[Samba] DFS broken in macOS Finder in version 4.22.0

[Harry Youd]

Hi,

I run Arch Linux on my home server that uses samba for a SMB share. I 
use a DFS root using the "msdfs:..." symlinks, which is configured in 
smb.conf. This has been working up until version 4.22.0.

Starting in version 4.22.0, I am unable to access the DFS shares from 
macOS finder (15.3.2). It successfully enumerates the contents of the 
DFS root, but shows broken "shortcut" icons against the subdirectories. 
When attempting to enter a share from the DFS root, an error popup says 
"The operation can't be completed because the original item for 
"Downloads" can't be found". smbclient on Linux successfully navigates 
the DFS shares without change.

I have bisected and it appears to be due to this commit:
https://git.samba.org/?p=samba.git;a=commit;h=4a46c6a88273ea765b142299d6cf33d5ec93588
I'm not sure how to proceed from here. I felt a merge request reverting 
this would be premature as I'm not super sure on the details of what 
this change is doing.


DFS setup:

$ ls -alh /mnt/media/samba/shares/
total 40K
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 188 Mar 27 21:26  .
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root  12 Jul 26  2022  ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  45 Jul 26  2022  Audiobooks -> 
'msdfs:fqdn.of.same.server\audiobooks$'
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  44 Jul 26  2022  Downloads -> 
'msdfs:fqdn.of.same.server\downloads$'


Relevant parts of smb.conf:

[global]
     workgroup = WORKGROUP
     server string = File Server
     server role = standalone server
     hosts allow = 10.113.210. 10.113.211. 10.26.26.
     host msdfs = yes
     map to guest = Bad User
     guest account = nobody
     logging = systemd
     log level = 2
     ntlm auth = true
     allow insecure wide links = yes
[shares]
     comment = Shares
     msdfs root = yes
     path = /mnt/media/samba/shares
     guest ok = yes
     public = yes
     writable = no
     printable = no
[downloads$]
     comment = Downloads in-progress or seeding
     path = /mnt/media/downloads
     force group = media
     writable = no
     printable = no
     valid users = harry
     force directory mode = 2770
     force create mode = 0770
[audiobooks$]
     comment = Audiobook library
     path = /mnt/media/audiobooks
     force group = media
     writable = no
     printable = no
     valid users = harry
     force directory mode = 2770
     force create mode = 0770


Example of smbclient working:

$ smbclient //fqdn.of.server/shares
Password for [WORKGROUP\harry]:
Try "help" to get a list of possible commands.
smb: \> cd Downloads\
smb: \Downloads\> ls
   .                                   D        0  Fri Mar 28 00:26:34 
2025
   ..                                  D        0  Fri Mar 28 00:26:34 
2025
   dropzone                            D        0  Fri Mar 28 00:05:00 
2025
   temp                                D        0  Fri Mar 28 00:25:38 
2025


macOS smbutil dfs
$ smbutil dfs smb://fqdn.of.server/shares/Downloads

No server entries found

------------- Entry 1  -------------
Referral requested : /fqdn.of.server/shares/Downloads
      list item 1 : Path: /fqdn.of.server/shares/Downloads
      list item 1 : Network Address: /fqdn.of.server/downloads$
      list item 1 : New Referral: /fqdn.of.server/downloads$




Please could you help advise next steps, and how I can go about filing a 
bug (I have no account for the bugtracker), and whether there is any 
other information you might need from me to reproduce this error?

Many thanks,
Harry