[RHEL] Microsoft Windows 9x/ME Samba share access deny

Solution Unverified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • Samba versions equal or major then 3.2
  • Microsoft Windows 9x/ME Workstations

Issue

  • Microsoft Windows 9x/ME workstations is not able to access a Samba share even using the correct credentials.

Resolution

  1. Add these three lines to the [globals] section of your /etc/samba/smb.conf :
          lanman auth = Yes
      client lanman auth = Yes
      client plaintext auth = Yes
  2. Restart the Samba service :
    # service smb restart
  3. Re input passwords for every MS Win9x user :
    # smbpasswd -a <username>
  4. Have every Win9x user log out and then log in again

Root Cause

Samba version 3.2.0 turned off lanman support by default, both on the client (client lanman auth=) and the server (lanman auth=). 3.2.0 also turned off the default for client plaintext auth=.
Microsoft Windows 9x can only work with lanman support, so unless a corresponding modification of smb.conf is done before the first login, there will be Win9x access failures.

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