3.4 Setting Up Windows 2000 Computers

Although Windows 2000 is based on NT technology and is similar to Windows NT in many respects, configuring it for use with Samba is quite different.

You should perform the following steps as the Administrator or another user in the Administrators group .

3.4.1 Networking Components

Go to the Control Panel and double-click the Network and Dial-up Connections icon. You should see at least one Local Area Connection icon. If there is more than one, identify the one that corresponds to the network adapter that is connected to your Samba network. Right-click the Local Area Connection icon, and click the Properties button. (Or double-click the Local Area Connection icon, and then click the Properties button in the dialog box that comes up.) You should now be looking at the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-36.

Figure 3-36. Windows 2000 Local Area Connection Properties dialog

First of all, you might want to click the Configure button under the field for the network adapter, to make sure you see the message "This device is working properly" in the Device status window. If there is a problem, make sure to correct it before continuing. You should also see the message "Use this device (enable)" in the Device usage field of the dialog box. Make sure to set it this way if it is not already. Click OK or Cancel to get back to the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box.

You should see at least the following two components:

Client for Microsoft Networks
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

If you do not see either Client for Microsoft Networks or Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in your list, you will need to add them. For either, the method is to click the Install... button, click the type of component (Client or Protocol), and then click the Add... button. Next , click the component you want to add, and click the OK button. You should see the component added to the list with the others.

Some components should be removed if you see them in the list:

NetBEUI Protocol
NWLink NetBIOS
NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol
Client Service for Netware

If you see anything other than TCP/IP listed as a protocol, and it is not a protocol that you need, you can remove it. Uninstall NetBEUI, unless you are sure you need it, and the other three if you do not need to support Netware. If you try to remove a protocol and get an error message saying that the protocol is being used by another service, you need to remove that service before you can remove the protocol. For example, to remove the NWLink IPX/SPX Compatible Transport Protocol, you would need to remove the Client Service for Netware first.

To remove a component, click the component in the list, click the Uninstall button, and then click Yes in the dialog box that pops up. In some cases, Windows might need to reboot to put the change into effect.

3.4.2 Bindings

Next to each client, service, or protocol listed in the window in the Local Area Connections Properties dialog box, you will see a checkbox. Make sure the checkbox is checked for both Client for Microsoft Networks and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The check marks indicate the networking components are bound to the network adapter shown at the top of the dialog box.

3.4.3 Configuring TCP/IP

Now click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties to open the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box, shown in Figure 3-37.

Figure 3-37. Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog

3.4.3.1 IP address

If you are using DHCP on your network to assign IP addresses dynamically, select the "Obtain IP address automatically" radio button. Otherwise, select the "Use the following address:" radio button, and fill in the computer's IP address and netmask in the spaces provided. You or your network manager should have selected an address for the client on the same subnet (LAN) as the Samba server. For example, if the server's address is 172.16.1.1 and its network mask is 255.255.255.0, you might use the address 172.16.1.14, if it is available, along with the same netmask . You can also fill in the IP address of the default gateway.

3.4.3.2 DNS server

In the lower part of the dialog box, click the "Use the following DNS server addresses:" radio button, and fill in the IP address of your DNS server.

Now click the Advanced... button to bring up the Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog box, and then click the WINS tab.

3.4.3.3 WINS server

Enter the address of your WINS server in the space labeled "WINS addresses, in order of use:". If your Samba server is providing WINS service (in other words, you have the line wins service = yes in the smb.conf file of your Samba server), provide the Samba server's IP address here. Otherwise, provide the address of another WINS server on your network.

Near the bottom of the dialog box, select the radio button labeled "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP". Figure 3-38 shows what your Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog box should look like at this point.

Figure 3-38. Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog, showing WINS tab

3.4.3.4 The LMHOSTS file

If you want to install an LMHOSTS file, it must be placed in the \system32\drivers\etc directory under your Windows installation directory (usually C:\WINNT ). The easy way to make sure it gets to the proper location is to use the Import LMHOSTS... button on the WINS Address tab. (But if you want to do it over the network, you will have to do that after file sharing is configured!) Remember to click the Enable LMHOSTS Lookup checkbox on the WINS Address tab to enable this functionality.

When you are satisfied with your settings for IP Address, WINS Address, and DNS, click the OK buttons in each open dialog box to complete the configuration. Windows might need to load some files from the Windows 2000 distribution CD-ROM, and you might need to reboot for your changes to take effect.

3.4.4 Computer and Workgroup Names

From the Control Panel, double-click the System icon to open the System Properties dialog box. Click the Network Identification tab, and your System Properties dialog box will look similar to Figure 3-39.

Figure 3-39. System Properties dialog, showing Network Identification tab

To give your system computer a name and a workgroup, click the Properties button, which will bring up the Identification Changes dialog box, as in Figure 3-40.

Figure 3-40. Identification Changes dialog

You need to identify your computer with a name and change the workgroup to the one you specified in the smb.conf file of your Samba server. Don't worry that Windows forces the computer name and the workgroup to be all capital letters ; it's smart enough to figure out what you mean when it connects to the network.

Click the More... button to bring up the DNS Suffix and NetBIOS Computer Name dialog box, shown in Figure 3-41.

Figure 3-41. DNS Suffix and NetBIOS Computer Name dialog

Enter the DNS domain name of this computer in the text field labeled Primary DNS Suffix for this computer:, and then click OK. You should now see the FQDN of this system underneath the label "Full computer name:". Click the OK button and then reboot when requested to put your configuration changes into effect. Once again, log in using your administrative account.

There have been reports of authentication problems with Samba when a username on a Windows 2000 system is the same as its computer name.

3.4.5 Adding a Samba-Enabled User

So far, you have been logged into your Windows 2000 system as a user in the Administrators group. To access resources on the Samba server, you will need a username and password that the Samba server recognizes as valid. If your administrative account has such a username and password, you can use it, but you might want to access your system and the network from a nonadministrative user account instead.

The directions in this section assume that your network is set up as a workgroup. If you have already set up your network as a domain, as we describe in Chapter 4, you do not need to follow the instructions here for adding a local user on the Windows 2000 client system. Simply log on to the domain from the client using a username and password in Samba's smbpasswd account database, and continue with the next section, Section 3.4.6.

To add a new user, open the Control Panel, and double-click the Users and Passwords icon to open the Users and Passwords dialog box, shown in Figure 3-42.

Figure 3-42. Users and Passwords dialog

The first thing to do is make sure the checkbox labeled "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer." is checked. Next, click the Add... button to bring up the first dialog box of the User Wizard, shown in Figure 3-43.

Figure 3-43. Adding a new user

Fill out the fields, using the username of a valid user account on the Samba host, and then click the Next > button to enter and confirm the user's password. This password must be the same as the user's password on the Samba host. If you are using encrypted passwords, make sure this username and password are the same as what you used when you ran the smbpasswd program. Click the Next > button, which brings up the final dialog box, shown in Figure 3-44.

Figure 3-44. Specifying a group for the new user

Pick a group for the user (the default Standard User should do), and click the Finish button. You should now see your new account added to the list in the Users and Passwords dialog box. Click the OK button to complete the process.

Now return to the Users and Passwords control panel window, click the Advanced tab, then click on the Advanced button. Click the Users folder in the left side of the Local Users and Groups window that appears, and then double-click the account you just added in the right side of the window. In the Properties window that opens, click the checkbox labeled Password never expires . You are done! Click the OK buttons in all the dialog boxes, and close all open windows.

Open the Start menu, select Shut Down, and select Log off username from the drop-down menu. Click the OK button, then log on with the username and password you just added.

3.4.6 Connecting to the Samba Server

Now for the big moment. Your Samba server is running, and you have set up your Windows 2000 client to communicate with it. Double-click the My Network Places icon on the desktop, and then double-click the Computers Near Me icon to browse the workgroup. You should see your Samba server listed as a member of the workgroup, as shown in Figure 3-45.

Figure 3-45. The Computers Near Me window, showing computers in the workgroup

Double-clicking the server name will show the resources that the server is offering to the network, as shown in Figure 3-46.

Figure 3-46. Shares offered by the Toltec server

In this case, the test directory and the default printer are offered to the Windows 2000 workstation. If you don't see the server listed, don't panic. Select Run from the Start menu. A dialog box appears that allows you to type the name of your server and its share directory in Windows format. For example, you would enter \\toltec\ test , as shown in Figure 3-47, and use your server's hostname instead of "toltec".

Figure 3-47. Opening a shared directory, using the server's NetBIOS name in the UNC

This will work even if browsing services are not set up right, which is a common problem. You can also work around a name-service problem by entering the server's IP address (such as 172.16.1.1 in our example) instead of the Samba server's hostname, as shown in Figure 3-48.

Figure 3-48. Opening a shared directory, using the server's IP address in the UNC

If things still aren't right, go directly to Section 12.2 to troubleshoot what is wrong with the network.

If it works, congratulations! Try copying files to and from the server. You will be pleasantly surprised how seamlessly everything works. Now that you've finished setting up the Samba server and its clients , you can proceed to the next chapter.