Ok, so I have a Redhat 9 server that is running a samba network share of a few folders.
My main machine is a Windows XP Pro (w SP1) box on which I just recently reinstalled the operating system. I want to map the network drives that are shared off the redhat server so that I can just use them normally on my windows box.
I can map them correctly, connecting as the user redhatguy, which is my username on the redhat box, and I click the box to have them auto reconnect at startup. I know that the mapping works, because I have write permissions on the files, and that’s the only user who has such permissions.
However, when I restart my windows box, the mapped drives are still there, but they must be connecting as the guest user, because I no longer have write permissions in the folders. If I disconnect and re-map the drives, they again work fine, until reboot.
The real kicker is that this used to work. I had the same server setup, the same client operating system, and the same setup… At least I thought I did.
The only thing I can think of is that Windows is trying to do some crazy domain junk, as it always seems to want to connect me as WINDOWSCOMPNAME*redhatguy*, rather than just redhatguy. If this is the problem, how do I fix it? If not, what the heck is going on?
I haven’t had the problem you’re having, but I want to point out a couple of things.
Although you’re connecting as redhatguy, which is your Linux user name from my reading, you should be aware that Samba maintains its own list of users. The best way to administer Samba (unless you know the config files), as well as most other Linux services, is Webmin (www.webmin.com).
Almost all the problems I’ve had with Samba have gone away once I’ve changed the smb.conf entry workgroup. Make sure that this is set to the same Workgroup or Domain that your Windows box is using. Is your Samba box acting as a Primary Domain Controller?
I have been using Redhat’s little GUI configuration system, and then also messing with the smb.conf file when necessary, but I’ll look into webmin. I checked, and the workgroup is set correctly.
I did the following, and now it works.
I changed my Windows username and password to be the same thing as my redhat username and password, and it now reconnects correctly. To me, this means that the “reconnect at logon” checkbox in windows doesn’t bother to remember what username and password you were using to map the drive in the first place.
I’m sure I could add my windows user to the redhat box, and map him to be redhatguy, but I’d rather just have windows remember to send the right name and password.
Yep, I’m sure that 's what the problem was. It’s good to hear that it’s working. Samba is a remarkable piece of software - it’s very reliable and quite fast too.