OK, you geeky geeks...Samba on Windows?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| dinotrac Jan 08, 2008 1:17 PM EDT |
Sigh.
Wife's old notebook died a horrible death at hands of youngest daughter. Bought new one, but it has Vista Home basic. Not awful, we only want to do some business stuff that won't run on Linux. Catch: We need to be able to join a Windows domain and the Home versions of Vista don't do that. To get that capability in Windows world, you need a business/ultimate/or enterprise version of Vista. I do not want to give those jackals any more money than they've already gotten from the notebook vendor, so... back to the subject... Anybody know of ways to run samba on Windows to get the windows (ha!) networking capability without forking over a minor fortune for an enhanced Vista that I really don't want anyway? |
| rijelkentaurus Jan 08, 2008 1:24 PM EDT |
Join the PC to a workgroup with the same name as the domain, and make the user/password combo the same as a domain account. Windows already runs the CIFS protocol so everything should work. You may have to authenticate to the shares with the domainusername and password, but you can store that password. It's not a perfect solution but it should work. |
| rijelkentaurus Jan 08, 2008 1:26 PM EDT |
For the record... 1) I don't know for certain if this works for Vista 2) Your license may include the right to "downgrade" to XP, where this will work |
| tuxchick Jan 08, 2008 1:31 PM EDT |
If rijelkentaurus' hack doesn't work (I am going to try it!) retire your windoze domain controller and just run a Windows workgroup. (What a stupid crock of &^%&^$!! anyway). Or replace your windows domain controller with a Samba domain controller. Which will need Linux; Samba doesn't run on windows. |
| dinotrac Jan 08, 2008 1:34 PM EDT |
TC - My problem is that it's not my domain controller. It belongs to the company through whom she wishes to conduct business. Sigh. |
| thenixedreport Jan 08, 2008 1:54 PM EDT |
If you have a valid copy of XP, set it aside for the time being. Install the best distro you can find for that notebook, then install VirtualBox. Through VirtualBox, create a Windows XP virtual machine whose only purpose is to connect to that domain. |
| jdixon Jan 08, 2008 2:22 PM EDT |
Dino, won't Samba run under Cygwin? OK, a quick Google search for Samba Cygwin returns the following: http://smithii.com/samba Looks like it will work, though the workgroup method should work just as well. |
| dinotrac Jan 08, 2008 2:36 PM EDT |
Nixed - >If you have a valid copy of XP, set it aside for the time being I do, in fact, have a valid copy of XP Pro -- though it is the OEM edition. I tried booting up on it with the new machine using the old disk drive, but it barfed. Methinks the difference between new setup and old (PIII-ata-agp/forget what graphics) to (Celeraon 530M (essentially half a core 2 duo)/sata/pci-express/intel accellerated) made it's little brain fry. Reached a certain point, brief flash of blue screen gibberish, then death. I should also have the install disk, though I seem to have misplaced it at the moment. My concerns -- especially as the old image seems determined not to run -- will activation kill me, etc? That could be the ideal solution, though, as I would REALLY like to use the machine with Linux. Windows is a gotta, not a want to. jdix - Thanks for the link. I'll explore it. |
| rijelkentaurus Jan 08, 2008 3:20 PM EDT |
Rethinking my hack, Vista Home might not work at all for this if certain items are disabled. The Samba on Windows hacks aren't going to be very graceful if they work at all. The sad fact is that new laptop makers are often intentionally not supply XP drivers of any kind, so it may well be absolutely impossible to install XP without going through a million hoops, if you can manage it at all. Check the website to verify. Reinstalling XP on the machine is probably the best way to go if you can manage it (your blue screens don't inspire confidence, however). Perhaps you should run a VM on the Vista laptop and run XP inside of that? It won't be very graceful, but it will work. Your wife can also have a VM that is specifically for that company, and still "use" the laptop (as much as Vista can be useful) for her own use. |
| dinotrac Jan 08, 2008 3:27 PM EDT |
rijel - The one bright spot is that other models of the same machine, using similar hardware, do run with XP and that XP drivers are available for the parts...sooooo....There remains some hope. The tricky part is getting there... |
| thenixedreport Jan 08, 2008 4:52 PM EDT |
dino, I'll send you a private message concerning the activation issue. ;) |
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