Can't connect to Samba share from Win 7 ultimate 64-bit

I know this is an old story, a problem with many different solutions on line. I've tried 'em all and none have worked for me yet. I'm hoping someone can give another suggestion.

I have an old Red Hat Linux box that I use, amongst other things, to run Samba. Vista and Win XP PCs can access the p/w-protected Samba shares but a new Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit PC cannot. All are on a workgroup-only LAN.

I can see the Linux box's icon and shared directories in 'Network' from the Win 7 machine but when I try to access the Samba shares it says "\\LX\roy is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource." etc. But the XP and Vista boxes still have full access.

These are the steps I've taken, based on suggestions found in threads here and elsewhere on the Web:

1. Start > RUN > control userpasswords2 > Advanced > Manage Passwords to ensure that \\LX\roy password is set correctly and is the same as for XP and Vista PCs. If I remove the password here, I cannot see the shared directories on the Samba box - it asks for credentials. I give it the name and password, then it lets me see the shared directories. But when I double-click on one of those, I get the 'not accessible...' message. The same name and password give me full access when typed from an XP or Vista box.

2. With gpedit.msc > Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > Microsoft network client: Send unencrypted password to third-party SMB server: Switched to "Enabled".

2b. and then set Network security: LAN Manager authentication level: Set to Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated. Also tried "Send LM & NTLM responses". This seems to be the solution that works for the most people with this problem.

2c. and then set Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts: Classic – local users authenticate as themselves.

3. I checked the registry key KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa and found that LmCompatibilityLevel was already set to 1 (perhaps by action 2).
Based on another suggestion, I changed it to 2. No difference.

4. I tried making my Win 7 password the same as my Samba p/w (the user name was already the same). Same result.

5. I have set up Windows XP Mode in a Windows Virtual PC, because I read that giving the share a drive letter in Windows XP Mode makes that drive letter available in Win 7 as well. But I can't try this because of another problem: In Windows XP Mode I cannot see the Linux Box, so obviously I cannot share it in Win XP. If I let XP Mode obtain an IP address automatically, it uses a different subnet (192.168.131 instead of 192.168.0 that I use), and if I assign an IP address manually on my subnet and assign the connection to the same workgroup, it still does not see the Linux box or anything else in the workgroup. It only sees itself.

6. UAC is turned off.

7. I've run Wireshark, but it tells me nothing as I don't know what I'm doing with that. I see [Malformed packet] messages, so I guess the packet is encrypted but Samba doesn't expect it to be.

The Linux box does part of what I need for ecommerce - the in-house part, it's not accessible to the Internet. As my Linux Fu is weak, I have to avoid changes to the Linux box, so I'm hoping someone can tell me what to do to Win 7 to make it behave like XP and Vista when accessing this share.

Any ideas after all the above have been exhausted?

Thanks!

Ur Red Hat Machine is coonnected to Domain AD ? When both Windows and linux machines are in a network means you shud use RADIUS SERVER for Domain Auth ?

Hi @surensach ... No, all are on a workgroup-only LAN.

Did you try in bold,

Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Local Security Policy

Local Policies - Security Options

Network security: LAN Manager authentication level
Set to Send LM & NTLM responses only

Set the Minimum session security for NTLM SSP
Disable Require 128-bit encryption

Hi chev65,

Network security: LAN Manager authentication level
was Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated
but I had tried Send LM & NTLM responses only earlier - it made no difference. I just tried again, and restarted the machine, but no luck.

Set the Minimum session security for NTLM SSP
were both set to 'no minimum' for both clients and servers.

An image showing all my local security settings is here: http://www.gandanet.com.hk/local_security_policy.png

Does anything from that jump out at you?

I have made some movement forward, but don't have a solution yet. I raised as a separate question in SevenForums the problem with XP Mode not seeing the LAN (#5. in my original post), and @Kari pointed me at some instructions that solved that problem.

I was hoping that mapping Samba-based folders to a drive letter in XP Mode would give me access in Win 7 as described here: I can't map a network drive from Windows 7, using the exact same settings that work fine with Vista or XP Sadly, that doesn't work for me.

Hi Surensach - thanks for the suggestion.

I tried the first (stopping SMB 2.0) and had a success notification for each command. Then I restarted the machine, but there was no change to the error messages I received when trying to access the Linux samba shares.

I couldn't use your second suggestion, because I don't have a Server 2008 on the network.

But thanks for taking the trouble to post again with more ideas.

Roy

Eventually on social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ @maloKT found the solution that worked for me (and him - he had the same problem).

For others' reference, these were the steps:
I went to
Windows Update > View update history > Installed Updates
and searched for KB2536276. It was well down the list in the "Microsoft Windows" section (the Search Installed Updates box couldn't find it)
> Uninstall > Restart
Then I could access my old Samba shares. And I checked to make sure it hadn't messed up access to other Windows boxes, and the new Ubuntu server I was working on building - they were all OK as well.

Here's the link to my long story:
Can't connect to Samba from Windows 7. Vista & XP OK. Many popular solutions tried without success.

Roy

Uninstalling that security update KB2536276 worked for me.