Trouble modifying the password file

[John E. Malmberg]

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> "Obrien, John E" <john.e.obrien3 at Boeing.company> wrote:
> Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 10:20:20 -0400 
> 
> Hi,
> I'm trying to run Samba off of a VMS system running 
> OpenVMS 7.1.

I will assume that you are running SAMBA 2.0.6, as previous
versions of SAMBA for OpenVMS ignore the smbpasswd.dat password file.

> Whenever I try to map the drive to the
> samba system with the NET USE command in DOS,
> I get prompted for a password. Whatever password
> I use, it is rejected and I cannot map to the drive.

This will be the case if you are connecting from a Windows NT
or later client and do not have a valid SAMBA Guest LOGIN
account with a valid directory.  The name of the SAMBA GUEST
account varies with the version of SAMBA.  IIRC: Prior versions
of SAMBA for OpenVMS defaulted to the name of the UCX "guest"
account.

The default name for the SAMBA GUEST account is compiled into the image,
but can be overridden in the smb.conf file.


Or it could be a case where you were using a version of
SAMBA for OpenVMS that was older than 2.0.6.  In this case
you must have plain text passwords enabled in the registry.

And finally, there is a known issue with SAMBA earlier than
2.0.7 (all platforms) can have intermittant problems with Windows 2000.
And IIRC: Windows ME and later will require 2.2.0 (Plus patches?)

And before you ask, 2.0.6 is the latest SAMBA binaries I have seen anyone
admit to.  2.0.7/2.0.8/2.0.9 are functionally equivalent on OpenVMS and
the linker reports that they will "probably" build and link on OpenVMS
V7.3 or later.  The details are in the archives for this list.
 
> I know I need an entry in the samba password file,
> but whenever I try to make an entry in the Samba
> password file on the VMS box, I get the following
> error messages:
> 
> $ spass -a system password99
> startsmbfilepwent: unable to open file /samba_root/private/smbpasswd.dat
> unable to open smb password database.
> startsmbfilepwent: unable to open file /samba_root/private/smbpasswd.dat
> add_smbfilepwd_entry: unable to open file.
> Failed to add entry for user system.
> Failed to change password entry for system
> 
> I'm logged in as SYSTEM. I have tried removing the
> existing smbpasswd.dat file and having the spasswd.exe
> create it for me, but I get the same error messages.
> If I cannot fix the smbpasswd.dat file, is there a way to
> turn off password authentication. I tried the QUEST OK = YES
> setting in smb.conf, but it made no difference.

If you are not running SAMBA 2.0.6, do not expect the smbpasswd.exe
program to do anything at all.  And even if it did do something, there is
nothing to use the file.

There was one release of SAMBA 2.0.6 that could not create a smbpasswd
file, but that was quite ancient.  You can check what kit you have against
the one on the OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM.

See http://www.openvms.compaq.com/ and follow the links.

-John
wb8tyw at qsl.network
Personal Opinion Only.

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