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Linux connect to Windows desktop?

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

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Anyone gullible (er, I mean hearty) enough to give me some Linux help?

Issue: After moving my laptop from Fedora 18 to Fedora 19, I can no longer see (or print to) my upstairs Windows desktop (usb printer attached to desktop).

Any takers? Details on request - PM or here.

Thanks.
Tom
 
The only way I've ever been able to print is to turn off the Windows firewall. Both computers have the same user name and password and I've set permissions, but I can never get any of the shares to work with the firewall in place. So I kill it, print (or file transfer) and reactivate it.
 
Thanks Greg. Here's the gory detail:

Windows 7 firewall is off. Administration/Print Settings/Add Printer. Network printer. None of the options (ipp, http, samba, etc.) connect. Samba is loaded on laptop; Win7 firewall disabled. "Find network printer" results in "no printer found".


Using IP of Win7 desktop as host, or "HOMEGROUP/George/CanonMP160" etc., results in "no printer was found at that address".
I can ping the Win7 desktop IP.


Printer Config Samba Add Printer setup isn't intuitive to me. Regardless of what I enter in the SMB box, (workgroup name, computer name, IP, port, printer name, etc.) result is "Print Share Inaccessible" when I hit Verify.


Also note: Thunar and Nautilus don't find connect to Win7 computer using SMB, and fail to find any network device using Browse Network. Win7 desktop is configured to share the printer, and to share one user folder. Windows firewall is off.

oy

Tom
 
Tom, can the Fedora machine "see" the other shared resources (hard drive directory, "Public" directory) on the Win7 box?

Is the "workgroup" in your /etc/samba/smb.conf file (under GLOBAL) set to the same name as the Win7 box?
 
DrEntropy said:
Tom, can the Fedora machine "see" the other shared resources (hard drive directory, "Public" directory) on the Win7 box?

nope

Is the "workgroup" in your /etc/samba/smb.conf file (under GLOBAL) set to the same name as the Win7 box?
Click to expand...

Windows 7 Control Panel shows my Homegroup is "Network 2". So I set smb.conf to show Network_2 (instead of the default MYGROUP.

Doesn't seem to improve anything.

Tom
 
Right -click the "computer" icon on the Win7 machine, look at "properties" and see what workgroup the win box is using. Then look in the Fedora /etc/samba/smb.conf file's GLOBAL settings... they should be the same. That "Homegroup" stuff may not be the same. Win7 is a bugger to get to play nice on a LAN, IMHO.
 
DrEntropy said:
Right -click the "computer" icon on the Win7 machine, look at "properties" and see what workgroup the win box is using. Then look in the Fedora /etc/samba/smb.conf file's GLOBAL settings... they should be the same. That "Homegroup" stuff may not be the same. Win7 is a bugger to get to play nice on a LAN, IMHO.
Click to expand...

Thanks. properties shows workgroup name is WORKGROUP (how clever ...)

Changed smb.cnf to show WORKGROUP, restarted, still now change. Thunar yields nothing when "Browse network" is chosen. Nautilus says "don't recognize this server file type" when you try Server:smb:// .

oy oy
 
Open a terminal on Linux, type ifconfig and get the IP addy for whichever (eth0 or eth1) NIC is on the LAN. Then on the Winblows box, type ipconfig in that thing's DOS prompt "terminal" for the same info. Use those addresses for pinging, one to the other. If they return both directions your issue is likely in the "phrasing" of the discovery commands to the print share. SMB is kinda literal.


EDIT: The Linux box shouldn't need reboot, just a logout-login to reset the SMB.conf parameters. The Win box on the other hand, well... reboot at every change.
 
Fedora pings Windows w/o problem. Windows pings Fedora w/o problem.

Wish I could find a reference to exactly how to tell Nautilus to connect to the Windows machine. And same for setting up the printer.

Using system-config-printer for Windows via Samba, results in "print share inaccessible"; non-samba (e.g. ipp, ipps, etc.) results in "no printer found". Nautilus smb search still results in "don't recognize this server file type". Nautilus Browse Network (network:///) just sits there - no error or response.
 
I take back what I said earlier. I can't print from Fedora to my windows printer. I can see my windows shared files so I have to copy a file to the windows machine then open the file from Windows to print. I am not able to see the printer over the network from Linux. In my smb.conf file there is the following line under Printing Options:

; load printers = yes

It looks like it is commented out. Should that be activated? I'm not trying to steal this thread, maybe Tom has the same config?
 
Greg - I just uncommented that line, but no change. Same negative results from Nautilus and from Printer setup.

I've spent several days searching various Linux forums. This problem seems to pop up frequently, but only get "stabs in the dark" as suggestions. Even found two websites for Linux printing setup; but surprise! both websites have 404 errors on the setup details pages.

It's a conspiracy I tell ya!

Thanks.
Tom
 
Say - you mention you can see your shared files. I assume those files are on the Windows machine, and you can see them from your Linux machine.

What app are you using? Nautilus? Do you just "browse network" to see them? or use Connect to Server? or ... ?
 
I use Dolphin as my day to day file manager. In the left pane there is a network icon where I can view my Samba shares on the Windows machine. Very straight forward.

Actually, Just off the Launcher in KDE, I can click on computer- then network from there. Brings me to the same spot with less clicks.
 
Amazing - Dolphin does it. I can view all the Samba shares on the Win7 machine. Weird that Thunar and Nautilus fail.

Have to admit, Dolphin required 48 other installs (dependencies).

Still can't add the printer. But one step forward anyway.
 
I don't like Fedora... my stuff is CentOS. RedHat ~server~ warez, much more "configureable" than Fedora.

The smb.conf file is where things get sorted, it is literal. MS will forgive more errors. Look to the MS "HOSTS allow" file on the MS box, list the IP of the Fedora box in there.

...this is poking the pig, I ain't there to enter keystrokes in realtime...
 
Well, there is no host*.* file on the Win7 machine. But as I can browse to the shared Samba folders, seems that aspect is working (with Dolphin anyway).

It's the printer configuration that's failing.

Somehow I'm reminded of "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma".


Enigma-8-rotor.jpg


grumble grumble

 
This "Dolphin" is another layer of complexity I'm not familiar with.

SAMBA ~should~ be all ya need... does your network stack include NETBios on the Winblows box? That is a net name resolution utility that could resolve a recognition of the naming convention.
 
I think I've made some headway. Looks like I didn't have enough of the right Samba. I un-installed it and put the newest version on. Then I added samba-winbind and samba-winbind-clients. That gave me an extra line "Windows printer via SAMBA" in the add new printer dialog box in system settings. When I print a test page I get the error "connection failed: NT_STATUS_CONNECTION_REFUSED" I have the connection listed as "smb://workgroup/blueglow:9100/r1900". On the windows machine, I have the USB port set to 9100, sharing on, firewall off at the moment. Gonna let it percolate for a while. Oh, and I did have NETbios turned on for some reason.
 
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