Public folder not so public

Linux Support
1

Hi Guys

I’ve been trying to get the Public folders on 2 PC’s on my network to sync, but I’m obviously misunderstanding the concept of “Public Folder” or I’m doing something wrong

I take it that the point of the Public Folders is that any files I have in the public folder on one PC can be viewed in the public folder of another within the network and visa versa ?

I have 2 PC’s on the network I want to share files with which are Linux1 (peppermint4) & Linux2 (Linux Lite) I have samba installed on both machines and set each machine to share the Public Folder via the samba server configuration gui both are set to writable & visible and access is set to “allow access to everyone” and both are set to “workgroup” but I can’t get them to share files, any help would be much appreciated

Many Thanks

Graeme

2

Are you misunderstanding what the “Public” folder does ?

it’s just a folder like any other … it can be shared, but AFAIK it doesn’t “sync” with others.

Can you browse to the shared public folders in pcmanfm>Go>Network Drives> etc. ?

3
Are you misunderstandi ng what the "Public" folder does ?

I must be but if it’s a folder like any other in the home directory I fail to see the point in it being there

Can you browse to the shared public folders in pcmanfm>Go>Network Drives> etc.

in file manager GO>Network Drives I have one choice “Windows Network” then if I open that I only get MSHOME then if I try to open that I get a long wait then an error message " failed to retrieve sharelist from server:
connection timed out"

Then if I click “OK” another error message " specified location is not mounted"

4

Could you show us the samba configuration file?

cat /etc/samba/smb.conf
5
6

It’s dawned on me that i have been misunderstanding the meaning of “Public”

it means public with other accounts on this PC not the network sorry

7

is this PM3 or 4

have you got smbclient installed ?

have the PC’s got static IP’s

yup, “Public” is writeable with any account on your PC … it doesn’t “sync” with other PC’s

8

Any reason you got browseable = yes commented out?
You may want to check your configuration file is correct, you need to run the following command

testparm

If that is OK
Is samba running?

ps aux | grep smb
9
is this PM3 or 4

PM4

have you got smbclient installed ?

yes both Pc’s have it installed

have the PC's got static IP's

Yes both are static Linux1 (PM4 192.168.2.2) Linux2 (Linux Lite 192.168.2.3)

yup, "Public" is writeable with any account on your PC .. it doesn't "sync" with other PC's

Yes that’s what I misunderstood so in that case as neither PC has any more than 1 account it’s pointless going on because that’s not what I was trying to do

10

browsable=yes is commented out on mine, and it’s still browseable

set up with the system-config-samba GUI … that’s how it sets em up, and it still should work :o

11
Any reason you got browseable = yes commented out?

None that I know of

graeme@Linux1 ~ $ testparm
Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
rlimit_max: increasing rlimit_max (1024) to minimum Windows limit (16384)
Processing section "[printers]"
Processing section "[print$]"
Processing section "[Public]"
Loaded services file OK.
Server role: ROLE_STANDALONE
Press enter to see a dump of your service definitions

[global]
	server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu)
	map to guest = Bad User
	obey pam restrictions = Yes
	pam password change = Yes
	passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
	passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
	username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
	unix password sync = Yes
	syslog = 0
	log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
	max log size = 1000
	dns proxy = No
	usershare allow guests = Yes
	panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
	idmap config * : backend = tdb

[printers]
	comment = All Printers
	path = /var/spool/samba
	create mask = 0700
	printable = Yes
	print ok = Yes
	browseable = No

[print$]
	comment = Printer Drivers
	path = /var/lib/samba/printers

[Public]
	comment = Linux1-Shared
	path = /home/graeme/Public
	read only = No
	guest ok = Yes
graeme@Linux1 ~ $ 


graeme@Linux1 ~ $ ps-aux | grep smb
ps-aux: command not found
graeme@Linux1 ~ $
12
Yes that's what I misunderstood so in that case as neither PC has any more than 1 account so it's pointless going on because that's not what I was trying to do

If you want them to sync,across 2 PC’s … mount the public folder through fstab, and use sommat like rsync

Do you want to try work out why you seem unable to browse the shares or not ?

13
Do you want to try work out why you seem unable to browse the shares or not

If you don’t mind it seems there is a problem there

I would appreciate that

14

are you running a firewall on the Peppermint PC’s ?

Can you ping one PC from another ?

Can you access the other PC’s shares by entering
smb://192.168.2.x

in the pcmanfm address bar on the other PC (and hitting enter) ?

15
graeme@Linux1 ~ $ ps-aux | grep smb ps-aux: command not found graeme@Linux1 ~ $
Sorry that should have been: 
ps aux | grep smb
16
are you running a firewall on the Peppermint PC's ?

No

Can you ping one PC from another ?

can you remind me how to make it do it only 6 times please ?

Can you access the other PC's shares by entering smb://192.168.2.x

Yes both ways

17 
graeme@Linux1 ~ $ ps aux | grep smb
root      1190  0.0  0.2  23200  4764 ?        Ss   19:38   0:00 smbd -F
root      1224  0.0  0.0  23716  1292 ?        S    19:38   0:00 smbd -F
graeme    3343  0.0  0.3 128420  7256 ?        Sl   20:36   0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-smb-browse --spawner :1.3 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/3
root      4262  0.0  0.1  23484  3328 ?        S    21:38   0:00 smbd -F
graeme    4318  0.0  0.0   5656   836 pts/3    S+   21:41   0:00 grep --colour=auto smb
graeme@Linux1 ~ $
18

ping -c5 I remember

yes I can ping both PC’s both ways

19
can you remind me how to make it do it only 6 times please ?

you’d use the -c 6 option, as in:
ping -c 6 192.168.2.x

But that’s not important now, it seems it’s a DNS (hostname resolution) issue.

Can you post the contents of

gedit /etc/nsswitch.conf

from both machines

What is the hostname for both PC’s

here’s my command line-
mark@AA1-Blue ~ $

so this PC’s hostname is AA1-Bule
if that helps

or you can run:

hostname
20

From the Peppermint PC

# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.
# If you have the `glibc-doc-reference' and `info' packages installed, try:
# `info libc "Name Service Switch"' for information about this file.

passwd:         compat
group:          compat
shadow:         compat

hosts:          files dns
networks:       files

protocols:      db files
services:       db files
ethers:         db files
rpc:            db files

netgroup:       nis

What is the hostname for both PC’s

Linux1 (PM4) 192.168.2.2 & Linux2 (Linux Lite) 192.168.2.3

I’ll log in with Linux2 and post the command in my next post