This is to access windows shares and linux shares using samba. I assume you have a working smb.conf, if not post back for assistance.

First make sure you have the needed apps:

Samba
Fusesmb
smbfs
Samba-common
smbclient

These can be installed via apt-get or synaptic if you prefer. They may pull down other supporting packages so don't worry.

Now once all the packages have been installed create a folder where you want to access your workgroup/network. For me it is /home/me/network but this can be your choice. Right click on it and select properties and choose the permissions you want (read,write,etc)

Next, open /home/username/.fluxbox/startup file. At the end of the list of autostarted applications add:

fusesmb /home/me/network (or the location of the folder you created)

This script can also be placed in .xinitrc if you use multiple window managers but you will need to make it a bash script by adding:
#!/bin/sh

fusesmb /home/me/network

to the top of .xinitrc. This way it will be mounted when X starts regardless of the window manager.

Log out and login, open the folder you created and you should see a folder called"yourworkgroup". Inside you will see another folder for each of the computers on your network and they will list all of their shares.

I think I covered everything but if not let me know. I wanted to put this in the wiki but I still cannot create an account to add/edit.

eriefisher

Thank you for posting this; I'll try it out in a day or two.

First of all, thanks to eriefisher for the article!

please remark that for installation of the mentioned packages their names should be lowercase (Samba => samba)

Following the article delivers a smb connection, but if the shares are not open, you cannot access them. You probably have to create/edit a file ~/.smb/fusesmb.conf
More information about that file & fusesmb can be found at
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FuseSmb"
linktext was:"https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FuseSmb"
====================================


regards, gritibaenz

Of course you are correct and you will definitely need this config if you are set up to need a login and password. I probably should have not assumed that everyone left their local network shares open or at least mentioned it. Mine are open for local use and I am behind a router so they cannot be accessed from the outside.

Thank you for pointing this out.

eriefisher

Hi, eriefisher,

I previously had only fusesmb installed with a /home/laptop/Network folder. I would run fusesmb and then I could see my Mepis shares from my other computer on my laptop, but I could not see the laptop in Mepis.

I followed your instructions and now I continue to see the Mepis shared folder, but I can also see the laptop in smb4k on mepis. However, when I click on Laptop to view the files (still on Mepis), a window pops up and asks for authentication data. It won't take any of the usernames and passwords or the root username and password. I have the permissions on the laptop set so that User can Read, Write, and Exec. Group and World can only Read and Exec. Is this correct? I tried to allow Group to exec using rox run as root, but it doesn't seem to allow it to stay. When I r-click the /home/laptop/Network folder in antiX, the permissions don't have Group allowed to write.

I would like to be able to see the files of the laptop on Mepis without using a password.

I did allow apt-get - the install - to use the package maintainers version of smb.conf, I think it was. Usually I would have kept my version. You may want to put a note on what to do at that point in your instructions. I need to quit for the night. I think I found what to edit in my laptop smb.conf file; I'll look at it later.

Hello mariel77.

A couple things you may want to check, first check the permissions of the shared folder on the laptop(sounds as if you did) to make sure they are set read/write via right click in rox and select properties and check the needed permisions. Next I would check the smb.conf is set up correctly. I use a Mepis version only because it has worked for ever and I never let it get overwritten by the maintainers version just for this reasons. I can post it if you wish.

I don't use it but you may also look at setting up a ~/.smb/fusesmb.conf as mentioned by gritibaenz. I have my shares open so I never set this up and just found it complicated things for my local network. You shouldn't need this if your file permissions are set to read/write for everyone and your smb.conf is set to share.

Let me know how you make out.

eriefisher

Hi, eriefisher,

I found my previous /etc/samba/smb.conf file for my antiX laptop. __{{emoticon}}__
I made a couple of changes to make it exactly like my Mepis 7 smb.conf, but probably didn't need to.

Now I can copy files from the shares of each computer. I can't write from the laptop to the shares of the mepis computer or vice versa. I think the last time I could write to shares was with mepis 3.4 though, so that's OK.

So your method works well for networking on antiX. I think you would want to put it in the antiX FAQs page. I haven't checked it yet today to see if you did). I don't think you need a login.

My only comment is to mention NOT installing the package maintainer's version of smb.conf even though I really knew better than to do that. __{{emoticon}}__

Thanks for all your help!

Dear all,

I did it, and it worked, but is it possible to make this auto at start-up?

Another question about the same subject. Yesterday I looked (by accident?) in a text-file, at which one could change the permissions from other computers, to acces files in this (AntiX) one. Now I couldn't find that file (age?), again. Anyone who can give me a hint?

You can add this to your .xinitrc at the top. Edit this file as a user not root.
Open a run dial log and enter"leafpad .xinitrc". When it opens add the lines to the top. This will mount your network in the folder you specify when x starts.

Not sure what you mean by changing permissions from another computer. I don't think this can be done unless your logged in to that machine as the user.

Dear Eriefisher,

Sorry for the late reaction, but i was very busy with other things.
Anyway, it was not allowed for me, to save the changes. I tried also to change the permissions in properties, but also that was not possible.

The 2nd question about permission, you did not understand, was because of my English i think. What i meant was, from my desktop PC i would be able to access the Thinkpad (antiX) and look / change files . I saw three items, Music, Shared and Printers and Faxes. When for instance i click on the Music tab, i got the message, i am not authorized to access that map. I can understand that (i think), because, see first tekst-part. By the way, i cann't find the items Music and Shared on the Thinkpad.

I don't know if anyone else is having trouble but I have found fuse to be very unstable and unpredictable. I have overcome this by using smbnetfs. Just replace fusesmb with smbnetfs for the command and it should work well.