[Samba] SOLVED: DFS root only works for more recent Windows clients

[Bruce Richardson]

On Thu, Jun 09, 2011 at 10:39:50AM +0100, Bruce Richardson wrote:
> I've been testing DFS roots and I'm finding that while Vista and 2008
> Server clients can connect with no problems, Windows XP Pro and 2003
> Server clients fail.  This seems like it's the wrong way round - Samba
> usually has more difficulties with recent Windows versions than older
> ones - but I can only assume that there's some registry/policy change
> between the versions.  If anybody has seen similar issues or has an idea
> of the likely cause, I'd be very glad of the help.

The cause was having a global restriction on access to shares:

> 
> # -------------------------- Share Default Options ---------------------------
>         valid users = @domadmins, @domusers,

Moving that option from the global config into the share config enabled
access for XP and 2003 DFS clients.  It seems that older versions of
Windows rely on public visibility of the IPC$ share for some things.

-- 
Bruce

What would Edward Woodward do?