When setting up a simple file share you are unable to access the share from a Windows machine, while the samba server has no password set.

[tobyadams87]

When asked to authenticate when accessing the Samba share on the Ubuntu machine from the Windows machine, Windows asks for user name and password. The user name is your current user name, but the password is not set until you enter the following at the command line on Ubuntu:

sudo smbpasswd -a 'myusername'

I assume it should take the password from the user account automatically, but if not you should be able to set this password for the Samba server graphicaly via "System > Administration > Shared folders" without messing around in the terminal for such a simple task.

[Rob Caskey (rcaskey)]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SimpleSambaIntegrationSpec attempts to address the difficulty you encountered. If any qualified person can help fill out this spec, please do, so that it might have a shot for feisty+1.

[Bart Kummel (bartkummel)]

When it turns out to be difficult to implement a graphical password setup under "System > Administration > Shared folders", the least that can be done is adding a short help text to the "System > Administration > Shared folders" window that tells you to execute the

sudo smbpasswd -a 'myusername'

command.

[Phil Bull (philbull)]

I mailed upstream to see if they'd accept a patch for their documentation to mention this issue. If they don't accept it, it should still make it into the Feisty+1 docs.

[eppy 1 (choppy121212)]

"When it turns out to be difficult to implement a graphical password setup under "System > Administration > Shared folders", the least that can be done is adding a short help text to the "System > Administration > Shared folders" window that tells you to execute the"

If they have to go that kind of router, could they not even make just a link to launch the smbpasswd command for each user, instead of just documenting it and expecting the user to follow (there will be problems with newbies then, trust me)? Like how the underlined blue link in System->Preferences->Remote Desktop "vncviewer:0" opens up Evolution. It's just that this has been plaguing Ubuntu since warty (though not other distros, eg., Suse has YaST, Red Hat/Fedora have system-config-samba) and it would be nice to get a non-bandaid UPSTREAM GNOME or other deskop environment-neutral solution..

[Jonathan Watmough (jonathan-watmough)]

Just confirming.

I had to do 'sudo smbpasswd jonathan' and then was able to connect from my iMac.

It seems like it wouldn't quite fit to put the user smb passwd set button in the shared folders box, but it *is* the best place from a likely workflow point of view.

Maybe a [Users] button could be placed at the bottom right to allow setting the smbpasswd for any particular user.

Is it actually possible for samba to pick up the same authentication i.e. password for a user when it is activated? (on a standalone machine, rather than a domain, in the most basic case) Or is it always going to be necessary to run smbpasswd for each user to be permitted access to share?

[Christoph Donges (cdonges)]

I haven't done any linux devel before but I am a windows programmer by day.
How hard would it be to fix this bug by allowing samba passwords to be set
in the shared folders box? Would it be a c or a python program or something
else? I have been doing some reading about gtk and glib.

So, in summary I am interested in having a go at fixing this but I would
probably need some help.

On 5/23/07, Jonathan Watmough <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 24184 ***
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/24184
>
> Just confirming.
>
> I had to do 'sudo smbpasswd jonathan' and then was able to connect from
> my iMac.
>
> It seems like it wouldn't quite fit to put the user smb passwd set
> button in the shared folders box, but it *is* the best place from a
> likely workflow point of view.
>
> Maybe a [Users] button could be placed at the bottom right to allow
> setting the smbpasswd for any particular user.
>
> Is it actually possible for samba to pick up the same authentication
> i.e. password for a user when it is activated? (on a standalone machine,
> rather than a domain, in the most basic case) Or is it always going to
> be necessary to run smbpasswd for each user to be permitted access to
> share?
>
> ** Attachment added: "Users button in Shared Folders Dialog"
> http://librarian.launchpad.net/7748262/SharedFoldersDlg.jpg
>
> --
> When setting up a simple file share you are unable to access the share
> from a Windows machine, while the samba server has no password set.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/103708
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Huygens (huygens-25)]

Christoph,
I think it would be easy to code, and there isn't really constraint about a programming/scripting language. The problem is "requirements". The user wants to have seamless connection to share using their login password (I assume from the various bug reports). The definition in software of such requirements seems at first obvious, but from a usability/ergonomics perspective it is a really difficult one. Once this can be defined, the implementation is fairly straight forward.

Speaking of software requirements definition, where do we add the functionality? Is it transparent to the user/administrator (meaning once the user login password is set, the Samba one is set automatically accordingly)? Or does each user will have to choose one using a dedicated GUI? etc.

If you want to help, you could write a specification for it, either in the wiki (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/) and/or in launchpad (here on this site) as a blueprint (if you cannot identify the component on which you write the blueprint, choose Ubuntu).
I'm sending you below an example of a typical specification:
  - the blueprint entry: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/dell-backlight-support
  - which points to a wiki article: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DellBacklight

Once you have a draft, you could propose it for review. :-) Perhaps, people could bring ideas too and enhance it. If you look at other specification, some do not even propose software ones, but are just trying to properly define the user need. Those are proposed and then other person can try to create a software specification out of this. So if you feel already just like defining the user needs, that would be great. Perhaps, you could use the forums (http://ubuntuforums.org/) to start a poll/investigation/discussion about what the users want.

[Eric S. Johansson (esjh)]

Huygens wrote:

> Once you have a draft, you could propose it for review. :-) Perhaps,
> people could bring ideas too and enhance it. If you look at other
> specification, some do not even propose software ones, but are just
> trying to properly define the user need. Those are proposed and then
> other person can try to create a software specification out of this. So
> if you feel already just like defining the user needs, that would be
> great. Perhaps, you could use the forums (http://ubuntuforums.org/) to
> start a poll/investigation/discussion about what the users want.

this is a really idea and I hope we can come up with a small set of options we
can present via the forums/mailing list. I am concerned that we'll get too many
fanciful/impractical options and not be able to find or get good comments.

---eric

--
Speech-recognition in use. It makes mistakes, I correct some.