Working with SMB shares and SMB shared printers

[SomeDudeInAZ]

Well, if the printer has a usb plug see if you can get it working on 1 machine that way (sometimes makes a difference, sometimes not). Then maybe you could plug it into your unraid server and have a vm as a print server

[SomeDudeInAZ]

PS - just tripped on this…

CUPS not detecting Brother HL-L2350DW IPP Everywhere laser printer

I have an update, and a solution! I dug around some more, retraced the steps I followed to get it working on Arch, and found out that OpenMandriva, unlike most other desktop-oriented distros, doesn’t enable Avahi (zeroconf) by default. I got it to work by running this: # systemctl enable avahi-daemon.service and rebooting and trying it again. Thanks to everybody who tried to help! I’ve never used the Brother driver package on any distro, and using Avahi doesn’t require the printer to have a s…

[harkonnen007 (William Ely)]

@SomeDudeInAZ

Well, if the printer has a usb plug see if you can get it working on 1 machine that way (sometimes makes a difference, sometimes not). Then maybe you could plug it into your unraid server and have a vm as a print server

Well, that’s an interesting solution.

Great idea, I will add that as a possible fix.

[yurimodin]

All we ran at work was HP because you could beat the tar out of them and they just kept trucking…unfortunately they went down this road. At home I have one of these Epson econo-tank systems. I swore eternal exile to all things inkjet years ago but this has been pretty good. You pay more up front but don’t get scammed every 10 minutes to buy another cartridge.

[vannax (Mike)]

I had a 4P that I bought used for $75, ran from 2006 - 2021. I still have it in a closet somewhere. How long has your eco-tank held up for? I’ve read good things about those.

[yurimodin]

Had it about a year but I don’t use it that hard.

[SomeDudeInAZ]

A couple more resources you might fins useful - whilst not directly samba related, this does tie in to getting things mounted properly:

https://forum.level1techs.com/t/outa-luks/233326

and

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=1632707#p1632707

both are me…

[harkonnen007 (William Ely)]

@SomeDudeInAZ

A couple more resources you might fins useful - whilst not directly samba related, this does tie in to getting things mounted properly

Thanks, will have a look. I am going to tackle this project tonight after the wife and kid are tucked in for the night.

[Reziac]

@DD15

I managed to get SMB working for file and folder sharing on two ASUS laptops, a K55A and an X555-UA. I even got it to share with iOS18.x, which is a real accomplishment because iOS18.x is notorious for not working with SMB.

I’ve had no end of trouble with this. I have a very mixed network – Win XP/8.1/10/11, iOS phone, linux (all KDE) PCLOS/OM/Fedora and occasionally others. Windows of all sorts have been beaten with a stick until they understand SMB 1, and mostly talk to each other, but it doesn’t always work. smb.conf has been edited to include this, with uncertain results. Results?

Mostly linux will not speak to Windows, and v.v.

Somehow the PCLOS system can see the main XP64 system (but only in Dolphin), and I don’t know how I achieved this, because at first it could only see the D drive, then one day it suddenly saw all the many shares. It cannot see any other winbox. The iOS phone can see PCLOS, but not Fedora or OM. None of them can see the phone. None of the linux boxen can see each other. When I check smb.conf they are all the same. PCLOS will let Win10/11 log in (sometimes), but not XP. Fedora and OM don’t even see any winbox, nor each other.

Meanwhile the Win11 netbook thinks it must use the network printer by way of the PCLOS box.

The android phone, now retired because it is older than dirt, could see everything, and v.v. So it’s not like it can’t be done!

My solution was to install XP in a VM, and use than when I need to schelp files among these systems that can’t see one another. But I would like to discover Simple Linux-and-Windows Networking, because I’m sure it must be out there somewhere!

[harkonnen007 (William Ely)]

And I thought I was having issues! lol My problems seem simple next to all that mess!

[DD15 (Jeff)]

@Reziac

Windows of all sorts have been beaten with a stick until they understand SMB 1, and mostly talk to each other, but it doesn’t always work. smb.conf has been edited to include this, with uncertain results.

As I recall how things worked, Windows before 10 was SMB1 by default. 10 and 11 use SMB2, and 10 will fall back to SMB1 if required. Not sure if it was possible to upgrade older Windows to SMB2, which is more secure than SMB1.

@Reziac

None of them can see the phone.

That is how iOS is supposed to work. I can’t see my iPad running iPadOS 17.x or my iPhone running iOS 18.x from OM. Same for the iPad and iPhone being seen from any other desktop operating system, Linux or Windows when using SMB shares. It is a limitation imposed by Apple. But both must have SMB2. SMB1 would not work with them, based on my results.

The only way I can directly see my iPhone or iPad in OM is to plug either into an open USB port, and accept the trust dialogs. Because of how Apple has everything arranged, good luck with trying to find that file. Everything gets buried deep in iOS. This method tends to be a complete waste of time unless on Windows with iTunes installed.

@Reziac

None of the linux boxen can see each other.

Just a wild thought. Is your firewall interfering? Are the proper ports open for SMB? I know that I spent time driving myself nuts only to realize that I forgot to open the ports.

@Reziac

The android phone, now retired because it is older than dirt, could see everything, and v.v. So it’s not like it can’t be done!

True. Android will work with anything using SMB. Google did the homework when it came to working with everything.

@Reziac

Fedora and OM don’t even see any winbox, nor each other.

This is that one time I wish that I had not hosed off my old Windows 10 copy on this X555UA. I could do some testing of my own.

@Reziac

Meanwhile the Win11 netbook thinks it must use the network printer by way of the PCLOS box.

I have never been able to figure out how to print using SMB. Perhaps someone else knows how?

[Reziac]

@DD15

As I recall how things worked, Windows before 10 was SMB1 by default. 10 and 11 use SMB2, and 10 will fall back to SMB1 if required. Not sure if it was possible to upgrade older Windows to SMB2, which is more secure than SMB1.

SMB1 fallback worked up through Win10 16xx (very early edition, which was also the last one to be well-behaved about local networks, defined as “sees all, accepts all”). After that, it didn’t. You can’t upgrade older Windows but you can smack newer Windows until they agree that SMB1 is a good thing and should be available. (Since there is no one on my network but me, I am not concerned with security among my various boxen.) But despite being enabled, it doesn’t always work. I have not figured out why; when it’s being stubborn even exactly cloned settings doesn’t help. (Nor does enabling the hidden admin account.)

@DD15

The only way I can directly see my iPhone or iPad in OM is to plug either into an open USB port, and accept the trust dialogs. Because of how Apple has everything arranged, good luck with trying to find that file. Everything gets buried deep in iOS. This method tends to be a complete waste of time unless on Windows with iTunes installed.

No idea. I don’t use the iPhone for anything but a phone. But it can log into the PCLOS box, so presumably if I had any files to transfer, I could. Does KDE Connect only work with Android phones?

@DD15

Just a wild thought. Is your firewall interfering? Are the proper ports open for SMB? I know that I spent time driving myself nuts only to realize that I forgot to open the ports.

I know I did not mess with ports on the PCLOS box. Just installed SAMBA, because it swore at me and told me I needed to, then tried to access the XP64 box (which acts as the poor man’s file server) by name, by IP address, and then by individual share names, and finally one of them worked. But I could only reach the other shares by backing up to the server root, not by going to the root. So I have to start from

smb://silver/HGST
(which happens to be D: )

and walk up a level to reach smb://silver/
whereupon I have all the shares listed, tho sometimes I’m access-denied on some of them (there is no password or login, so that’s not the issue). It’s nuts.

So it appears it is automagically opening ports… at least sometimes!

PCLOS shows up as a share on the XP box (Fedora and OM do not), but will not let XP log in. As noted it lets some Win10/11 log in.

Weirdly, a lot of linux LiveCDs can see and access the whole network. What the heck is different??

@DD15

This is that one time I wish that I had not hosed off my old Windows 10 copy on this X555UA. I could do some testing of my own.

Well, it’s not like it can’t be found… Win10 will usually agree to be “portable” (it may not even whine about activation), that is, on a HDD that wanders among systems as needed. Homeless Win10.

@DD15

I have never been able to figure out how to print using SMB. Perhaps someone else knows how?

I’m not sure how I did either. The printer only speaks to the Win11 netbook, but seems to think it belongs to PCLOS. I guess I don’t care so long as it prints, but it is a nuisance. Next time I have it out I’m going to just plug it into the router and see if that makes it more cooperative.

[Reziac]

@harkonnen007

And I thought I was having issues! lol My problems seem simple next to all that mess!

Who knew a home network could be a comedy show?

And I’m sure some of the problem is mature systems that are set in their ways, and want the stupid user to get off their lawns.

[DD15 (Jeff)]

@Reziac

Does KDE Connect only work with Android phones?

Early on, KDE Connect worked through iOS16/iPadOS16. Then Apple changed something in iOS17 and KDE Connect quit working. At least for me. I let the KDE support know. They got back to me over a year later and wanted me to reinstall the app. I did a reinstallation, but nothing changed. Still no go. I gave up on KDE Connect because I have SMB2 working with both iPad and iPhone, and KDE support didn’t seem to give it much priority. I suspect Apple did something, and they are still trying to figure out what Apple did.

@Reziac

I know I did not mess with ports on the PCLOS box. Just installed SAMBA, because it swore at me and told me I needed to, then tried to access the XP64 box (which acts as the poor man’s file server) by name, by IP address, and then by individual share names, and finally one of them worked.

What does your /etc/hosts file have in it? I am assuming this is a peer to peer network. smb://computer_name won’t work unless every other computer’s name and IP address is stored in the /etc/hosts file. Without it, smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/ will have to be used.

Unless you have a WINS server on the network. Then your server or router may need some fine-tuning.

Are you able to ping between computers? Just one of those crazy things to check just to make sure.

Another thing to try: smb://computer_name.local/

[Reziac]

@DD15

What does your /etc/hosts file have in it? I am assuming this is a peer to peer network.

Yes, all P2P. OM isn’t up to look right now (but whatever it has is the default) but Fedora’s is entirely generic, nothing in it but the loopback definition. PCLOS apparently gets a blocklist update, but otherwise looks like this:

# Generated with:  https://github.com/hectorm/hblock
# Blocked domains: 537523

# BEGIN HEADER
127.0.0.1       localhost localhost.localdomain
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost localhost.localdomain
::1             ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0         ip6-localnet
ff00::0         ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1         ip6-allnodes
ff02::2         ip6-allrouters
ff02::3         ip6-allhosts
# END HEADER

# BEGIN BLOCKLIST
[long list of ad and malware domains blocked]

Windows has a HOSTS I’ve been dragging around and adding to for 20 years, originally from MVPS.

@DD15

smb://computer_name won’t work unless every other computer’s name and IP address is stored in the /etc/hosts file. Without it, smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/ will have to be used.

Apparently no one told PCLOS.
(Tho my router likes to set local IPs in stone, so it’s something to try.)

smb://192.168.0.xx/, as they all are, does not work.

@DD15

Are you able to ping between computers?

Yep. They can all ping by IP address or hostname. (Tho I just realized the Fedora box has lost its hostname… fixed.) Oh, today Dolphin on Fedora knows PCLOS is there, but not the reverse. (Still can’t see files.)

@DD15

Another thing to try: smb://computer_name.local/

This threw an error, which I’ve already forgotten. It’s that time of night!

Thanks!

[DD15 (Jeff)]

In the /etc/hosts file, on mine, to the 127.0.0.1 line I added the name of the computer.

Example:

127.0.0.1 localhost COMPUTER_1

After all the IP6 information, I added the IP addresses and names of the other computers on the network.

Example:

192.168.11.1 COMPUTER_1
192.168.11.2 COMPUTER_2

I didn’t worry about my iPhone and iPad due to the reality of them not being able to serve SMB to other computers and the iPhone having a dynamic IP address.

Remember to go into a terminal and restart the SMB service every time you edit the /etc/samba/smb.conf file:

systemctl restart smb

As far as I can tell, the /etc/hosts file is reread every time a request is made.

On my router, I set up static IP addresses for each computer.

One more thing that I found is Dolphin doesn’t like using the /etc/hosts file in OM. No idea why this is. To get around this, smb://192.168.11.1 to the computer hosting the files. Then add that entry to the list of places in the left panel. Finally, edit the entry in the panel to the remote computer’s name.

[Reziac]

Now my brain hurts. Thanks, I’ll try this and report back (but not today, we are having busy for a few days).

@DD15

127.0.0.1 localhost COMPUTER_1

After all the IP6 information, I added the IP addresses and names of the other computers on the network.

Example:

192.168.11.1 COMPUTER_1

Did you mean for these to be the same?

Laptops come and go and my router always assigns 'em the same IP, so it would probably do the same if the phone left the house. I don’t see any way to manually assign IP to devices. We have our device table, and you will like it!

[DD15 (Jeff)]

The /etc/hosts file only tells the computer which IP address to use when a name is entered. If you are allowing the router’s DHCP to randomly assign IP addresses, then this won’t work. But if you have a table of static addresses, it should work. One way to check is to ping the computer’s name.

What I did on my router is to enable DHCP, but then add a table of static addresses assigned to each computer that has the ability to host SMB files. In my instance, there are only two computers set up this way.

I just tossed in 127.0.0.1 localhost COMPUTER_1 and 192.11.1.1 COMPUTER_1 as examples. I see now where I should have used 192.168.11.1 COMPUTER_2.

Two more things to try in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file:

client min protocol = SMB2
client max protocol = SMB3

This only affects the computer hosting the SMB files. Not the computer trying to connect to the computer with the SMB files.

Networking can get confusing unless you take a few steps back, take a break for a few hours, and then go at it with a fresh perspective.

Somewhat related:

I was setting up my new travel router for the next time on vacation from retirement, and I end up in a place without cellular data service. Yes, those places still exist. The router supports SMB1, not SMB2 or SMB3 when a drive is attached to the USB port. There is no smb.conf file or equivalent on the router. So having those min and max protocols set in OM make no difference.

And my iPhone and iPad, which lack support for SMB1? FTP into that router via a third party app, as Apple doesn’t support FTP either and third party apps only do SMB2 and SMB3.

[harkonnen007 (William Ely)]

@yurimodin or anyone else:

Any help would be appreciated gratefully.

Do you know of any documentation for autofs on OM? Or maybe documentation that works the same way? I don’t want to keep coming to the forum every time there is an issue but there is so little OM specific info when I search. I am trying to RTFM, just point me in the direction of said manual.

I have been told 40 times in 2 weeks that OM is not like INSERT DISTRO, so I do not know where to look for answers.

I configured NFS shares instead of SMB and I can mount them manually with proper permissions but autofs will not work and I’m thinking maybe it wants something very specific from me.

I cannot get it to read my config files, I keep getting error messages saying they are “Missing or not readable”. They are definitely there and they should be readable so IDK man.

I even tried asking Grok, but there seems to be no specific info for the AI to grab onto.

I have to become a programmer to get this working I guess. So be it.

[LeeTalbert]

wiki.archlinux.org is a great resource. Some default directories may be different, and package names might be different, but the info and instruction is pretty universal.