[Samba] [newbie] Making sense of network discovery

[Rowland Penny]

On 14/12/2022 14:06, Gilles via samba wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Windows 10 not seeing Samba servers through "net view" is the occasion 
> to understand the issue.
> 
> Did I get this right?

Yes

> 
> Windows' Network Browser (both GUI and CLI?) relied on the Netbios API, 
> which, for historical reason, relied itself partially on SMB1; The two 
> weren't neatly separated at birth.

Wasn't Network Discovery released with Vista ?? So your machines should 
be able to use it instead of Network Browsing.

> 
> When WannaCry 
> <https://dougrathbone.com/blog/2020/09/14/making-linux-samba-shares-browsable-to-windows-hosts-after-wannacry> came out, Microsoft had to disable SMB1 in a hurry… and broke Network Browser, leaving Windows users with no way to browse the network — while it was still possible to connect to a remote computer if you knew its name.
> 
> Upgrading SMB1 to SMB2/SMB3 didn't solve t the solution since Netbios 
> relied partly on SMB1.
> 
> What did/does Microsoft offer as an alternative Network Browser that 
> didn't rely on SMB? WSD <https://github.com/christgau/wsdd>? Does it 
> work for both GUI and CLI (net view)?
> 
> To avoid reconfiguring Windows 7/8 hosts, can a Samba server run both 
> WINS and wsdd?

You shouldn't be using wins at all, it sounds like you are still running 
an NT4-style PDC, if so, can I suggest you upgrade to AD.

> 
> Thank you.
> 
> PS: Is there an online archive of the list that's easier to search than 
> downloading and grepping zip files 
> <https://lists.samba.org/archive/samba/>?

There are a few other Samba archives out there, whether they are easier 
to search is debatable.

Rowland