# Unable to do file/print share between Windows & Linux



## XEyedBear (Jun 25, 2008)

I have between 8 and 10 computers on my home LAN (don't ask; I've very little idea what I'm doing). They are split between the default workgroup name 'WORKGROUP' and the name I have assigned to my home LAN. There is a mixture of Win XP, Win 7 32 & 64 and various levels of Ubuntu.

After 6 long days of trying I have made not one step forward in allowing file/printer sharing.

The Windows machines are all running Comodo Internet Security, on one of which I have created my idea of a set of rules to allow file/print sharing. 

The Windows XP machine, with a user created set of firewall rules, can see no computers on the network (using My Network Places), aside from itself and the shares created on it. It cannot see the computers which are not in the workgroup.

The most common error message this computer generates is 'network path not found'.

A win 7 32 bit computer, in the workgroup, can see all other computers that are in the workgroup, including itself, twice. It cannot access any shares on the Linux computers. It is able to access shares on the Windows XP computer.

ufw Firewall is installed and enabled on one Linux machine and has a vaguely similar set of file/print sharing rules. That machine can see nothing at the Network place. A couple of hours ago it could see the machines that are NOT in my workgroup but could not see the machines that are!

Another linux computer can see the two workgroups (named and default) within the windows network, but cannot browse either workgroup. The most common error message from sharing attempts with the Linux machines is 'unable to mount location. Failed to retrieve share list from server'. 

I have accessed literally dozens of articles in various forums and via Google on the basis of these error messages, and tried out many suggestions. I'm now out of energy and ideas. And a week late.

Can somebody suggest a known and proven procedure to make this sort of configuration work - in the sense of file sharing at the very least. Right now I am reduced to transferring USB sticks between adjacent computers....


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

Might want to consider simplification as well as dropping back to basics.

assuming you are behind a router:

remove comodo firewall
disable the windows firewall
remove gateway entries on all pcs [you can't get compromised if you aren't on the internet]
put all windows pcs into one named workgroup
enable netbios over tcp/ip on all [wins tab in tcp/ip properties]
install/enable file and printer sharing
share something on every pc
have the same user account on all with same password [eliminates account/passwd conflicts]

Sharing should work if you don't have other issues going on.

To get nix flavors to read MS shares install samba. Unless something has changed recently that I am not aware of that is the only way nix can talk in the SMB protocol that Windows talks in.

Perhaps this will help
How to Enable File Sharing & Change the Workgroup in Ubuntu Linux | 7 Tutorials

Once you have everything working you would then slowly add back the services you want.


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## XEyedBear (Jun 25, 2008)

Wand3r3r said:


> Might want to consider simplification as well as dropping back to basics.
> 
> assuming you are behind a router:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the cogent overview.

I actually was trying to get to basics - just trying one thing at a time - for example testing only between Win computers that are in the named workgroup (those in the default workgroup WORKGROUP (3 of them) are not under my control).

I note with interest your comment to 'remove gateway entries'. I am behind a router, which I hope is not visible to the WAN. I don't now how to remove gateway entries. I notice that on the key, Win XP, computer that the TCP/IP properties do not have any setting for a gateway, but I am able to reach the internet without problem. 

On the other hand the output from 'ipconfig /all' shows that I do have a default gateway - which I obviously must have in order to get to the internet. How do I remove this access but still have the ability to wander around my LAN?

Does removing the gateway also remove the possibility that I can be compromised or not?

I do have the same userid on all win machines, but there is no comprehensive sharing, as described in my OP.

I suspect the catch-all 'other issues going on' - but I cannot figure out what they are.

I'm going to try it all again, once I have an understanding of how to remove the gateway.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

You assign a static ip address instead of using dhcp as you are now. By doing a static ip you have control over the gateway entry.

Might want to do this with just two pcs until you get sharing sorted out.


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## XEyedBear (Jun 25, 2008)

Well that simplification has been effective. I have, at least once, been able to browse folders between Xp and Win7 32 bit machines, although the complication of 'Homegroup' versus 'WorkGrioup' in Win 7 escapes me. So far I have been unable to get Win 7 64 bit to talk to anybody, other than the www.

This leaves me with the biggest issue - where I started week before last: trying to get various flavours of Linux to do file/printer sharing.

What I find is that I am now further away from a solution than I was at the start. Aide from the multitude of erroneous and misleading forum entries on this subject, the useful ones usually require me to solve another problem first- and that requires me ... and so on. 

At this time I guess I am between 3 and 5 layers of complexity away from where I started with now about 10 major problems to solve rather than just one. And all of this seems like a continuous stream of 'shot self in foot' by Linux developers.

All I want to do is avoid having to copy to/from USB. It now looks like using email is a far more practical solution than file/print sharing - using services like Dropbox for the really big files. 

Isn't that an embarrassing failure of Linux, that I cannot deliver an easy to install, set-up and use file sharing service, either between various forms of Linux or between Linux and Windows?


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