Skip to main content

A fail: networking Windows and Linux Mint using Samba

The project is to build a Linux Mint machine to have the identical functionality and ergonomics as the existing Windows 10 machine.

This stage relates to networking the Windows 10 machine to the Linux Mint machine.

Environment & required functionality

The network should be a local network - to share files and folders - between the following machines:
  • The Linux Mint Xfce 18.3 laptop "Gandalf";
  • The Windows 10 laptop "Legolas";
The network is a local area network from a domestic router, the usual 192.168.x.x thing.

Windows 10 is already configured to use Samba (wiki) (the SMB protocol, wiki) out-of-the-box, although it turned out that there was a twist to the configuration.

Alternatives

There are ways to transmit occasional data between the two machines other than peer-to-peer networking, e.g. grive2.  However, peer-to-peer networking (file sharing, simple two-way server-and-client relationship) is the most efficient way for bulk data transfers, so if the network doesn’t work, then the test has failed.

Peer-to-peer networking is also the simplest of simple networks to do, so it really should be a very easy thing to activate and just use.

Software selection

Gandalf required Samba prior to use.  Linux Mint Xfce did not have Samba installed by default.

Installation experience

Gandalf installed Samba easily and quickly, using the Software Manager.

User experience

Gandalf was set as the server, Legolas as the client.

In spite of extensive assistance from the Linux Mint community, Legolas could not discover Gandalf (network discovery failed to see Gandalf).

The community was unable to replicate the fault.  One member of the community flattened his test machine in an attempt to replicate the fault!  Away from the support forum, plenty of other users had different issues; yet an equal number say they had no issues at all.

A much more extensive test would be required to identify the root cause with this particular setup.

In view of my time taken to debug this - a total of 6h40m, well in excess of what a typical Windows user would invest into a domestic toy - this counts as a fail on the project.

However, the likely culprit is that Samba, as installed on Gandalf, was out-of-date relative to the standards defined in Windows 10.  Supposedly, Windows 10 should be Samba-ready.  But since WannaCry, Microsoft disabled the earliest protocol SMB1 on the grounds of network security.  The community doesn’t seem to have caught up with this (source, source).

Support from the community was quite fantastic, but objectively should not have been necessary at all.

Conclusion

Windows 10 was unable to network with Linux Mint Xfce after:
  • extensive re-configuration in Linux Mint Xfce; and
  • no changes at all in Windows 10.
Gandalf was never visible to Legolas via network discovery, so this test failed.

The test included an assumed timeframe from start to working functionality of 10 minutes: 6h40m is arguably excessively generous to debug something so functionally simple.

The implication for this project is to move onto the next test, and attempt again to solve this issue on a different day.

Reflections

The implication of this finding for a typical Windows user is probably more profound: a typical Windows user migrating to Linux Mint would enough friction to deter the user from migration, and thus stick with Windows.

It seems bizarre that Linux Mint, a project ostensibly aimed at poaching Windows users into the Linux fold, published a distro (in this case, Xfce) that wasn't already configured to use Samba SMB3, with a graphic user interface - somewhere in the settings - that allowed the user to switch Samba on or off.

Next tests

  • Force Samba on Linux Mint to use SMB3 and see whether Windows can then discover Linux Mint on the local network.
  • Swap the relationship, i.e. make Windows the server and Linux the client.
  • Flatten Gandalf, re-install Linux Mint from scratch, re-test the network connection with Linux Mint in its “factory-fresh” condition, installing Samba only if necessary.
  • Use WinScp instead of Samba.
  • Use ssh and/or sftp instead of Samba (although the source forum post doesn't give much hope that the desired functionality may be even possible!).
  • Wait a few months a new version of Samba that also deactivates SMB1, to mirror Windows.
  • Expect lots more bugs and general dysfunctionality.
  • Copy everything to a flash drive from Windows, copy everything from the flash drive into Linux!


End of blog post.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An attempt at full-disk encryption: Vera Crypt

The project is to build a Linux Mint machine to have the identical functionality and ergonomics as the existing Windows 10 machine. This stage relates to testing full-disk encryption using VeraCrypt . Environment & required functionality Full-disk encryption needs to run on the following machines: The Linux Mint Xfce 18.3 laptop " Gandalf "; The Windows 10 laptop " Legolas ". The objective requirement is to protect user data from the physical theft of the physical machine, to provide an additional line of defence against data loss. This is probably more important for Windows than for Linux Mint.   Even so, in both cases, the operating system is likely to log activity which can reveal personal data and user (meta)data. Full-disk encryption does not mitigate against Microsoft’s sinister telemetry functionality, for which the main solutions seem to be: Either to use tools whose developers are constantly on the prowl, hunting for t

The Big Bang: Microsoft Windows goes for good, positive adaptations required

On 27Mar2021, Linux Mint ate Microsoft Windows 10 on Legolas. Three months on, I conclude beyond any doubt that wiping out Windows was the best decision I ever made. The second best decision I ever made was to test Linux Mint in Virtual Box five years ago. The third best decision I ever made was to take ownership of the learning curve that migrating in Windows really entails. A quick reminder: what’s Microsoft Windows like nowadays? I still need to use Windows at work. I cannot easily describe how painful it now is to use Windows. So I’ll try to describe it difficultly. My work machine is a powerful beast, but it exhibits constant latency. For a keyboard-orientated power user, this means that some keystrokes go walkabouts when other services on the Windows machine go to nuclear war with each other, scrambling to feed their narcissistic self-importance for besieged system resources wholly at the user’s expense. Something on Windows tends to clear the keyboard buffer randomly, resulting

Partial decommissioning of Gandalf

The project is to build a Linux Mint machine to have the identical functionality and ergonomics as the existing Windows 10 machine. After a few months of continuous use of Linux Mint – mainly for simple browsing during workday lunchtimes and weekdays –   the headline of the project remains that wholesale migration from Windows to Linux is not functionally possible , for the reasons cited therein.   In this instance, the short story is no Microsoft Excel, no Foxit PDF browser for Windows, no on-the-fly VPN client. Consequently, there is no further development use of Gandalf.   Gandalf has other issues as well: even in last days as a Windows machine, the hard drive had developed a nasty habit of intensive operation, wasting time and resources on misadventure not commanded by the user.   The habit has returned to Gandalf as a Linux machine, meaning that the user needs to sit around for up to fifteen minutes from time-to-time while Gandalf faffs around for no good reason.   There