[Samba] Samba 3, winbind, AD, and pam_mount ... xauth problem

[Shannon Johnson]

I have 2 labs I have to maintain. The first is a Windows-based lab, and
the second is a Linux-based lab. I'm trying to combine the user accounts
to make everything easier... here's what I have so far:

 

The Linux test machine has Samba 3 installed on Fedora Core 1, with
winbind and pam_mount. Pam_mount automatically maps the home directory,
and everything works perfectly when I log in from the command-line
console. The only problem is that I can't start X. I get an error that
says:

 

xauth: error in locking authority file /home/users/username/.Xauthority

 

If I try to log in from the GUI login prompt, it gives me that error,
then drops me back to the prompt. From my reading, the .Xauthority file
is some kind of magic locking file that X creates when it starts. I've
read many, many posts on other lists / forums that say to remove that
file and restart X... it doesn't work here. I continue to get that
error. I've tried everything I can think of. I've read about xauth,
pam_mount, and .Xauthority, but it really isn't making much sense to me.


 

The only clue that made any sense was a post somewhere that said that a
Windows-mounted partition doesn't have the necessary permissions ability
to set up a .Xauthority file, and it must reside on a unix partition.
So, I tried making the environment variable point to another location on
the drive that was accessible by the user, but located on a ext3 drive.
When do that and try to login through the GUI, I get an error that says:

 

Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server

Xlib: No protocol specified

(gnome-session:6386): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: 

 

Then it crashes back to the login screen. I can't try that from the CLI
because the GUI is running on the ctrl-alt-F7, and it says X is already
running.

 

Possibly relating to this problem is another nuance that I've
discovered. The command-line login works perfectly, but when I try to
log into the GUI, it prompts for the username, then the password, then
says I typed the wrong password and prompts me for the username again...
but this time, when I enter the same username, it logs me in (without
asking for the password again). I have PAM set up for system-auth to go
to pam_mount first, then pam_winbind. I'm assuming X points to the
system-auth, and I can't find any evidence that I'm wrong, but it isn't
working...

 

Does anybody have any suggestions for me? I've tried searching
everything I can think of...

 

Shannon Johnson

Systems Administrator

Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Penn State University