Can't access shares from Ubuntu machine

[GaryReggae]

I've just set up my Amahi server and I can't access my Shares from my laptop, which is running Ubuntu (LTS).

I go into Places > Network and I can see the machine 'HDA'. I go into there and I can see the shares - 'Music', 'Pictures' etc. It then comes up with a box 'Password required for share music on hda' with input boxes for Username, Domain and Password.

I've tried all the different combinations of Username and domain it could be (there are only three possible variations for each as the password only has one variant) but what I put in the boxes appears to be irrelevant, as it brings up the message: 'Unable to mount location' then 'Failed to mount Windows share'.

I think that message is probably the answer - my laptop thinks the shares are Windows but they are not as they are on my Amahi (Fedora) server.

I can access the Amahi server from my laptop for other things - typing 'hda' in my browser URL bar brings up the Amahi dashboard and I can also edit my Wiki. It's just the shares that are the problem.

I haven't tried VPN yet (to see if I can get in that way) as it appears one has to have a degree in arcane computer engineering to get a VPN client to run on Linux. 'Compile the RPN from the binary source repositories then edit fstab and...argh'. I want a nice GUI to do all this stuff. I tried to follow the instructions and managed to get something to install but starting it is the next puzzle. It has filled my file system with odd files but they all appear to just be config text files. Where's a nice easy Setup.exe file? (Sorry, rant over, it's just I'm trying to get all my photos/music etc in one place and Amahi seems to be the ideal way of doing this but I am frustrated about trying to implement this and coming up against problems that seem way beyond my capability to resolve).

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.!

[radioz]

Have you tried the Network Troubleshooter in the Wiki yet? http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Network_troubleshooting

I suggest you work through the steps there and post your results here.

[GaryReggae]

Thanks for your reply. I have gone through the 13 steps of the network troubleshooter and all seems to be OK. I can access both the Internet and local network machines from the HDA and vice versa - it is just the shares that I cannot access.

[ghstryder]

I booted to a Ubuntu CD, clicked "Connect to Places" and entered smb://hda. In the box asking for my Username/Domain/PW, I entered a username, WORKGROUP for the Domain/Workgroup, and my password. At that point I can enter any of the shares.

I use Debian/KDE/Dolphin on my desktop machine, and it works the same way, although Dolphin doesn't ask for a Domain/Workgroup.

I'm guessing it thinks they are Windows shares due to the fact that they are Samba shares.

I haven't tried them since implementing vpn is pretty straight-forward, but I believe there are a couple of one-click apps available. You might solicit advice/comments on them. There is also this in the wiki: http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/VPN_Ubuntu

Did you read "Compile the RPN from the binary source repositories" here or in the wiki?

[GaryReggae]

Thanks for your reply. I've tried smb://hda and this brings up the network places navigator and the title in the window says 'Windows shares'. I've tried all the possible usernames it could be, using 'WORKGROUP' as domain but it still comes up with the message 'Failed to mount Windows share'.

With regard to VPN, I looked at the page you suggested and the problem I come up with here is that the VPN Connection Manager (Open VPN) does not come up in the list of software in the Ubuntu Software Centre. There are several other options that come up but nothing that looks like an obvious alternative. I went to the Open VPN website and tried to install it from there but that is where I tried to install it but it involved compiling software from repositories etc.

Thanks for any further suggestions!

[radioz]

Does the user name you initially created have capital letters in it?

I seem to recall a discussion about problems if this was the case (search the forums for it).

Seemed like the solution was to use only lower-case.

[GaryReggae]

Does the user name you initially created have capital letters in it?

I seem to recall a discussion about problems if this was the case (search the forums for it).

Seemed like the solution was to use only lower-case.

You are a STAR!

I had a look in the user manager and saw there were two versions of me - one all lowercase and the other with leading caps. Rather than faff around, and as I haven't done much with my server yet, I did a fresh install of Fedora and Amahi, this time making sure to avoid caps.

I can now access all my shares from my laptop at last, so once again, many thanks.

[radioz]

Aha! Glad my fading memory was able to help.

Have fun with your hda!