Whirlpool

Alright, the problem is I can't access any Vista PC on the Network from Ubuntu.

I can access an XP Pro PC on the same network, so what am I doing wrong?

The Vista PC can be accessed by XP Machines on the network.

I can see the Vista PC when I go to Network in the Places menu, but no shares.

Help!!

chi ace cubab writes...

I can see the Vista PC when I go to Network in the Places menu,

Check your firewall settings on both the vista and ubuntu pcs and check that the vista shares are properly labeled and exported.

PeterD writes...

Check your firewall settings on both the vista and ubuntu pcs

Thanks for the reply, but how do I get to the firewall in Ubuntu?

check that the vista shares are properly labeled and exported.

What do you mean by this? Sorry, but I am a noob when it comes to Ubuntu!

As I said, I can see the Vista shares from other windows PC on the Network.

Once again, thanks for all advice

Oops, double post!!

try the following:

open a Nautilus window , there should be a home icon on the screen double click that and you should get a gui, click File->Connect to Server.. you pick the service type you want which is Windows share then enter your vista IP address and hit the browse button this should then popup a window with the available shares if you have problems check if the firewall on vista is blocking Ubuntu

chi ace cubab writes...

I can see the Vista PC when I go to Network in the Places menu, but no shares. .

Pretty sure that means it's a username / password issue. I find a program called smb4k quit useful. You can install it using "sudo apt-get install smb4k"

DrE

chi ace cubab writes...

Alright, the problem is I can't access any Vista PC on the Network from Ubuntu.

I assume this is network file shares rather than remote desktop?

There are problems (came across this last night in Hardy) using the Nautilus file explorer to connect to Windows samba shares, so I was forced to manually mount it. From a terminal shell try;

smbclient -L <vista ip address>

Press Enter when it asks for a password so it uses a guest logon. This should list the shares available on your Vista machine.

It's nowhere as nice as the Nautilus GUI, but if this works you can do;

smbclient //<vista ip address>/<vista share name> -W <workgroup> -U <username>

The share name and workgroup will be as presented from the first command. Use your Vista user name then type in your Vista password when asked. This should give you a samba command line smb:> from which you can do ftp-like commands, such as get, mget, put, cd, ls etc.

At the very least let us know what error smbclient produces if it doesn't work.

If this does work, you can try manually mounting it so it can be accessed through Nautilus.

sudo mkdir /mnt/vista_pc
sudo mount -t cifs //<vista ip address>/<vista share> /mnt/vista_pc

You may have to man that, I can't remember off the top of my head exactly how it goes.

Dr_Evil writes...

Pretty sure that means it's a username / password issue. I find a program called smb4k quit useful. You can install it using "sudo apt-get install smb4k"

I have that, but can't get anywhere...

el Arm writes...

I assume this is network file shares rather than remote desktop?

Yes, that's right!!

There are problems (came across this last night in Hardy) using the Nautilus file explorer to connect to Windows samba shares, so I was forced to manually mount it. From a terminal shell try;

smbclient -L <vista ip address>

Great, I tried this, and this is what i get
Domain=[MARK-PC] OS=[Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium 6001 Service Pack 1] Server=[Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium 6.0]

Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
ADMIN$ Disk Remote Admin
C$ Disk Default share
D$ Disk Default share
downloads etc Disk
IPC$ IPC Remote IPC
J$ Disk Default share
Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Printer Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
print$ Disk Printer Drivers
Public Disk
Send To OneNote 2007 Printer Send To OneNote 2007
Tim Disk
Users Disk
session request to 10.1.1.9 failed (Called name not present)
session request to 10 failed (Called name not present)
session request to *SMBSERVER failed (Called name not present)
NetBIOS over TCP disabled -- no workgroup available

Now what do I do?

Thanks everyone who has responded so far!!!

PeterD writes...

try the following:

open a Nautilus window , there should be a home icon on the screen double click that and you should get a gui, click File->Connect to Server.. you pick the service type you want which is Windows share then enter your vista IP address and hit the browse button this should then popup a window with the available shares if you have problems check if the firewall on vista is blocking Ubuntu

I tried that too, but no luck!!

Did I do the right thing? I typed into a terminal sudo nautlius, which opened a window with root-file browser across the top, but i can't click on the home icon(well i can click, but nothing happens..)

Edit, now it works, well sort of, because the window with Windows shares is blank....

The search for a solution continues!!

mate,

i am a newbie too !

hmm what i do to access my xo box from ubuntu is go to applications ,

internet > terminal server client :)

try it !

loverboi writes...

hmm what i do to access my xo box from ubuntu is go to applications ,

internet > terminal server client :)

try it !

Righto, I did. and I get an error message saying ---

MARK-PC:unable to resolve host.

Thanks though for offering that suggestion!

I am beginning to think that this is actually a Vista problem....

Remember I am able to connect and view files on an XP Pro system on the same network...

have u enabled remote desktop on vista ???

loverboi writes...

have u enabled remote desktop on vista ???

No, i don't think so, but I will check!

yeah do that :)

chi ace cubab writes...

Did I do the right thing? I typed into a terminal sudo nautlius, which opened a window with root-file browser across the top, but i can't click on the home icon(well i can click, but nothing happens..)

No need to do sudo , as a normal user double click the home icon this will pop up Nautilus then do the Connect to Windows bit above. Usually if Ubuntu needs root privilege it will ask for it, but not always.

chi ace cubab writes...

Now what do I do?

Okay, I've just done a test at work from Debian (the distro Ubuntu is based upon) to Vista. Adapting it to your info I would try;

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/vista
sudo mount -t cifs //10.1.1.9/Public /mnt/vista -o user=mark-pc/mark,uid=mark

Enter your Vista password after the last command.

I'm assuming there that your Vista IP is 10.1.1.9 and your Vista username is mark, and also your Ubuntu username is mark. If this succeeds you can of course browse to /mnt/vista using Nautilus.

The "Called name not present" error you got earlier doesn't seem to be affecting the server connection. Not sure of your DNS situation but this may go away if you use the proper machine name instead of the IP.

[+15512351 el Arm writes... +]
[" Okay, I've just done a test at work from Debian (the distro Ubuntu is based upon) to Vista. Adapting it to your info I would try;

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/vista
sudo mount -t cifs //10.1.1.9/Public /mnt/vista -o user=mark-pc/mark,uid=mark "]

Yep I did that. This is what I got back:

sudo: unable to resolve host mark-desktop
Usage: mount -V : print version
mount -h : print this help
mount : list mounted filesystems
mount -l : idem, including volume labels
So far the informational part. Next the mounting.
The command is `mount [-t fstype] something somewhere'.
Details found in /etc/fstab may be omitted.
mount -a [-t|-O] ... : mount all stuff from /etc/fstab
mount device : mount device at the known place
mount directory : mount known device here
mount -t type dev dir : ordinary mount command
Note that one does not really mount a device, one mounts
a filesystem (of the given type) found on the device.
One can also mount an already visible directory tree elsewhere:
mount --bind olddir newdir
or move a subtree:
mount --move olddir newdir
One can change the type of mount containing the directory dir:
mount --make-shared dir
mount --make-slave dir
mount --make-private dir
mount --make-unbindable dir
One can change the type of all the mounts in a mount subtree
containing the directory dir:
mount --make-rshared dir
mount --make-rslave dir
mount --make-rprivate dir
mount --make-runbindable dir
A device can be given by name, say /dev/hda1 or /dev/cdrom,
or by label, using -L label or by uuid, using -U uuid .
Other options: [-nfFrsvw] [-o options] [-p passwdfd].
For many more details, say man 8 mount .

I when I go to Network in places, I can see the PC, but none of the individual shares on it (no change from before), but the curious thing is I can see the windows name of the Ubuntu PC (it's a dual boot), which I wasn't able to before.

I'm assuming there that your Vista IP is 10.1.1.9 and your Vista username is mark, and also your Ubuntu username is mark. If this succeeds you can of course browse to /mnt/vista using Nautilus.

Yes that is right (imaginative huh!!!)

No luck using Nautilus, just shows the PC names, but no shares, well except for the XP Pro machine, which is no problem to see and access.

On the Vista box, I have all the Networking features enabled, even password protected sharing off.

My Aura should be Pervasively Thick, not what it is!!!!

How do I ensure that Ubuntu is let through the Firewall?? (I know it's a Vista Question, but....)

Edit.. Sorry about not showing the quotes, but whirlcode made a mess of the copy from sudo...

I disabled the firewall on vista , still no luck!!!

chi ace cubab writes...

No luck using Nautilus, just shows the PC names, but no shares, well except for the XP Pro machine, which is no problem to see and access.

Try entering a known share name , you may need to experiment by adding the "$" or maybe " $" to the share name. I've had problems with smb4k not showing shares but happily mounting one if the name is entered. I'm assuming that you have the vista shares properly exported.

chi ace cubab writes...

Yep I did that. This is what I got back:

sudo: unable to resolve host mark-desktop
Usage: mount -V : print version

Did the "unable to resolve" message appear after the mkdir command? From searching the ubuntu forums it appears to be benign.

However the usage message suggests you haven't typed in the mount command correctly (or I haven't given it correctly)? It should be a single line command. At the very least try;

sudo mount -t cifs //10.1.1.9/Public /mnt/vista

Another test is;

smbclient //10.1.1.9/Public -W mark-pc -U mark

And type your Vista password. This should give an smb: \> prompt (or an error!). If you get the prompt, type ls and press Enter, you should see the contents of your Public directory.

el Arm writes...

Another test is;

smbclient //10.1.1.9/Public -W mark-pc -U mark

And type your Vista password. This should give an smb: \> prompt (or an error!). If you get the prompt, type ls and press Enter, you should see the contents of your Public directory.

Yes, it worked! (Well I think it did) It shows this:

Domain=[MARK-PC] OS=[Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium 6001 Service Pack 1] Server=[Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium 6.0]
smb: \> ls
. DR 0 Wed Feb 27 18:38:06 2008
.. DR 0 Wed Feb 27 18:38:06 2008
Converted owsoms D 0 Wed Feb 27 18:38:12 2008
CyberLink D 0 Thu Oct 11 16:43:51 2007
Desktop DHR 0 Wed Apr 30 20:20:06 2008
desktop.ini AHS 174 Sun Mar 23 12:53:43 2008
Documents DR 0 Fri Dec 14 19:22:26 2007
Downloads DR 0 Sun Mar 16 16:57:56 2008
DvrmsToolbox D 0 Wed May 14 17:10:53 2008
ehthumbs_vista.db AHS 639488 Sun Feb 17 16:59:48 2008
Favorites DHR 0 Thu Nov 2 21:23:35 2006
IntelDH D 0 Thu Oct 11 17:12:03 2007
Music DR 0 Fri Dec 14 19:22:26 2007
Owsoms D 0 Wed Feb 27 18:55:19 2008
Pictures DR 0 Fri Dec 14 19:22:26 2007
Recorded TV DR 0 Tue May 20 23:10:14 2008
Videos DR 0 Fri Dec 14 19:22:26 2007

Which are my public folders.

Now if i go to Nautilus, still nothing!

So, (very sheepishly) what now???

Oh and thanks for all your help so far!!!!

Now if i go to Nautilus, still nothing!

So, (very sheepishly) what now???

Oh and thanks for all your help so far!!!!

Not at all - this stuff is not intuitive, what should have happened is that Nautilus should have connected and shown the shares in the first place. :)

Now smbclient won't help with Nautilus but you can still send and retrieve files with it. As a last resort type help at the smb: \> prompt to get the command listing, or man smbclient from the terminal for the full documentation. But first try the stuff below.

What we really want to do is mount (Linux term for 'map network drive') the Vista share to a local directory, i.e. /mnt/vista so we can look at that in Nautilus. So run these two commands from the terminal;

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/vista

sudo mount -t cifs //10.1.1.9/Public /mnt/vista -o user=mark-pc/mark,uid=mark

The first command should ask for your Linux password (unless you've run sudo in the last 15 minutes). The second command will be asking for your Vista password (I keep mine the same anyway).

Now the second command didn't work for you last time? If still no good, simplify it to;

sudo mount -t cifs //10.1.1.9/Public /mnt/vista

This will probably get an auth failure, but post the results.

If either form works, great, you can now run this command as a test;

ls /mnt/vista

and see the files in your Public share. Then you can go back to Nautilus and type /mnt/vista into the address bar, or click your way there from File System on the left (then mnt, then vista).

Sorry if I'm overexplaining things you already know, just trying to be as clear as possible.

el Arm writes...

sudo mount -t cifs //10.1.1.9/Public /mnt/vista

This will probably get an auth failure, but post the results.


I tried, and got this

sudo: unable to resolve host mark-desktop
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on //10.1.1.9/Public,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
(for several filesystems (e.g. nfs, cifs) you might
need a /sbin/mount.<type> helper program)
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

el Arm writes...

Sorry if I'm overexplaining things you already know, just trying to be as clear as possible.

No need to worry, I know next to nothing!! One thing i wonder though, and tell me if I'm wrong, but is it possible that the Distro I downloaded was missing something?

I know in previous adventures with Ubuntu, I have had trouble installing Automatix2 on 7.04 and 7.10, with missing dependencies etc.

Would a clean install with a new download help?? I can get these easily, as I have access to an iiNet ADSL2+ connection?

It just seems way too hard to me, not that I'm going to give up, I really want to make Ubuntu part of my computing life, as my PC runs so much quicker with it!!

chi ace cubab writes...

mount: wrong fs type

Ah, go to the Synaptic package manager, search for and install smbfs, then try it again. If it's already installed I'm not sure what's up.

but is it possible that the Distro I downloaded was missing something

It's unlikely, but bugs do creep in. It seems Nautilus has a bug with some shares.

Btw one thing I just discovered with iiNet is that they mirror the Ubuntu packages. In Synaptic, go to Settings -> Repositories, click on the Download from: combo, choose Other... then click on ftp.iinet.net.au, then click on Choose Server. Click Close, then Reload on Synaptic. Now all updates will be in your freezone! For me at least it used to go straight to the ubuntu.com repository.

chi ace cubab writes...

Would a clean install with a new download help?? I can get these easily, as I have access to an iiNet ADSL2+ connection?

When you downloaded the first time did you do a md5sum check of the iso file? Also, once you boot your newly burnt iso cd did you test that Ubuntu was burnt correctly? Its worth taking the time to verify both the download and if possible the burn to cd.

PeterD writes...

When you downloaded the first time did you do a md5sum check of the iso file?

No.

PeterD writes...

Also, once you boot your newly burnt iso cd did you test that Ubuntu was burnt correctly?

How would I do that?

PeterD writes...

Its worth taking the time to verify both the download and if possible the burn to cd.
Yeah it sounds good, but as a noob......

Thanks for all your advice too!! Every post I read by you guys is increasing my knowledge! :)

chi ace cubab writes...

How would I do that?

To check the correctness of a downloaded iso file you need to download the MD5SUM file that usually resides in the same directory as the iso.Download both files to the same directory then in linux open a terminal window change your working directory to the directory of the downloaded files then type 'md5sum -c MD5SUM' , now you may get some error messages as the MD5SUM file usually contains multiple entries just go through the list until you see your iso filename and if it says OK you have a good download. If you downloading to XP then you need something like md5summer.exe which run with MD5SUM as the input file and it gives you a nice gui green light if its all OK

Yeah it sounds good, but as a noob......

When you boot the cd you get a series of options , hit the down arrow key, this will stop the auto start, select the option that says Check CD for Errors. This will then start up linux session which will compare the md5 signatures of all the files on the cd against a file of md5s also on the cd.

Note , not all distros have this check disk facility.
Not all distros show a list of possible options at cd startup but hit the down arrow key will show them for selection.

Thanks for that info, Peter.

All good with the disk.

Now still have not had any luck, but in runnimg SMB4K, I get this message

WARNING: CIFS mount option 'fmask' is deprecated. Use 'file_mode' instead.
WARNING: CIFS mount option 'dmask' is deprecated. Use 'dir_mode' instead.
mount error 2 = No such file or directory
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g.man mount.cifs)

What does that mean?

Remember in all this I can access XP machines on the same network.

So does this make it a Vista issue? No matter what I try with Vista, on two different machines, i just can't connect!!!

Not to get off track from the smbmount-ing (it seems like it will work), but couldn't you just open up any file browser, and in the title bar type:

smb://<computer>/<share>­

Always works for me. I can never see my shares in Nautilus, or Network Shares, but the above always works.

Alright, an update.

Still no success with my above project, but.....

I pulled an old (P3 733 with 192ish MB and an 8.5GB HDD) out of the garage and installed Edubuntu 7.04 ( the only distro that would work).

I subsequently upgraded it to 7.10 ( a very looooooong process, LOL).

Well to cut a long story short, I have full access to all Windows machines on the network, including the Vista ones, which I have even managed to mount (I Think that is what it is called) to the desktop, so the folders are only ever one click away.

So to PeterD, el Arm, Dr_Evil, loverboi and SeanCros, a big thankyou for taking the time to help out a bumbling idiot like me.

Cheers guys!! :D

chi ace cubab writes...

I pulled an old (P3 733 with 192ish MB and an 8.5GB HDD) out of the garage and installed Edubuntu 7.04 ( the only distro that would work).

I'm intrigued that this worked, if you have time can you tell me:

Did you install anything extra doing it this way?

What was your original setup like, the one that didn't work?

With the 7.10 install you had the problem with, did you have that up to date?

bumbling idiot like me.

Hardly, you got it working which puts you in a class above the usual "Oh my god its not working I'm going back to < insert MS product name here>" posters.

PeterD writes...

I'm intrigued that this worked, if you have time can you tell me:

Sure will try, it's the least I can do!

Did you install anything extra doing it this way?

The distro was probably a good 6 months old, and it was the only one that would load up, all others had graphics issues (not exactly cutting edge hardware or monitor!)

As it was 7.04, I installed it, updated it, made sure it had SMBFS, clicked yes to install other bits needed, then pushed the button and waited and waited......

So it still wouldn't work, so I then went to distro upgrade in Synaptic and upgraded to 7.10. Again waited and waited.

Still no luck. But I noticed the workgroup was wrong.
I then found out how to change the workgroup name via a terminal, did that, restarted.

Next I went to places>network, and clicked on the Vista machine.

It asked for a password, which I entered, and Bingo, I was in!!

I did install an nvidia legacy driver, and then once in some codecs to play the videos, along with VLC, but that was it.

What was your original setup like, the one that didn't work?

It was on a P4 3 GHZ with 1GB ram, and plenty of HDD space, along of course with dual boot WinXP. It works flawlessly under WinXP,

With the 7.10 install you had the problem with, did you have that up to date?

It was actually a newly downloaded 8.04 distro, and yes it was up to date. I do have an ATI driver and Compiz Fusion with all the nice effects on it though, but I don't think that should affect it.

Hardly, you got it working which puts you in a class above the usual "Oh my god its not working I'm going back to < insert MS product name here>" posters.

Then I'm not the only one who is over them? :D

Now if it's not too much to ask, does anyone know of a Linux program that will allow me to stream to my PS3? (running the game system, not Linux?)

chi ace cubab writes...

Still no luck. But I noticed the workgroup was wrong.
I then found out how to change the workgroup name via a terminal, did that, restarted.

I'd say that was your problem all along. If you install smb4k then when it searches the network it will show you the workgroups of the pcs on the network, but this only works if there are no firewalls between the pcs on the local network or all firewalls are configured to allow access to all pcs. The only way to find out is to go back to square 1 and try again - ouch :)

Then I'm not the only one who is over them?

:P

Now if it's not too much to ask, does anyone know of a Linux program that will allow me to stream to my PS3? (running the game system, not Linux?)

Suggest you start a new thread as this is a different topic, also makes it easier to find later and for other people

I cannot gain access to my Vista box either. " Unable to resolve host ubuntu" is the response I get to my attempts.

How does one install SMB4k and what is it for? Do I need Samba on Vista box?

unable to resolve host ubuntu is the error I get when I enter those commands.
Is the user name, the user on Vista or user on Ubuntu?

carib909 writes...
How does one install SMB4k and what is it for? Do I need Samba on Vista box?

In a terminal type

sudo apt-get install smb4k

or go to synaptic package manager and in search type in smb4k.

carib909 writes...

unable to resolve host ubuntu is the error I get when I enter those commands.

This is a known sudo bug on some installations of Hardy – see http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=723361.

Nautilus uses it's own code to access Window shares, however there is a bug in Hardy (that phrase again) that can stop it working. The option I used to get around this is to use samba and mount the remote share as a cifs filesystem. You can then go to /mnt/vista_blah instead of smb://vistapc/blah in Nautilus. See one of my previous posts in this thread.

Ok, I have SMB4K installed and adjustments made to Vista registry etc, but still Ubuntu box sees the Vista box, workgroup, but none of the shares. Vista does not see any Ubuntu drives.