Article ID: 168821 - Last Review: February 27, 2007 - Revision: 2.2

Domain Browsing Issues with Samba Servers

View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q168821
NOTE: The information contained in this article is provided for informational purposes only. Microsoft cannot guarantee Microsoft Networking functions Server Message Block (SMB) will work as expected when servers running SAMBA are present within the workgroup or domain.
Expand all | Collapse all

SYMPTOMS

When browsing from one domain to another across a router you may receive a message saying "No domain server available..."

However, you can connect to shares on the primary domain controller (PDC) and even set up trusts.
Back to the top

CAUSE

Samba appears to force browser elections in a way that is incompatible with the normal Windows browser election process. That is, by issuing election criteria guaranteeing it will win the election and become the domain master browser. The IsDomainMaster registry setting still cannot force the Windows computer to be the master browser.

[From the Samba FAQ]
Samba is a suite of programs which work together to allow clients to access to a server's filespace and printers via the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol. Initially written for Unix, Samba now also runs on Netware, OS/2 and VMS.

In practice, this means that you can redirect disks and printers to Unix disks and printers from LAN Manager clients, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 clients, Windows NT and later clients, Linux clients and OS/2 clients. There is also a generic Unix client program supplied as part of the suite which allows Unix users to use an ftp-like interface to access filespace and printers on any other SMB servers. This gives the capability for these operating systems to behave much like a LAN Server or Windows NT Server or later machine, only with added functionality and flexibility designed to make life easier for administrators.

The components of the suite are (in summary):
smbd, the SMB server. This handles actual connections from clients, doing all the file, permission and username work

nmbd, the Netbios name server, which helps clients locate servers, doing the browsing work and managing domains as this capability is being built into Samba

smbclient, the Unix-hosted client program

smbrun, a little 'glue' program to help the server run external programs

testprns, a program to test server access to printers

testparms, a program to test the Samba configuration file for correctness

smb.conf, the Samba configuration file

smbprint, a sample script to allow a Unix host to use smbclient to print to an SMB server
Back to the top

RESOLUTION

Make the PDC the master browser. This can be verified with Browser Monitor.

This may require disabling Samba, the Samba computers, or moving these computers to another workgroup.
Back to the top

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about general TCP/IP browsing issues, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
150800  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/150800/EN-US/ ) Domain Browsing with TCP/IP and LMHOSTS Files
Back to the top
APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 95
  • Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.2
  • Microsoft TCP/IP-32 for Windows for Workgroups 1.0
Back to the top
Keywords: 
kbnetwork kbprb KB168821
Back to the top
 

Get Help Now

Contact a support professional by E-mail, Online, or Phone

Article Translations

 

Related Support Centers