[Samba] Strange issues with clients using Samba
Michael Hutchinson
maniax at actrix.co.nz
Wed Sep 11 02:41:00 GMT 2002
Hi all,
Im currently having an issue with Samba (at least thats where I believe
the problem lies) and Windows 2000 and Windows XP clients.
The problem occurs when some of the clients will go to load a document
with Word or Excel, and lo, the client machine crashes, or the program
opening the document freezes. This is usually worked-around as the
offending program will generally work OK if the client tries opening the
document again.
Now, many people will be throwing their hands in the air and saying "Oh my
god, this guy has windows problems, this is nothing to do with Samba".
Thats what I thought until I found out that this problem has only been
happening since I installed the Linux server (which replaced windows 2000
server)
OK, the issue might be with networking, but I've found nothing there at
all. (Nothing that would cause a document to crash one moment and load the
next, at any rate). If anyone knows of any networking issue that could
cause this kind of instability in clients - please let me know, as I'm
tearing my hair out at the prospect of reinstalling all these windows
clients only to find out the problem remains.
The document loading problem only happens with a few of the clients and
with different frequency (apart from one person whose computer crashes
loading one out of four documents).
I originally thought this problem was something to do with the whole
Microsoft built-in incompatibility with crossing versions of MS Office..
(Office 2k versus Office XP) although after some rigorous testing, the MS
incompatibility is well separate from what is going on (it does exist, but
procedure prevents any conflicts).
So here I am in an almost sticky situation, ready to post my Samba config
file ;-)
# Samba config file (last edit by maniax)
# Global parameters
[global]
domain master = True
null passwords = yes
encrypt passwords = Yes
deny hosts = 192.168.7.
max log size = 50
interfaces = 192.168.10.1 127.0.0.1
print command = lpr -r -P%p %s
# print command = pdq -P %p %s ; rm %s
passwd program = /bin/passwd %u
allow hosts = 192.168.10.
printing = bsd
dns proxy = No
postscript = yes
logon path =
socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
bind interfaces only = Yes
min passwd length = 4
printcap name = /etc/printcap
preferred master = True
admin users = Administrator
logon script = logon.bat
writable = yes
lprm command = rm %s
domain admin group = Administrator
domain logons = Yes
workgroup = MYDOMAIN
server string = Samba Server %v
lm announce = True
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
netbios name = SERVER
load printers = yes
os level = 64
logon drive = H:
logon home =
[printers] - section omitted
[print$] - section omitted
[common]
comment = Common (public) User Directory
path = /home/common
read only = No
force group = users
writeable = Yes
write list = @users
inherit permissions
create mask = 777
security mask = 777
directory mask = 777
directory security mask = 777
force create mode = 777
force directory mode = 777
[quickbooks] - section omitted -
[homes] - section omitted -
[cad] - section omitted -
# Disabled Roaming Profiles with 'logon home =' and 'logon path =' due to
#profile file permission issues with WindowsXP (to be fixed)..# [profiles]
# comment = user profiles
# path = /home/profiles/%u
# read only = No
# inherit permissions = yes
# browseable = no
[netlogon]
comment = netlogon share
path = /home/netlogon
browseable = No
Now, I bet I have a few people asking why the heck all the mask's and
mode's on the common share ? This is because the directory is truly meant
to be public, ie : someone can change another persons files.. This is what
I wanted and the only way to get it happening properly (without windows
moaning about read-only access (when its not _meant_ to) was to set these
permissions.OK there might be another way but what is there works, and there is no
external access to samba whatsoever thus I gave up caring about finding
alternative methods.
Anyway, if anyone can see anything in that config that might be causing a
couple of clients on the network to crash when loading documents - please
let me know !! I hate reloading windows ;)
Cheers,
Michael
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