Ubuntu buffs - how do I map my Windows shared folder?

mr_fishbulb

I'm using Ubuntu 9.10 and I have a couple of shares on my Windows 7 machine I want to map.

I go to Places --> Connect to Server

Service Type = Windows Share
Server = Windows box name (do I need \\ infront of it?)
And then I get a bit lost.

If I just put the machine name and press connect it gives the error Cannot display location "smb://hostname/"

Do I need to install Samba on the Ubuntu machine?

gaming_guy

this is from memory so it might be a bit brief (i use 8.10 and am currently booted into windoze).

you are doing it correctly, but i don't think you need the \\. i find that it works better via IP instead of hostname.

you may also need to input the username and password of a user account (on the windows box) that has the permissions to access the share.

samba is installed as default on ubuntu.

if you can't get it to work, then here is an alternate method.

Esqui

You don't need to put the //

Your best bet is to go into your router and find the IP (if you can get it as a static IP, it works much better!)

mr_fishbulb

Doesn't work with just IP address either (without the \\)

Got a static IP on my Windows machine and turned the firewall off to check - still get the Cannot display location "smb://hostname/" Failed to retrieve share list from server error

I can ping the windows machine from the Ubuntu one and vice versa

Think I'll try this tomorrow - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MountWindowsSharesPermanently

Marty_J

[unhelpful and off topic comment]

I love how when someone asks about Linux, there's a chorus of how great and easy it now is to use, and how much better it is than Windows, etc, etc, but when someone has a problem with it, its proponents are nowhere to be found.

[/unhelpful and off topic comment]

adouglasmhor

To share your Windows folders, setup a share in the Windows PC, then use the "Connect to server..." command in the places menu. If your windows PC cannot be access by name, use the ipaddress; you can find the ipaddress with the command
Code: ipconfig

on the _windows_ pc.

adouglasmhor

Marty_J wrote: »

[unhelpful and off topic comment]

I love how when someone asks about Linux, there's a chorus of how great and easy it now is to use, and how much better it is than Windows, etc, etc, but when someone has a problem with it, its proponents are nowhere to be found.

[/unhelpful and off topic comment]

Obviously us Linux geeks have better things to do of an evening, I was at gym then the pub.

adouglasmhor

Oh an once you have done the above use connect to server with the ip adresss if the placename isn't working.

turbobob

It might be Windows 7 that is the problem? I had a hell of a job making shares on a Windows 7 machine work with my Mac. I never had the same problems with either XP or Vista in the past. By default it seems it does not want to share with anything except other Windows 7 machines via its "Homegroup" feature.

To make it work I had to turn off password protection on file sharing in Windows 7, and manually make sure that each share was available to the Guest account (in Advanced Sharing). This page was a help http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/

I don't know a great deal about networking to be honest, but those settings did work for me between Windows 7 and a Mac. AFAIK Ubuntu will connect to bog standard Windows shares quite easily.

computershack

Ubuntu has had a misconfigured smb.conf file since 8.04. The order in which it looks for addresses is wrong.

Do the following which I posted on the Ubuntu Forums:

Go to Accessories, Terminal. In terminal at the command prompt type:

sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

You will be prompted for a password - enter the password for your log on,
This will open up the smb.conf file in the text editor Gedit. Next find the line:

; name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast

Change it to:

name resolve order = lmhosts wins bcast host

Notice the removal of the ; and the change in the order.

Save the file and exit Gedit. Log off and back on or restart if it doesn't work with logging off. Next time you connect to a Windows Share, it'll ask you for a username and password. Use the one for the user account on Windows

mr_fishbulb

Got it working using cifs, user perms bit in here - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MountWindowsSharesPermanently

Now I have 2 mount points to my shares and a text file sat on my ubuntu machine with my windows username and password in. &