[Bio-Linux] BioLinux 8.0 cannot connect to windows file server

[Tony Travis]

On 26/11/14 15:15, Hans-Werner Herrmann wrote:
> I am running a server with BioLinux 8.0 and am trying to access our
> Windows file server through "Connect to server..." every time I enter
> smb://  I get a message saying "This file server type is not recognized"
> and the Connect botton is grayed out. Can you help with this?

Hi, Hans-Werner.

I can connect to Windows using Nautilus "connect to server" OK, but the
server is NOT in an NT domain. I suspect that your problem is the
Windows server you are trying to access is using NT domain security and
it won't let you in unless your Bio-Linux machine joins the NT domain.

You could, instead, use cifs to connect and this might be a better
solution because it means the files are accessible to any program.

I put a line like this in /etc/fstab:

> //windows-server      /share  cifs    noauto,credentials=filename     0       0

Where:

  //windows-server is DNS name of your Windows server
  /share is the name of the Windows share you want to access
  cifs is the filesystem type
  noauto means don't automatically mount it when booting Linux
  credentials is a file containing the Windows login credentials

Please note that the credentials file MUST be well protected(!).

You can debug the connection using "smbclient" - Try:

  smbclient -L servername

[Just press enter when asked for a password]

HTH,

  Tony.

--
Dr. A.J.Travis, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Biological and
Environmental Sciences, Cruickshank Building, St. Machar Drive, Aberdeen
AB24 3UU, Scotland, UK. tel +44(0)1224 272700, fax +44 (0)1224 272 396
http://www.abdn.ac.uk, mailto:tony.travis at abdn.ac.uk, skype:ajtravis


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