usershares guest_ok=y results in "Permission denied" error

[Mihai Capotă]

Binary package hint: samba

Usershare having guest_ok=y cannot be mounted as guest. I have the default smb.conf from Jaunty which includes:
usershare allow guests = yes

I tried creating such a share using both nautilus and net usershare. The resulting file is identical:
mihai@dutier:~$ cat /var/lib/samba/usershares/public
#VERSION 2
path=/home/mihai/Public
comment=
usershare_acl=S-1-1-0:R
guest_ok=y

I tried accessing the usershare using:
-nautilus
Can't mount location
Failed to mount Windows share

-mount.cifs
mihai@dutier:~$ sudo mount.cifs //dutier/public Media/tmp/ -o guest
retrying with upper case share name
mount error(6): No such device or address
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g.man mount.cifs)

-smbclient
mihai@dutier:~$ smbclient -N //dutier/Public
Anonymous login successful
Domain=[WORKGROUP] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.3.2]
tree connect failed: NT_STATUS_BAD_NETWORK_NAME

Every time I get the same error in the samba log:
[2009/06/18 17:24:41, 0] smbd/service.c:make_connection_snum(1073)
  '/home/mihai/Public' does not exist or permission denied when connecting to [public] Error was Permission denied

I can access the same usershare using a username:
-mount.cifs
mihai@dutier:~$ sudo mount.cifs //dutier/public Media/tmp/ -o user=mihai

-smbclient
mihai@dutier:~$ smbclient //dutier/Public
Enter mihai's password:
Domain=[DUTIER] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.3.2]
smb: \>

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: samba 2:3.3.2-1ubuntu3
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=ro_RO.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: samba
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic x86_64

[Mihai Capotă (mihaic)]

At least one other person has the same problem:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/samba/+bug/204703/comments/4

[Montel Edwards (montel)]

Hello and thank you for finding that duplicate and making it aware. In the future though please take the liberty of marking your bug a duplicate of that bug as soon as you find it. That would help greatly.

Thanks
-Montel

[Mihai Capotă (mihaic)]

@Montel Edwards
The commenter from the other bug I was referring too was advised to open a separate bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/samba/+bug/204703/comments/5

[Thierry Carrez (ttx)]

@Mihai: thanks for reporting this bug.

Does:
$ sudo mount.cifs //dutier/public Media/tmp/ -o sec=none
work any better ?

What are the permissions on the public shared directory:
$ ls -ld /home/mihai
$ ls -ld /home/mihai/Public

[Mihai Capotă (mihaic)]

mihai@dutier:~$ ls -ld /home/mihai/
drwx------ 86 mihai mihai 12K 2009-06-18 20:37 /home/mihai/
mihai@dutier:~$ ls -ld /home/mihai/Public/
drwxr-xr-x 2 mihai mihai 4,0K 2009-06-18 14:28 /home/mihai/Public/

I added the execute bit on /home/mihai and it now works.
Since the permission was there by default and I removed it, I'm marking this bug as invalid.

[Mihai Capotă (mihaic)]

mihai@dutier:~$ ls -ld /home/mihai/
drwx------ 86 mihai mihai 12K 2009-06-18 20:37 /home/mihai/
mihai@dutier:~$ ls -ld /home/mihai/Public/
drwxr-xr-x 2 mihai mihai 4,0K 2009-06-18 14:28 /home/mihai/Public/

I added the execute bit on /home/mihai and it now works.
Since the permission was there by default and I removed it, this bug as invalid.

[Dusan Maliarik (dusan-maliarik)]

I got this same problem with Karmic, while it apparent what's the problem, people usually share folders in their home directories, so I guess nautilus' sharing extension should inform users when creating/modyfying shares, and offer them permission changes

[psypher (psypher246)]

fyi for anyone else having this issue, in my case the problem was caused by me setting chmod -R 700 on my home folder, just doing chmod 755 on my home fixed it.

[Sergio Fernández Marcos (sfmarcos)]

It's not necessary to give 755 permissions to your home folder. It works with 711 (setting execute bit for all users).

[Anton Belyaev (anton-belyaev)]

Yes, execute bit is enough.

While Nautilus in Gnome offers to set some permissions automatically for the shared folder, it does not set it for parent (home) folder.

Somehow after a fresh install permissions for my home were drwx------.
For newly created desktop users (after the installation), their home permissions were drwxr-xr-x.

I have a question: doesnt setting X bit violate any privacy for me? I would like to share a single directory in my home without loosening permissons for the rest of home.