folder access from Windows

16,695 views
Skip to first unread message

stephengrenfell

unread,
Apr 11, 2013, 3:39:17 PM4/11/13
to al...@googlegroups.com
Hello,
 
I just installed ALT-F on my DNS-323.  I am unable to access any folder via a network connection from Windows (Error code 0x080070043).  The SMB service (SAMBA server) is running. But whilst setting up ALT-F I deleted the folders "Public(Read/Write)" and "Public(ReadOnly)" - which may be why I cannot access any folder. I have created a user - but this made no difference.  I also tried enabling all permissions for the "Public" and "Users" folders - this also made no difference.
 
How can I recreate the Public(Read/Write)", "Public(ReadOnly)" and "User" folders back to as they should be ?.
 
Any help wouyld be appreciated.
 
Thanks.
 
Stephen

Kevin Roberts

unread,
Apr 16, 2013, 12:13:12 PM4/16/13
to al...@googlegroups.com
Just some general info about your Samba setup. I'm sure Joao will help recover the Public folder though they aren't totally essential I don't think, just makes it easier to share files.

Normally, I setup shares so that only members of the group Users have access. I might proceed as follows to setup a completely open share for testing:
First, under Setup/Folders, I would select a volume then in the Selected  textbox  add a / and the new foldername(eg., /mnt/Volume_2/foldername) then hit "Create" to add a new folder on the volume (that you'll share in the next step). Again, for the test we'll set the permissions to allow anyone to write to the folder so click permissions and under Other Users select the Can Write checkbox. You can adjust this later to limit access but for the test we're opening it up.

Next go to Services/Network and make sure Samba is running and there is a checkmark under boot enabled then click the configure button. We'll create the Samba share as follows: Under Folder use the browse button to browse to your new folder (eg. /mnt/Volume_2/foldername). Under Share name, put the name you will use in Windows to connect to the folder (eg. MyStuff), for the purposes of this test we'll open up the file to all so under Allow select anybody (if the share works you can come back and change this setting to limit access). Finally, check the checkbox for Browseable and make sure there is NO checkmark under Disable. Then hit the submit button at the bottom.

The share is now setup but one last note. Under Setup/Host make note of the Hostname (eg. I call mine DNS-323) You already have an IP address if you're using DHCP or you've assigned one if static.

At this point you should be able to see the share in Windows Explorer under the Network browser in the root of the Hostname (DNS-323). You can manually map a share as follows: (instructions are for Windows 7 but similar for other versions)

Open Windows Explorer and select Computer in the left pane (you can see all the drives connected in the right pane.) If you're in the right place then there will be the option to Map a network drive (look in the menus if using XP). Select a drive letter thats available then in the Folder textbox either browse to the \\Hostname\sharename or type in \\Hostname\Sharename (eg. \\DNS-323\MyStuff) and click finish. You should now see the share appear as the drive letter you selected and named the sharename (eg. Z: MyStuff). at this point you should be able to move/create/delete folders and files.

I followed these steps as I wrote them and was able to successfully share the folder and I created/deleted and moved files and folders to and within the shared folder. Let me know if you have success or if not where you're going wrong.

João Cardoso

unread,
Apr 9, 2014, 3:30:51 PM4/9/14
to
To summarize: 

You should see in the Status Page:
-Disks section, your disks
-Mounted filesystems section, one or more filesystems (they can be sda2, sda4, sdb2, md0, ...) look at its capacity to have an idea

Then, goto Services->Network
You should see that Service "smb" (Samba/CIFS/SMB) is running, then hit the smb->Configure button

You should see there the Users and Public shares. Hit the "Browse" button on an empty line, browse to the folder you want to see on your PC, press OK, select who can access the share under "Allow" (you must create Users first, Setup->users), check the required Browse/Read Only checkboxes and hit Submit. All other fields are optional. That's all.

[Added:] If you want to define shares based on existing folders created by the D-Link firmware, you should also change its permissions and ownership by hitting the "Permissions" button after using the "Browse" button to browse to the folder. Be sure to read the online help.
For more details see this topic 


Jeff Chieh

unread,
Jan 15, 2014, 4:14:11 AM1/15/14
to al...@googlegroups.com
I just installed Alt-f and have a disk that was formatted/used with the D-Link firmware. How do I create a user that can read/write all the data from the old disk? for example, /mnt/sda2

João Cardoso

unread,
Jan 15, 2014, 10:27:51 AM1/15/14
to al...@googlegroups.com


On Wednesday, January 15, 2014 9:14:11 AM UTC, Jeff Chieh wrote:
I just installed Alt-f and have a disk that was formatted/used with the D-Link firmware. How do I create a user that can read/write all the data from the old disk? for example, /mnt/sda2

Go to Services->Network->smb Configure, define a new share (you can call it Volume_1) based on the /mnt/sda2 folder, and give a normal user allowance to access it.

Is that what you want? Perhaps not exactly, but the end result should be the same.

Don't define shares based on sub-folders of an existing share, as I'm not certain what share definition will be applied to them -- those of the top-share or the sub-share?

Jeff Chieh

unread,
Jan 15, 2014, 7:53:11 PM1/15/14
to al...@googlegroups.com
That is what I want, but perhaps I'm doing it wrong. I'm trying to give write-access to both sda2 and sda4, but for some reason it says access denied.

João Cardoso

unread,
Jan 16, 2014, 12:05:06 PM1/16/14
to


On Thursday, January 16, 2014 12:53:11 AM UTC, Jeff Chieh wrote:
That is what I want, but perhaps I'm doing it wrong. I'm trying to give write-access to both sda2 and sda4, but for some reason it says

What do you mean with "it says"? When you hit the Submit button? In the desktop computer when you try to access the share? Accessing what share?

In any case, you shouldn't have changed the share name of the Users folder, as that might be used during user authentication (or it is simply needed). Even if you don't are asked for user/passwdor under MS-Win, they are supplied, and the message "access denied" (if that is literal) makes me think that is an authentication issue.

Also, under Allow, "nonpublic" means that only existent users can access the share.

I would recommend you to proceed stepwise: restore the shares as they was before, create a user with the same full name and password as you have under MS-Win (are you using Administrator? no password? you shouldn't!), verify that you can access and read/write that user share when loging in under that same name under MS-Win.

Then, create a new share, eg Test based on folder /mnt/sda4 or sda2 (test one at a time, stepwise), make it public (Allow anybody) and allow Browse and Write. Can you read/write to that share from MS-Win?
I can for the Volume_1 share, /mnt/sda2 folder, either as guest of as an authenticated user:


foo.png

Jeff Chieh

unread,
Jan 18, 2014, 4:09:56 AM1/18/14
to al...@googlegroups.com

Ok, I followed most of your directions and can write to sda2 (Volume_1)... but when I try to write to sdb2 (Volume_2), I get "You need permission to perform this action"

On Thursday, January 16, 2014 8:53:44 AM UTC-8, João Cardoso wrote:


On Thursday, January 16, 2014 12:53:11 AM UTC, Jeff Chieh wrote:
That is what I want, but perhaps I'm doing it wrong. I'm trying to give write-access to both sda2 and sda4, but for some reason it says

Owen Lin

unread,
Aug 20, 2014, 3:02:47 PM8/20/14
to al...@googlegroups.com
Hello,

I've recently came upon some troubles connecting Samba successfully and was hoping to get some troubleshooting help.
ex: I have a directory /mnt/sda2/video
under smb (Services > network), I set up in the configuration:
/mnt/sda2/video                Share Name; Video               Comment:  Video folder         Allow:  anybody             Browseable: checked
I press submit, save to flash, //dstop server, start server, cannot see my directory on a windows7 desktop nor laptop.

I originally would like to start off simply with nonsecure open access inside my personal lan.
When I go to the folder setup, I set /mnt/sda2/video to nobody/nobody

So at the moment, I am unable to see the shared folders pop up in my network droplist on windows.
However I JUST tried mapping a network drive using //dns321/Video, and it mapped it to a drive Z for me.
Although this takes care of 90% of my access, is there a way to correctly fix the samba share so I can see it automatically on my network-attached windows machines?
(I think in the past having a mapped drive causes my explorer to hang a little when trying to access a mapped drive no longer reachable since I'm out of the house)

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Owen


On Thursday, April 11, 2013 3:39:17 PM UTC-4, stephengrenfell wrote:

Kevin Roberts

unread,
Aug 21, 2014, 12:22:25 AM8/21/14
to al...@googlegroups.com
Greetings!

I've recently came upon some troubles connecting Samba successfully and was hoping to get some troubleshooting help.

Just curious about a couple of things. Check that your workgroup name matches. Look in Windows Control Panel\System and Security\System to see what Windows is using as your workgroup and put that in the workgroup spot on the SAMBA setup page. Also, check how windows views your network, it disables the network browser if your network is set to public. Look in Windows Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center. Mine is set to Home.
 
ex: I have a directory /mnt/sda2/video
under smb (Services > network), I set up in the configuration:
/mnt/sda2/video                Share Name; Video               Comment:  Video folder         Allow:  anybody             Browseable: checked
I press submit, save to flash, //dstop server, start server, cannot see my directory on a windows7 desktop nor laptop.

I originally would like to start off simply with nonsecure open access inside my personal lan.
When I go to the folder setup, I set /mnt/sda2/video to nobody/nobody


I tried a similar setup as you suggested above and as soon as I submit the changes I can see the shared folder. I used an existing folder on my system but modified the permissions and SAMBA setup as you stated. See image:


 

Phil Karza

unread,
Aug 23, 2014, 11:18:23 AM8/23/14
to al...@googlegroups.com
Strangely enough, I am having a similar problem.

I flashed Alt-F and successfully created a Raid 1 partition with 2 2TB drives, was able to create  a user and even see partitions, but when I try to access it on a mac, I can see the directories yet it pops up a message window saying it can't be found....

Daxter

unread,
Mar 15, 2015, 4:43:40 PM3/15/15
to al...@googlegroups.com
I have the same problem... no access with Windows...

Matthew Potgieter

unread,
May 30, 2015, 3:48:48 PM5/30/15
to al...@googlegroups.com
Hi,

I'm in a spot of bother with a similar problem, and hope that you could assist me to sort it out.
I am trying to be as detailed as possible, and know that it is a bit long winded, but I have tried to give you the info you might need to spot where I am making an obvious error.

Background
We had power problems, and one of our drives on our DNS-323 Rev.A crashed. It was in RAID1 running the Stock firmware. 1.10 I think it was. The other drive was flagged as dirty and was put into read only mode. I tried to run the repair option but it kept failing. I pulled the drives out and inserted them into a desktop and booted into a Ubuntu Flash Drive and mounted RAID1 through mdadm. Wored. Tried to rebuild the RAID array. Failed every time. I pulled the faulty drive, remounted RAID with the single working drive and ran fsck. Lots of errors and bad sectors found! 

I went and got two Seagate NAS HDD's so that I could just start fresh and not risk running on faulty drives. ( Seagate ST2000VN000-1HJ164 - 2.0TB  x  2). I then discovered the 4K sector problem. I admit that I didn't even think to check online about compatibility. D-Link firmware 1.10.7 is apparently supposed to be able to format the 2TB HDD's even with 4K sectoring... No. It didn't! Froze every time. And I tried a few times.

I then found ALT-F. 
I installed Alt-F-0.1RC4.1-DNS-323-rev-A1B1C1.bin setup RAID1 and all went smothly. Format, Sync, users, folders. All a breeze, and so easy to do. I saved the settings, and then found that I couldn't see the shares in Windows.

Problem
I have tested every way I could think of to get to the files in Windows and thus far have been stonewalled for the most part. I can ping the DNS-323. I can get into the web gui. I can resolve the hostname via DNS... But I can't see the shares. I have read through the other posts in this topic and have not found a resolution thus far.

What I have tried:
I have checked that the workgroup is the same name. It is.
I have turned the firewall on and off in Windows 8.1
I have tried another laptop. Also Windows 8.1
I have checked that I am working on a Private network in Network and Sharing Centre
I have tried to go there via the unc path \\192.168.40.50 and \\192.168.40.50\Enviro_Docs
I have tried to map a drive with the path as another user said to do. Nope
I have made sure that SAMBA was running in ALT-F
I also tried to reflash the firmware and delete all the settings as another user suggested - Partial success

To elaborate on the partial success... I then redid the setup exactly as I had done before (Public folders and Users folder  mappings were in the wind though, but I remapped them). Tried again, and after an eternal wait for \\192.168.40.50 the folders appeared. I had some permission problems of my own making, but I could at least see the folders. It was however far to slow to be usable at the office. Each time you tried to browse to the shares you had to wait about 30 - 40 seconds for it to connect!

I tried to downgrade to  Alt-F-0.1RC4-DNS-323-rev-A1B1C1.bin browsing gone again.
I reflashed back to D-Link firmware 1.10 hoping to use the newly setup RAID on that firmware - D-Link didn't see the RAID and brought up the new drive / what do you want to format them as menu...

I loaded Alt-F-0.1RC3-DNS-323.bin hoping that going backwards would sort my problem out. Same old, same oldHi,

I'm in a spot of bother with a similar problem, and hope that you could assist me to sort it out.

Background
We had power problems, and one of our drives on our DNS-323 Rev.A crashed. It was in RAID1 running the Stock firmware. 1.10 I think it was. The other drive was flagged as dirty and was put into read only mode. I tried to run the repair option but it kept failing. I pulled the drives out and inserted them into a desktop and booted into a Ubuntu Flash Drive and mounted RAID1 through mdadm. Wored. Tried to rebuild the RAID array. Failed every time. I pulled the faulty drive, remounted RAID with the single working drive and ran fsck. Lots of errors and bad sectors found! 

I went and got two Seagate NAS HDD's so that I could just start fresh and not risk running on faulty drives. ( Seagate ST2000VN000-1HJ164 - 2.0TB  x  2). I then discovered the 4K sector problem. I admit that I didn't even think to check online about compatibility. D-Link firmware 1.10.7 is apparently supposed to be able to format the 2TB HDD's even with 4K sectoring... No. It didn't! Froze every time. And I tried a few times.

I then found ALT-F. 
I installed Alt-F-0.1RC4.1-DNS-323-rev-A1B1C1.bin setup RAID1 and all went smothly. Format, Sync, users, folders. All a breeze, and so easy to do. I saved the settings, and then found that I couldn't see the shares in Windows.

Problem
I have tested every way I could think of to get to the files in Windows and thus far have been stonewalled for the most part. I can ping the DNS-323. I can get into the web gui. I can resolve the hostname via DNS... But I can't see the shares. I have read through the other posts in this topic and have not found a resolution thus far.

What I have tried:
I have checked that the workgroup is the same name. It is.
I have turned the firewall on and off in Windows 8.1
I have tried another laptop. Also Windows 8.1
I have checked that I am working on a Private network in Network and Sharing Centre
I have tried to go there via the unc path \\192.168.40.50 and \\192.168.40.50\Enviro_Docs
I have tried to map a drive with the path as another user said to do. Nope
I have made sure that SAMBA was running in ALT-F Ubuntu desktop. It times out / or just plain doesn't go in. Tried other network shares from other nas drives... Work every time.
I also tried to reflash the firmware and delete all the settings as another user suggested - Partial success

To elaborate on the partial success... I then redid the setup exactly as I had done before (Public folders and Users folder  mappings were in the wind though, but I remapped them). Tried again, and after an eternal wait for \\192.168.40.50 the folders appeared. I had some permission problems of my own making, but I could at least see the folders. It was however far to slow to be usable at the office. Each time you tried to browse to the shares you had to wait about 30 - 40 seconds for it to connect!

I tried to downgrade to  Alt-F-0.1RC4-DNS-323-rev-A1B1C1.bin browsing gone again.
I reflashed back to D-Link firmware 1.10 hoping to use the newly setup RAID on that firmware - D-Link didn't see the RAID and brought up the new drive / what do you want to format them as menu...

I loaded Alt-F-0.1RC3-DNS-323.bin hoping that going backwards would sort my problem out. Same old, same old

I have now reloaded Alt-F-0.1RC4.1-DNS-323-rev-A1B1C1.bin and am in search of help.

I tried D-Link firmware 1.7 , 1.8 , 1.9 , 1.10 , 1.10.7 Formatting fails for RAID1 or even without RAID.

I have now reloaded Alt-F-0.1RC4.1-DNS-323-rev-A1B1C1.bin and am in search of help please.

Process I followed to setup the latest installation.
Installed from 1.10

installed Alt-F-0.1RC4.1-DNS-323-rev-A1B1C1.bin

Set static IP to 192.168.40.50
Set Domain to WORKGROUP

Setup RAID1. (ST2000VN000-1HJ164 - 2.0TB  x  2)

Create user matthew

Create new share /mnt/md0/Enviro_Docs
Duplicated the permissions from /mnt/md0/Public/RW
Set Allow to Anybody
Set Browse to yes
Set Inherit Perm to yes
Left Workgroup as WORKGROUP

Waited for RAID1 to Sync.

Made sure that SAMBA is enabled - Yes

Tested - Nope.
Restarted all services, tested - Nope.
Rebooted, tested - Nope.
Reflashed the firmware, but kept the settings this time. Nope, that didn't work.

Closing
I have told my boss that I would have it sorted for Monday morning, and am sweating bullets. Any help would be immensely appreciated!
Thanks,

Matthew.

João Cardoso

unread,
May 30, 2015, 7:50:01 PM5/30/15
to al...@googlegroups.com, mat...@csmdist.com


On Saturday, 30 May 2015 20:48:48 UTC+1, Matthew Potgieter wrote:
Hi,

I'm in a spot of bother with a similar problem, and hope that you could assist me to sort it out.
I am trying to be as detailed as possible, and know that it is a bit long winded, but I have tried to give you the info you might need to spot where I am making an obvious error.

I don't think that you have done any error. Your setup is pretty standard and after the first login wizard you should be able to see the box and its samba shares.

You might have a problem with win8/8.1, as some users have reported issues with it (but also other users have reported that it works fine). To be sure that your setup is not win8 related, try a linux samba client. If you don't have a linux machine, try some android or mac samba clients, I didn't found any that does not works OK with Alt-F (most android file explorers have a samba client).

The "partial" success you describe bellow might be due to caching or timing issues -- several minutes might be needed for win to acknowledge/forget CIFS/SMB changes. The 30/40 seconds delay might be related to IP network issues, try using a DHCP server instead of a static IP. And try using the box IP instead of its name? Sorry, I'm not an windows user.

Matthew Potgieter

unread,
May 31, 2015, 6:41:41 AM5/31/15
to al...@googlegroups.com, mat...@csmdist.com
Hi João,

Thanks for your quick reply. Ok, I have done some testing as you suggested and I can access the shares via Android as long as I tick the box to use anonymous access. On Ubuntu 14.10 I cannot connect or ever see the shared folders. smb://192.168.40.50 was what I used...

I have been checking on other forums for similar problems, and one suggested that they had found that the Windows 8.1 and some of their other devices were expecting the connection to be incoming on port 445 and not port 443... Now I would like to check this, but don't know how to go about it. Could you guide me as to how I can edit and check the smb.comf file please. Do I need to install the Alt-F Package Manager or ffp Package Manager? Do I then SSH to the IP or is there some otherway to do it. And also where is smb.conf located? I found the above at http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1233265-cannot-access-smb-network-shares-on-windows-81/page-1

Matthew

Matthew Potgieter

unread,
May 31, 2015, 8:21:25 AM5/31/15
to al...@googlegroups.com
Hi João,

Ok, I drove to my father in-laws house and tested on his Windows 7 laptop... Worked instantly. Passwords, browsing, permissions, the lot. :-)

I have subsequently done some more reading and testing and have finally got it working I Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

There were many registry hacks that were recommended, but what finally worked was nice and simple.

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Administrative Tools
Open "Local Security Policy"
Expand...
Local Policies
Security Options
Microsoft network client: Send unencrypted password to third-party SMB server   --> Enable
Save, Close, Done!

All working. I have tested this on two computers and all is now working, and the 30 - 40 second delay is now also a thing of the past.

Thanks João for your willingness to assist when help is needed. Much obliged.

Matthew.


João Cardoso

unread,
May 31, 2015, 10:35:12 AM5/31/15
to al...@googlegroups.com, mat...@csmdist.com
Excelent! Thanks for reporting back the solution.

I will move/copy this discussion to a new topic, so others will easily find it.

Matthew Potgieter

unread,
Jun 1, 2015, 12:14:11 PM6/1/15
to al...@googlegroups.com, mat...@csmdist.com
Hi João,

Found one more thing... Huawei Routers seem to have issues connecting to samba shares. I haven't been able to work out if it is because they have built in samba sharing services wired to their USB port... But I tested on 3 of them and couldn't get through any of them! Not even with my above posted fix... I had to connect the Huawei router (Our main Internet LTE Router) to any other router's WAN port, and use that for DHCP and DNS within the Workgroup. Everything works instantly then. Hope that this helps anyone else struggling with Huawei routers.

Matthew.

carroll cauthen

unread,
Jun 3, 2015, 9:04:59 PM6/3/15
to al...@googlegroups.com
Hi Joao,


  I'm attempting to use your fix below, but I'm lost after the "administrative tools"...  I can't for the life of me, find how/where to "open local security policy"...  possibly you missed documenting a step?  I'm desperate for a permanent fix for this...

Thanks...
Carroll

João Cardoso

unread,
Jun 4, 2015, 10:20:05 AM6/4/15
to al...@googlegroups.com, zend...@gmail.com


On Thursday, 4 June 2015 02:04:59 UTC+1, carroll cauthen wrote:
Hi Joao,

That was  Matthew Potgieter who posted the workaround. I don't have a box with MS-Win-7/8/8.1.

Kevin Roberts

unread,
Jun 4, 2015, 10:50:10 AM6/4/15
to al...@googlegroups.com
Sorry to say but Microsoft did not include local security policy (editor) in any Home version of Windows.

João Cardoso

unread,
Jun 4, 2015, 1:47:16 PM6/4/15
to al...@googlegroups.com, m4j0r...@gmail.com


On Thursday, 4 June 2015 15:50:10 UTC+1, Kevin Roberts wrote:
Sorry to say but Microsoft did not include local security policy (editor) in any Home version of Windows.

And what about using the command line? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2696547 might (or not) provide an answer.

Also, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn551363.aspx or http://blogs.msdn.com/b/openspecification/archive/2012/06/08/encryption-in-smb3.aspx might be interesting reading, as it relates encryption (what Matthew reported  to have disabled and works) with SMB3.

By default, samba-3.5.22 (the one used by Alt-F), has NT1 as its max protocol, not even SMB2 is enabled.
SMB2 is reported by 'testparm' (from the samba Alt-F package, not the one in the firmware), but not active, perhaps because it was not mature or complete at the time 3.5.22?

[root@DNS-325]# testparm -s -v | grep protocol
max protocol = NT1
min protocol = CORE

[root@DNS-325]# testparm -s --show-all-parameters | grep protocol
max protocol=P_ENUM,SMB2|NT1|LANMAN2|LANMAN1|CORE|COREPLUS|CORE+,FLAG_ADVANCED
protocol=P_ENUM,SMB2|NT1|LANMAN2|LANMAN1|CORE|COREPLUS|CORE+,FLAG_ADVANCED
min protocol=P_ENUM,SMB2|NT1|LANMAN2|LANMAN1|CORE|COREPLUS|CORE+,FLAG_ADVANCED

So you might try to use the MS-Win commands to disable the SMB2/3 win-7/8/8.1 protocol and see if it works?

It is important to not have several "hacks" applied, as one would not know if the final outcome is the  result of the accumulated applied "hacks" or just the result of the last one applied. That might explains why some people says "it works for me" while it doesn't work for others.
So, if some doesn't work as expected (wait a couple of minutes after changes, or even reboot MS-Win), *undo* it!

carroll cauthen

unread,
Jun 15, 2015, 2:38:44 PM6/15/15
to al...@googlegroups.com, m4j0r...@gmail.com
I'm still unable to view the ALT-F shares via Windows 8.1 laptops.  I've even tried using a physical connection to the router and this still won't work.  What is the possibility of updating Alt-F with a newer version of Samba that is compatible with Windows 8/8.1 and presumably Win 10?

Matthew Potgieter

unread,
Jun 15, 2015, 3:29:30 PM6/15/15
to al...@googlegroups.com, m4j0r...@gmail.com
Hi Carroll,

Ok, I sat struggling and not sleeping for close to a week on this, and the solution turned out to be a simple one, and one that I was loathed to accept, because I didn't want to change my office and home setup.

I have tried all the registry hacks, and Group Policy changes, and even have recommended it as the solution to solve the Windows 8 / 8.1 problem, but all that got tossed out a box when we took a new laptop, without any of the hacks / changes and it worked with no problems on our final setup.

Now I make certain assumptions here, and these are only substantiated by my limited knowlage and trial and error. If they are wrong... Fine, but hopefully my stumbling around can lead to someone smarter than me pointing out the flaw and recognising a permanent fix.

Your router is the problem.

We have tried 4 different routers, and have found that web access is no problem with any of them. Pinging was no problem... However if we take any older router (ADSL or WAN Router in my case), and set them up on our network, have them service DHCP and DNS, then all works. If we use a static IP with these then it all works... Same for DHCP. Network discovery works in both Linux and Windows, shared drives come up immediately, and there is no lag while accessing shared.

If we switch to any of our new upgraded routers... Wham... Network discovery is gone, shares are not accessible / viewable. If you get them to show, then accessing them has a huge lag associated with it.

Difference? Firewall? No, I checked that... I have turned off the firewalls completely and there was no difference at all. The only thing that all newer Routers have in common, is that they all make provision for you to be able to share content over the network, from devices that are plugged directly into the router. Usually via USB, but not always. I have to assume that the routers are running some variant of Linux, and all there sharing is done via SAMBA, and this is causing a conflict of ports on the network, and not allowing ALT-F content via SAMBA to be viable or shared.

I was not willing to part with my router, as it is a rather fancy one and works very well on our connection. I took an old retired WAN Router out the cupboard, plugged the LAN cable from the main router into it's WAN port, having disabled the WiFi on the main router and changed it's DHCP IP range to something other than our internal network, and then setup DHCP, WiFi and our internal IP range on the old WAN router. Rebooted, and everything worked. Smoothly, and instantly. We tested on Linux, Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1.

I do however concede that the SAMBA shares worked perfectly well with the original DNS323 firmware, over all the routers and on all the computers. We checked... I can only assume that it must have been a different version of SAMBA or had some code monitoring it and allowing it to broadcast on a different port that was also acceptable to Windows... But here I am fairly ignorant.

Hope that this helps you to get up and running again.

Matthew.

Kind Regards,

Matthew Potgieter
+27 72 390 3091
CSM Distributors (cc)

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Alt-F" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/alt-f/uDks1vuqozw/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to alt-f+un...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/alt-f.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

notoneofmy

unread,
Jun 15, 2015, 4:05:29 PM6/15/15
to al...@googlegroups.com
On 15-06-15 9:29 PM, Matthew Potgieter wrote:
> *Your router is the problem.*
>
> We have tried 4 different routers, and have found that web access is no
> problem with any of them. Pinging was no problem... However if we take any
> older router (ADSL or WAN Router in my case), and set them up on our
> network, have them service DHCP and DNS, then all works. If we use a static
> IP with these then it all works... Same for DHCP. Network discovery works
> in both Linux and Windows, shared drives come up immediately, and there is
> no lag while accessing shared.
Since old routers go for pennies these days, perhaps you could just pick
one up and try it. It seems painless to me and worth the try compared to
the headache other options present.

The presumption that the sharing capabilities on newer routers maybe be
conflicting with the sharing options in Alt-F makes is plausible.
Alternatively, you could see if you could share your folders using other
protocols than SAMBA. SSH for example. While not as convenient but could
work. I'd wish to see the day when it would be possible to mount an ssh
connected folder as one does a SAMBA share.


carroll cauthen

unread,
Jun 17, 2015, 3:06:26 PM6/17/15
to al...@googlegroups.com, m4j0r...@gmail.com
Well, here I begin to show my lack of knowledge.  Some of which has limited me with the inability to try some of the changes suggested by going through the command line.  I'm not a networking expert, I'm not a LINUX expert.  I'm not a noob, (or a goob), but some of this troubleshooting is just above me knowledge level.  I thought Alt-F would solve my problem of running out of disk space, but now without access by windows OSs, I've created a larger problem, total lack of access.  Is there ANY hope that someone of my limited knowledge will be able to make this work without going back to my old hard drives? 
 
While I'm appreciative of folks who are attempting to provide life to our old hardware, it seems that perhaps ALT-F may not be an NAS OS for the 95% of us who use Windows.

notoneofmyseeds

unread,
Jun 17, 2015, 3:20:17 PM6/17/15
to al...@googlegroups.com
On 06/17/2015 09:06 PM, carroll cauthen wrote:
> Well, here I begin to show my lack of knowledge. Some of which has
> limited me with the inability to try some of the changes suggested by
> going through the command line. I'm not a networking expert, I'm not
> a LINUX expert. I'm not a noob, (or a goob), but some of this
> troubleshooting is just above me knowledge level. I thought Alt-F
> would solve my problem of running out of disk space, but now without
> access by windows OSs, I've created a larger problem, total lack of
> access. Is there ANY hope that someone of my limited knowledge will
> be able to make this work without going back to my old hard drives?
> While I'm appreciative of folks who are attempting to provide life to
> our old hardware, it seems that perhaps ALT-F may not be an NAS OS for
> the 95% of us who use Windows.
Carol, I understand your frustration.

Please simply go get an old router as has been suggested and try it.
That does not require any command line or programming skills. Depending
on where you live all you need to try that option is about $20 or less
and a few ethernet cables, which I should think you already have. And
plug, play and try. That's quite simple.

As regards Alt-F; it's one of the best free NAS alternatives you will
find on the internet. Trust me on that, I've spent months looking and
trying.

Goodluck

Matthew Potgieter

unread,
Jun 18, 2015, 1:16:17 AM6/18/15
to al...@googlegroups.com

Have you tried another router? Even if it simply means unplugging your NAS and going over to a friend or family member and seeing if it works there? Older / more simple the router the better.

Matthew.

Matt Kasdorf

unread,
Jul 5, 2016, 5:05:42 PM7/5/16
to Alt-F
Win7u mount of DNS-323-C1 via Samba and cifs (RC5) results in large files with differing checksums :-(

Matthew Potgieter

unread,
Jul 6, 2016, 1:25:59 AM7/6/16
to Alt-F
Good morning,

I know this is an old post, but I was working with a NAS yesterday and came across this problem again with Windows 10. I spent a bit of time troubleshooting what I could do to rectify this easily and without replacing network equipment...

By doing the following I was able to get everything working smoothly.
Control Panel
Programs and features
On the left
Turn Windows features on or off
Scroll down and tick to enable
SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support
Ok through all windows
Reboot

Everything should bow be working.
Hope that thus helps anyone having connectivity problems.

João Cardoso

unread,
Jul 7, 2016, 11:57:03 AM7/7/16
to Alt-F
That is most useful! Do you know if that is available on other ms-windows versions? Or until what ms-win version is it enabled by default?

Alt-F has samba-3.5.22, so accordingy to https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Samba3/SMB2 that "SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support" must be active, as only samba-3.6 has "essentially complete support" for SMB2.

Matthew Potgieter

unread,
Jul 7, 2016, 12:19:30 PM7/7/16
to al...@googlegroups.com

Hi,

I will need to check tomorrow on a few older machines to make sure, but it should be available in Windows 7 at the very least. Whether or not it is enabled by default I doubt, and would suspect that being the root problem all along, but would need to simulate that to check.

Kind Regards,

Matthew Potgieter
0723903091
CSM Distributors (cc)

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Alt-F" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/alt-f/uDks1vuqozw/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to alt-f+un...@googlegroups.com.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages