Mapping a Windows DFS share doesn't properly show me the filesystem.

[dirtabulous]

Binary package hint: gvfs

When mapping a standard Windows Share, I am able to see the contents of the file system. When mapping a Windows DFS share, I am unable to see the contents of the directory. Mapping is done through Gnome: Places->Connect to Server... The connection string is smb://domain;username@server/dfs

Using a terminal, I can cd to the dfs share, and type ls, and see the contents: (example)

:~/.gvfs/dfs on server$ ls
office sites

Using a terminal, if I cd to the dfs share and type ls on one of the existing folder, I get:

~/.gvfs/dfs on server$ ls sites
ls: cannot access sites: No such file or directory

The ls shows me the folders/files are there, but cannot find them.

Since upgrading from Ubuntu 9.04 to Ubuntu 9.10, this has been an issue. I can map the same DFS share in Windows and have proper access. I may be doing something wrong, but this seems like a bug, since it was working previous to the upgrade.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Nov 5 13:11:24 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: gvfs 1.4.1-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
SourcePackage: gvfs
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic x86_64

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please answer these questions:

 * Is this reproducible?
 * If so, what specific steps should we take to recreate this bug?

 This will help us to find and resolve the problem.

[dirtabulous (davidber)]

o) On my current machine, yes. If I unmount and mount, the same results happen. I do not have another Ubuntu 9.10 machine to try this on at the moment. I might be able to try on a VM soon.

o) You will need access to a Windows DFS. Then, try mapping the DFS. Mapping is done through Gnome: Places->Connect to Server... Set type "Windows Share". The connection string is smb://domain;username@server/dfs

I can say that prior to Ubuntu 9.04 mapping a DFS share had the same results as they do now in 9.10. 9.04 worked.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

The issue is an upstream one and it would be nice if somebody having it could send the bug the to the people writting the software (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME)

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

letting somebody who understand the issue and what a dfs is to deal with that one

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

can you use those in smbclient?

[dirtabulous (davidber)]

Yes, smbclient allows me to view the files and folders in my DFS mount.

[Metabaronen (emil-assarsson)]

This is a problem at our site. We need to use a workaround where we use smbclient -k '\\dfs\path\' -c 'list' to get the real path to the server. Windows administrators feels the need to move things around so we can't publish the real path instead.

I would like to have importance elevated to at least medium.

[Soundwave (chadgreenwald)]

As a result of this bug, I am unable to use 9.10 and am forced to use 9.04. If I can be of any assistance in helping speed this bug fix process up, let me know.

[Lorant Nemeth (loci)]

Just checked and this is still not working with 10.04 beta2:
- started LiveCD with 10.04 beta2 64 bit desktop in virtualbox
- installed smbfs
- checked from console if smbclient and smbmount is able to connect. This worked fine, I was able to list directory content
- typed into filebrowser: smb://mydomain;<email address hidden>/dfs/share
- if i misstype password, authentication window pops up again -> authentication works, if password is entered correctly:
- "could not display "smb://...."" Error: Failed to mount Windows share Please select another viewer and try again
- BTW: the above error message is the same as with 9.10

[Soundwave (chadgreenwald)]

With the end of life on 9.04 set for October of 2010 I will be forced to find another solution for this problem if some progress isn't made in resolving this bug.

If anyone is looking into this is there anything we can provide (Logs, etc) to speed up the resolution?

Thanks

[王伟华 (holmes86)]

I have the same problem.I can use smbclient view file and directory in DFS share,but I only view a directory in nautilus by gvfs.

[王伟华 (holmes86)]

a empty directory

[zajc (zajcek)]

I solve the problem in Ubuntu 10.04 and Nautilus 2.30.1 to put in (I have static IP address)
/etc/resolv.conf
"search network_name"

The problem was because I didn't have proper network name in resolv.conf and dfs server redirected smbclient to a computer with a share without network name, for example "dfscompouter" and my computer was unable to see this computer. When I put this "network_name" into resolv.con my computer was able to find "dfscomputer".

Maybe this isn't a bug at all...

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue that you reported is one that should be reproducible with the live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Oneiric Ocelot. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can work on getting it fixed in the next release of Ubuntu. You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ . Thanks again and we appreciate your help.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gvfs (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Matt Slay (mattslay)]

I've developed another solution for fixing this issue: http://mattslay.com/connecting-ubuntu-to-windows-shares-and-dfs-trees/