Samba server does not show up in Windows Network Places

Hi all,

I have run into this problem while trying to setup a CentOS based NAS for a friend of mine. We are using CentOS 6. The share on server can be accessed by it's IP. I have setup netbios name for the server. But that does not help. We need it to show up on Windows Network Places automatically.

It would not have been a problem we were to access files through the Windows machine. The files shared should be accessed by other devices too in which there's no option to input IP.

Here's the smb.conf file:

[root@genserv-sl6 ~]# sed 's/^\t//g' /etc/samba/smb.conf | grep -Ev "^[#;]"

[global]

workgroup = WORKGROUP
server string = Samba Server Version %v

netbios name = MYSERVER



log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size = 50


security = share
passdb backend = tdbsam
















load printers = yes
cups options = raw






[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = no
writable = yes

[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
browseable = no
guest ok = no
writable = no
printable = yes







[winshare]
comment = Public Stuff
path = /share
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
guest ok = yes
guest only = yes
[root@genserv-sl6 ~]#

Help me out please!!! Is it something to do with WINS?

Make sure that your windows session is also opened in the same workgroup.

I had a similar problem, once i changed my window's login to workgroup i was able to access the shared files. Just cross check.

To see it in the browse list, there has to be a browse master on the network where the Samba server resides... if not, you can request your samba server to be the browse master also, use the wins server option and make sure it points to wins server IP if applicable.

What happens when you do:

smbclient -L localhost

from the host running samba? If you don't see a full browse list of the hosts you'd expect in 'Network Neighborhood" or the name of a browse master containing such, then you probably don't have wins server set or you're not becoming a local master browser.

Thank you folks!!

I experimented with WINS and made the CentOS box as a WINS server and added it in the Windows box. But I was not successful. I made sure everything is from SELinux and IPTables' side. But it was of no avail.

Then something clicked on my head. It was NMB service which was not started with SMB. Started the service and voila!! It's fixed now. All good!!