Samba FAQ

Samba Team

Dedication

This is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document for Samba, the free and very popular SMB server product. An SMB server allows file and printer connections from clients such as Windows, OS/2, Linux and others. Current to version 3.0. Please send any corrections to the samba documentation mailinglist at samba-doc@samba.org. This FAQ was based on the old Samba FAQ by Dan Shearer and Paul Blackman, and the old samba text documents which were mostly written by John Terpstra.

Table of Contents

1. General Information

1.1. Where can I get it?
1.2. What do the version numbers mean?
1.3. What platforms are supported?
1.4. How do I subscribe to the Samba Mailing Lists?
1.5. Pizza supply details

2. Compiling and installing Samba on a Unix host

2.1. I can't see the Samba server in any browse lists!
2.2. Some files that I KNOW are on the server don't show up when I view the files from my client!
2.3. Some files on the server show up with really wierd filenames when I view the files from my client!
2.4. My client reports "cannot locate specified computer" or similar
2.5. My client reports "cannot locate specified share name" or similar
2.6. Printing doesn't work
2.7. My client reports "This server is not configured to list shared resources"
2.8. Log message "you appear to have a trapdoor uid system"
2.9. Why are my file's timestamps off by an hour, or by a few hours?
2.10. How do I set the printer driver name correctly?

3. Configuration problems

3.1. I have set 'force user' and samba still makes 'root' the owner of all the files I touch!
3.2. I have just installed samba and I'm trying to log in from Windows, but samba refuses all logins!

4. Specific client application problems

4.1. MS Office Setup reports "Cannot change properties of '\\MSOFFICE\\SETUP.INI'"
4.2. How to use a Samba share as an administrative share for MS Office, etc.
4.3. Microsoft Access database opening errors

5. Common errors

5.1. Not listening for calling name
5.2. System Error 1240
5.3. smbclient ignores -N !
5.4. The data on the CD-Drive I've shared seems to be corrupted!
5.5. Why can users access home directories of other users?
5.6. Until a few minutes after samba has started, clients get the error "Domain Controller Unavailable"
5.7. I'm getting "open_oplock_ipc: Failed to get local UDP socket for address 100007f. Error was Cannot assign requested" in the logs

6. Features

6.1. How can I prevent my samba server from being used to distribute the Nimda worm?

6.2. How can I use samba as a fax server?

6.2.1. Tools for printing faxes
6.2.2. Making the fax-server
6.2.3. Installing the client drivers
6.2.4. Example smb.conf

6.3. Samba doesn't work well together with DHCP!

6.4. How can I assign NetBIOS names to clients with DHCP?

6.5. How do I convert between unix and dos text formats?

6.6. Does samba have wins replication support?

7. Printing problems

7.1. setdriver or cupsaddsmb failes

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		General Information