Can't detect the samba share.[Resolved]

Brad Buskey

Am I not able to connect as 'root'? Do I need to create a new user account in order to allow access?

Luciano S.

as i remember from playing around with samba, that you can grant the rights for root in the configuration. Just might be a security issue?!

Javid Freeman

Thank you @Enrico Trevisanello!

The following worked for me:
uci set samba.@samba[0].interface='eth* [YOUR_CLIENT_IP]/[SUB_NET_MASK]'
uci commit samba
/etc/init.d/samba restart

I'm currently on 0.1.9 b150 firmware if that helps.

Enrico Trevisanello

@Brad-Buskey yes! you have to! check (and modify) the the file /etc/samba/smb.conf.template
this file is the template, as the name says itself, and is used to generate the actual config file /etc/samba/smb.conf every time the samba service starts (so also when you restart it).

james lee

@Enrico-Trevisanello Thank you. It works. I edited the /etc/config/samba directly. added the interface.

Steven de Salas

FYI: You can set '*' for the interfaces value, that way it will work for BOTH ethernet and wlan.

I also created a /shared directory and an smb user to manage all the samba files. This is what I have now:

root@Omega-72FF:~# cat /etc/config/samba
config samba
    option 'name'                   'Omega'
    option 'workgroup'              'WORKGROUP'
    option 'description'            'Omega'
    option 'homes'                  '0'
    option 'interface'              '*' # <-- (wlan + ethernet)

config 'sambashare'
    option 'name'           'shared'
    option 'path'           '/shared'
    option 'users'          'smb'
    option 'guest_ok'       'yes'
    option 'create_mask'    '0700'
    option 'dir_mask'       '0700'
    option 'read_only'      'no'

Note that the smb user has to be created both as a system user AND samba user. This is done by editing the /etc/passwd file (add a line), setting the password for the newly created use (passwd smb) and creating the user at samba level with smbpasswd -a smb. Make sure you also do chown smb /shared so that this user owns the relevant directory.

As per @Luciano-S coment above, the reason for going through all this malarchy is because the root user by default is prevented from being a samba user as well (I'm guessing because of the security risk).

You can probably turn this off by commenting the relevant line in /etc/samba/smb.conf.template then setting root as your sambashare user instead.. but I was happier with the config above:

[global]
    netbios name = |NAME|
    display charset = |CHARSET|
    interfaces = |INTERFACES|
    server string = |DESCRIPTION|
    unix charset = |CHARSET|
    workgroup = |WORKGROUP|
    local master = no
    browseable = yes
    deadtime = 30
    domain master = yes
    encrypt passwords = yes
    enable core files = no
    guest ok = yes
#   invalid users = root  # hmmm.. is commenting this out a good idea?
    load printers = no
    map to guest = Bad User
    max protocol = SMB2

Brad Buskey

@Steven-de-Salas What is the line syntax for the new user in /etc/passwd

It looks like User:?:?:?:user?:home-dir:shell
I dont know the ? in the above?

I almost have it, I just cant get authenticated.

Luciano S.

@Brad-Buskey said in Can't detect the samba share.[Resolved]:

I almost have it, I just cant get authenticated.

I guess you have to tell us witch way you took. If you gave the user root full access you may not have to authenticate?

Brad Buskey

Just to see if I can get into the smb share, I commented out the Invalid User from the template.
I created the root account in the smbpasswd
I then attempted to connect to the share (via OSX) and was able to connect to the share.
This gives me a list of the directories (I mapped it to '/')
All of the directories, when I attempt to access them, return the following:
"The folder 'root' can't be opened because you do not have permission to see its contents."

I used the template above from Steven for the share, commenting out the "option 'users' line.

Once I get the /etc/passwd worked out, I will go back to using a separate user for the samba, however I have a feeling I will get the same results (no access to any directory) anyway. So I want to get it working with root first.

Steven de Salas

@Brad-Buskey: I used this link to create my new /etc/passwd user, the result is as follows:

smb:x:501:501:samba:/shared:/bin/ash

My understanding is that this is equivalent to:

[user]:[pwd]:[id]:[id]:[desc]:[home]:[shell]

When running passwd smb the [pwd] component seems to get replaced by a hash of the password.

Dont forget you also need to give user full access the the [home] directory. I used chown smb /shared to acomplish this.

You can also verify samba auth locally before moving on to connect via your desktop:

$ opkg install samba36-client
...(package download blah blah)...
$ smbclient -L localhost -U smb
Enter smb's password: ******

    Sharename       Type      Comment
    ---------       ----      -------
    shared          Disk
    IPC$            IPC       IPC Service (Omega)

    Server               Comment
    ---------            -------
    MEDIAHUB             WD TV Live
    OMEGA                Omega

    Workgroup            Master
    ---------            -------
    WORKGROUP            MEDIAHUB

Brad Buskey

@Steven-de-Salas Thanks! Will check this out when I get into work.

Brad Buskey

Everything is working now, I was missing a : on the created user in the passwd file.