNE? Or \\<ip>? Can you see any of the other machines on the network via \\<computername>, or \\<ip> from the XP machine?

I wouldn't be too concerned with the fact that smbtree isn't seeing all your computers. Or that there are probably computers missing if you try to browse "Entire Network" on the Windows side. The workgroup-browsing part of the SMB/NBT protocol is extremely fragile, and often forgets that computers exist... it pretty much relies on all machines on the network being permanently connected, permanently reliable, and never dropping a connection, restarting, or being unavailable. In short, it doesn't work. Once you're referring to a particular machine, though, either by name or by IP, it's usually OK, if slow, inefficient and painful.

[Phasma Felis]

Thanks for the response! Here you go:

Basic trouble-shooting... can you ping your server from your XP machine?

Yes.

Can you see your server over NBT from your XP machine?

Yes.

Can you resolve its name?

Yes.

Can you resolve any shares on that machine?

No.

Can you navigate in Explorer directly to \\MNEMOSYNE? Or \\<ip>? Can you see any of the other machines on the network via \\<computername>, or \\<ip> from the XP machine?

No, no, and no. ("Windows cannot find '\\WHATEVER'. Check the spelling and try again.")

Here's the output from all those commands, if it helps:

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C:\Documents and Settings\Phasma>ping 192.168.1.103

Pinging 192.168.1.103 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.103: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.103: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.103: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.103: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.103:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Phasma>nbtstat /A 192.168.1.103

Local Area Connection 3:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.101] Scope Id: []

           NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

       Name               Type         Status
    ---------------------------------------------
    MNEMOSYNE      <00>  UNIQUE      Registered
    MNEMOSYNE      <03>  UNIQUE      Registered
    MNEMOSYNE      <20>  UNIQUE      Registered
    ..__MSBROWSE__.<01>  GROUP       Registered
    ROSENET        <1D>  UNIQUE      Registered
    ROSENET        <1E>  GROUP       Registered
    ROSENET        <00>  GROUP       Registered

    MAC Address = 00-00-00-00-00-00


C:\Documents and Settings\Phasma>nbtstat /a MNEMOSYNE

Local Area Connection 3:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.101] Scope Id: []

           NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

       Name               Type         Status
    ---------------------------------------------
    MNEMOSYNE      <00>  UNIQUE      Registered
    MNEMOSYNE      <03>  UNIQUE      Registered
    MNEMOSYNE      <20>  UNIQUE      Registered
    ..__MSBROWSE__.<01>  GROUP       Registered
    ROSENET        <1D>  UNIQUE      Registered
    ROSENET        <1E>  GROUP       Registered
    ROSENET        <00>  GROUP       Registered

    MAC Address = 00-00-00-00-00-00


C:\Documents and Settings\Phasma>ping MNEMOSYNE

Pinging MNEMOSYNE [192.168.1.103] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.103: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.103: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.103: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.103: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.103:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Phasma>net view \\MNEMOSYNE
System error 53 has occurred.

The network path was not found.


C:\Documents and Settings\Phasma>net view \\192.168.1.103
System error 1231 has occurred.

The network location cannot be reached. For information about network troublesho
oting, see Windows Help.

I wouldn't be too concerned with the fact that smbtree isn't seeing all your computers. Or that there are probably computers missing if you try to browse "Entire Network" on the Windows side. The workgroup-browsing part of the SMB/NBT protocol is extremely fragile, and often forgets that computers exist... it pretty much relies on all machines on the network being permanently connected, permanently reliable, and never dropping a connection, restarting, or being unavailable. In short, it doesn't work. Once you're referring to a particular machine, though, either by name or by IP, it's usually OK, if slow, inefficient and painful.

Ugh. Is there a better way to be doing this? All I want is for the Ubuntu machine to host a file share that everything else on the network can use.

[Jorpho]

Does smbclient work? (I think there might be a standalone version out there that does not require you to install the entirety of Cygwin.) If it does, you might just want to stick with that, but for now it's good for troubleshooting.

Last time I had to deal with this, I just used sftp, which is fine if you don't need streaming. XP can also use NFS if you get the right download from Microsoft.

[think_of_a_shape]

On the XP machine, make sure that the "Automatically search for network folders and printers" is checked

or you could not use simple file sharing, see if that helps

or even hit the Restore Defaults button. Maybe turn the firewall off, see if the problem lay there
(I'm assuming Win XP pro)