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Your Linux server is happily sharing files over Samba, but it never shows up in the Network view of Windows File Explorer. This DevAnswers guide fixes that in about five minutes: install the WS-Discovery daemon that matches your release, open the firewall ports it needs, and check the two Windows settings that hide the Network view in the first place.
Quick Fix: Install the WSD Daemon
Modern Windows finds network machines with the WS-Discovery (WSD) protocol, and Samba does not answer WSD requests on its own. A small daemon does that job for it. Connect to your Linux server via SSH and install the package for your release; the name changed in Ubuntu 24.04, so check the package table if you are unsure.
On Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 12:
sudo apt install wsddOn Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04 (yes, the package name is different; the table below explains):
sudo apt install wsdd-serverOn Debian 13:
sudo apt install wsdd2On Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux 9, wsdd comes from EPEL, and unlike the Debian-family packages it does not start automatically:
sudo dnf install epel-release
sudo dnf install wsdd
sudo systemctl enable --now wsddIf your server runs ufw, allow the ports for your daemon (each command confirms with a Rule added line, plus a v6 twin). For wsdd or wsdd-server:
sudo ufw allow 3702/udp
sudo ufw allow 5357/tcpFor wsdd2 on Debian 13, which listens on UDP and TCP 3702:
sudo ufw allow 3702/udp
sudo ufw allow 3702/tcpOn the RHEL family, which uses firewalld instead of ufw:
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=3702/udp --add-port=5357/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reloadGive it a minute, then open File Explorer on the Windows PC and click Network. Your server appears under its hostname. If the Network view is empty or the server is missing, work through the Windows-side checks and the troubleshooting list below.
Why Windows Can’t See Your Linux Machine
For two decades the Network view was populated by the Computer Browser service, which depends on the ancient SMBv1 protocol. Microsoft removed both from Windows 10 and 11, and its documentation is blunt about why:
The Computer Browser service relies on the SMBv1 protocol to populate the Windows Explorer Network node (also known as ‘Network Neighborhood’). This legacy protocol is long deprecated, doesn’t route, and has limited security. Because the service cannot function without SMBv1, it is removed at the same time.
learn.microsoft.com: SMBv1 is not installed by default in Windows
Its replacement is WS-Discovery. Windows machines announce themselves over WSD and listen for others doing the same. Samba does not implement WSD natively, so a Samba host stays invisible no matter how correctly its shares are configured. The wsdd daemon fills the gap: it answers WSD probes on Samba’s behalf, and your server reappears in the Network view under its hostname.
wsdd vs wsdd-server vs wsdd2: Pick the Right Package
Three package names serve the same purpose across recent releases, and installing the wrong one is the single most common failure. Match your release to the row:
| Release | Install this package | Service unit |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 22.04 | wsdd | wsdd.service |
| Ubuntu 24.04 / 26.04 | wsdd-server | wsdd-server.service |
| Debian 12 | wsdd | wsdd.service |
| Debian 13 | wsdd2 | wsdd2.service |
| Rocky / Alma 9 | wsdd (EPEL) | wsdd.service |
Ubuntu 24.04 split the original package in two. The wsdd package now provides the gvfsd-wsdd backend, a client component that lets the GNOME file manager discover Windows machines. The daemon that makes your server visible to Windows moved into wsdd-server, with a unit named wsdd-server.service. Installing wsdd-server pulls in wsdd as well; they run as two separate processes. This is why sudo systemctl start wsdd fails with “Unit wsdd.service not found” on a fresh 24.04 or 26.04 install.
Debian 13 ships wsdd2, a separate C implementation of the same idea. It reads your Samba config at /etc/samba/smb.conf and derives the machine name and workgroup from it via testparm, so it usually needs no configuration at all. It also answers LLMNR name lookups, and it listens on TCP port 3702 in addition to UDP.
On the RHEL family, wsdd lives in the EPEL repository, and the packaged unit is tied to Samba: if smb.service does not exist on the machine, the daemon refuses to start (you will already have it if the server shares files, which is the whole point). It also follows the usual RHEL convention of not starting on install, which is why the quick fix runs systemctl enable --now.
On anything else, the daemon is still an option: Fedora and Arch package wsdd too, and the upstream wsdd project ships sample systemd units plus ready-made ufw and firewalld profiles. The commands in this guide were tested on Ubuntu, Debian, and Rocky; elsewhere substitute your package manager and keep the same ports.
Verify the Service Is Running
The Debian and Ubuntu packages start and enable their service automatically on install; the RHEL family does not, which the quick fix’s systemctl enable --now already handles. Confirm it, substituting the unit name from the table:
systemctl is-active wsdd-serveractiveIf it prints inactive or failed, read the last log lines with journalctl -u wsdd-server -n 20 (again substituting your unit name) and look for the environment-file error covered in troubleshooting below. One behaviour worth knowing: the wsdd daemon runs in host mode by default, which announces your machine to the network. Its separate client (discovery) mode, the side of the protocol Ubuntu 24.04’s gvfsd-wsdd integration uses to find Windows machines, must be enabled explicitly, and both modes can run at the same time.
Open the Firewall Ports
The ports depend on the daemon. For wsdd and wsdd-server, two openings: UDP 3702 for the multicast discovery probes (multicast groups 239.255.255.250 on IPv4 and ff02::c on IPv6), and TCP 5357, where Windows fetches the host’s metadata over HTTP after discovering it. wsdd2 on Debian 13 listens on UDP and TCP 3702 instead, which is why the quick fix gives it its own pair of rules. If your firewall blocks IGMP, allow it too; IPv4 multicast does not work without it. On a host managed with firewalld instead of ufw, the equivalent is sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=3702/udp --add-port=5357/tcp followed by sudo firewall-cmd --reload (on a wsdd2 host, open 3702/udp and 3702/tcp instead).
Check the Windows Side
Two different Windows settings control whether the Network view works, and they live in two different places. Windows 11 sets every new network to the Public profile by default, which deliberately hides the PC from other devices and suppresses browsing. First, switch the profile:
- Open Settings, then Network & internet.
- Select Wi-Fi or Ethernet and click your active connection.
- Under Network profile type, select Private.
Second, make sure Network discovery itself is on. This is a separate toggle:
- In Settings > Network & internet, open Advanced network settings.
- Click Advanced sharing settings.
- Expand Private networks and switch Network discovery on; turn on File and printer sharing too if you share from this PC.
On Windows 10 the discovery toggles live under Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings; expand the Private profile and turn on network discovery there. The network profile itself is not in that menu: switch it in Settings > Network & Internet by selecting your connection and setting it to Private, the same idea as on Windows 11.
Restrict wsdd to One Interface
On a host with several interfaces (Docker bridges, VPN tunnels, a second NIC), announce only on the LAN that has your Windows machines. The daemon’s -i flag does exactly that: it accepts an interface name or an IP address, can be given multiple times to allow more than one interface, never uses loop-back interfaces, and on IPv6 announces only link-local addresses. Bonus: pinning the interface also stops bridge and tunnel interfaces from generating duplicate replies to Windows.
Where to put the flag depends on your unit. The stock Debian and Ubuntu wsdd unit reads options from /etc/default/wsdd through the $WSDD_PARAMS variable. Check where your unit reads options with systemctl cat plus your unit name from the table (wsdd-server on Ubuntu 24.04+, wsdd on Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12 and the RHEL family, wsdd2 on Debian 13) and look for an EnvironmentFile line. Then edit the file that line names; on the stock wsdd unit:
sudo nano /etc/default/wsddWSDD_PARAMS="-i eth0"Save and exit (press CTRL + X, press Y, then press ENTER)
Then restart the service (sudo systemctl restart wsdd, or your unit name from the table). If your unit has no environment file, or you prefer not to rely on one, a systemd drop-in is the clean alternative: sudo systemctl edit wsdd-server creates an override.conf that is merged with the packaged defaults at runtime. The same applies to wsdd2, which accepts the same -i flag on its command line.
Troubleshooting
- “Failed to load environment files: No such file or directory.” The unit references
/etc/default/wsddand the file does not exist. Create it withsudo touch /etc/default/wsddand start the service again. This mostly bites hand-installed upstream units; if that is your setup, the more permanent fix is changing the unit line toEnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/wsdd(the leading dash makes a missing file non-fatal), then runningsudo systemctl daemon-reloadbefore restarting. - “Failed to start wsdd.service: Unit smb.service not found” on the RHEL family. EPEL’s wsdd unit requires Samba’s
smb.serviceto exist. Install Samba (sudo dnf install samba) and start wsdd again. - “Unit wsdd.service not found” on Ubuntu 24.04 or newer. You installed the
wsddpackage, which no longer ships the host daemon’s unit. Installwsdd-serverand startwsdd-server.serviceinstead. - The server shows up, but double-clicking it fails. Discovery has done its job; the error is on the SMB side (credentials, share permissions, or guest access). See our guide to fixing “Windows cannot access \\hostname” on Samba guest shares.
- It never appears from another subnet or VLAN. WSD discovery is multicast and link-local, so machines on a different network segment will not see the announcement. You can still connect directly: discovery and file sharing are independent, so
\\hostnameor\\192.168.1.20in the File Explorer address bar works even when the Network view shows nothing. If the hostname does not resolve, add it to the Windows hosts file.
Summary
Windows dropped SMBv1 browsing and discovers machines over WS-Discovery, which Samba does not speak. Install the right daemon for your release (wsdd, wsdd-server on Ubuntu 24.04+, wsdd2 on Debian 13, or wsdd from EPEL on Rocky/Alma, started with enable --now), allow its ports on the LAN firewall (UDP 3702 plus TCP 5357, or UDP and TCP 3702 for wsdd2), and set the Windows network profile to Private with Network discovery on. Your server then appears in the Network view under its hostname. And if it ever does not, remember that discovery is cosmetic: your shares keep working by direct \\hostname or IP access either way.
There are two wsdd packages thanks to Debian in Ubuntu 24.04:
wsdd which is called by a new gvfsd-wsdd backend that enables the file manager in Ubuntu to discover Windows SMB hosts. It does not create a service.
wsdd-server which enables samba host discovery by Windows clients. This does create a service.
wsdd-server.service
Thanks
In 2023 with Ubuntu:
sudo apt install wsdd
just works by default on all interfaces. You can edit /etc/default/wsdd to restrict which interfaces it listens on.
(Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS)
wsdd is in the Ubuntu repositories as of version 22. “apt install wsdd” did the job for me.
Hello.
Last version of wsdd need a file wsdd.defaults that is located in /etc/systemd.
You can see in wsdd.service that a variable ‘EnvironmentFile’ in the bloc Service point to this file.
This file must be under /etc/default and called wsdd.
sudo cp wsdd-master/etc/systemd/wsdd.defaults /etc/default
cd /etc/default
sudo mv wsdd.defaults /etc/default/wsdd
Then you can reload daemon, start and enable wsdd like it is described in this present ‘how to’
My original purpose was to detect my ubuntu pc in my printer/scanner ‘wsd’ discovery mode, but, at the moment, it doesn’t work.
I tried apt install wsdd, same result, doesn’t seen the ubuntu pc in my scanner menu
THANK YOU! I followed the original instructions but ran into an error starting the WSDD service. I then saw and followed your additional instructions and they worked perfectly. I can now see my ubuntu machine and shares on my Windows 10 machine.
dont work on ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Dang. Any error?
Work great for me. Thanx a lot for such great tutorial.
Worked fine for me, replace your ENTIRE wsdd.service file with that in the original post, then the resource problem goes away. It did for me.
Simon I apologize but am a little ignorant on the structure and commands of Linux. Can you send me exactly what you did to replace the entire wsdd.service file?
Thank you for your time and help,
ernie
Totally failed for me unfortunately. No idea where i went wrong as i followed each step.
wsdd.service – Web Services Dynamic Discovery host daemon
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/wsdd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: resources)
Docs: man:wsdd(8)
CPU: 0
Jul 06 10:42:32 taze-Satellite-Pro-L500 systemd[1]: wsdd.service: Failed to load environment files: No such file or directory
Jul 06 10:42:32 taze-Satellite-Pro-L500 systemd[1]: wsdd.service: Failed to run ‘start’ task: No such file or directory
Jul 06 10:42:32 taze-Satellite-Pro-L500 systemd[1]: wsdd.service: Failed with result ‘resources’.
Jul 06 10:42:32 taze-Satellite-Pro-L500 systemd[1]: Failed to start Web Services Dynamic Discovery host daemon.
Same problem here.
Worked great. Thanks for the instruction. I did modify the config file to match what was shown in the instructions. I can now see my samba server in Windows file explorer. However, since updates to Samba and Windows 10 this week, I cannot access the shares on this server. I ge the Windows security Enter nerwork credentials “the user name or passwork is incorrect”. I have checked numerous settings and changes, but nothing has resolved this. Has anyone else experienced this?
Well it seemed to go ok until I keep getting this error.
Job for wsdd.service failed because of unavailable resources or another system error.
I do not have the firewall running, during testing, and the edit I commented out had wdss as a user and group.. should I use the other computer or just comment it out?
Ed, I had the same error. I noticed the code in the wsdd.service file (shown above) was dramatically different from the wsdd.service file I downloaded from Github. As a test, I copied the code for wsdd.service shown above and pasted it over (deleting) the code in the new wsdd.service file, and it suddenly worked! Hopefully this helps someone else.
Great article. And great hint Chris, I had the same problem and this fixed it. On windows I then found my shared folder, but I still had no authentication. It was because I had to create a samba user on the Ubuntu machine with `sudo smbpasswd -a albert` and then I was good to go.
Yes it did. Got the same error on my Debian 11 server.
Thank you so much. This worked for me as well.
Great article. You might want to consider adding that firewall needs to have the following opened:
outgoing unicast traffic from udp/3702
incoming to tcp/5357
In Ubuntu:
sudo ufw allow 3702/udp
sudo ufw allow 5357/tcp
I don’t know about other distros.
It took me a while to figure out why it wasn’t working despite following your instructions to the letter.
That was fantastic help. It took me a while to find this post and your advice. Thank you. I also had to open up port 445/tcp as well, in order to be able to log in. I couldn’t see my laptop before that though.
**running Debian 11 on fresh install… forgot I had installed ufw.
I installed it on latest, updated Raspbian OS (ubuntu), it works perfect, thank you for your effort to gradually explain everything how to install this WSD service, thanks !
I’ll not bore you with my noobness, what am I supposed to do from here:
Open wsdd.service in nano and comment out User=nobody and Group=nobody with a ; semicolon.
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/wsdd.service
When I open wsdd.service it shows a blank page. Is that right? Do I just type in ; User=nobody, ; Group=nobody, Save & Exit?
Wow – As a brand new user to Linux after days of searching I found your instructions that were easy to follow to connect my Win 10 pc to my newly installed Linux Mint 20. Thank you – my headache is gone 🙂
did not work
someuser@somedevice:~ $ sudo service wsdd status
● wsdd.service – Web Services Dynamic Discovery host daemon
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/wsdd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2021-06-29 20:35:41 -04; 29min ago
Main PID: 2085 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos wsdd[2085]: File “/usr/lib/python3.5/sysconfig.py”, line 546, in get_config_vars
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos wsdd[2085]: _CONFIG_VARS[‘userbase’] = _getuserbase()
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos wsdd[2085]: File “/usr/lib/python3.5/sysconfig.py”, line 205, in _getuserbase
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos wsdd[2085]: return joinuser(“~”, “.local”)
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos wsdd[2085]: File “/usr/lib/python3.5/sysconfig.py”, line 184, in joinuser
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos wsdd[2085]: return os.path.expanduser(os.path.join(*args))
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos wsdd[2085]: File “/usr/lib/python3.5/posixpath.py”, line 238, in expanduser
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos systemd[1]: wsdd.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos systemd[1]: wsdd.service: Unit entered failed state.
jun 29 20:35:41 microdispositivos systemd[1]: wsdd.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
I was able to “see” my ubuntu share but i got an error when i tried to click the folder from my windows 10 machine: Network Error
Windows cannot access \\Asqrd\10tb-hdd You do not have permission to access \\Asqrd\10TB-HDD. Contact your network administrator to request access.
I had made sure to change permissions but since its several terabytes it was taking FOREVER.
So what do I do?
Hi there.
excellent post. Must confess I am quite new to this and when I do sudo service wsdd status
I get this:
May 11 07:51:00 webinterno.xx systemd[11684]: wsdd.service:
Failed to determine group credentials: No such process
May 11 07:51:00 webinterno.xx systemd[11684]:
wsdd.service: Failed at step GROUP spawning /usr/bin/wsdd: No such process
Any idea how to fix this?
Please let me know.
Regards,
Paco
Worked perfectly ! Thanks so much !
So far Win 10 doesn’t ‘see’ the machine or share. Can map it manually using IP address.
Ubuntu 20.04
getting this error message in addition to the others already mentioned
when running the query sudo service wsdd status
Apr 11 16:52:05 odroid wsdd[2566]: WARNING: cannot unset all_multicast: [Errno 92] Protocol no>
Thanks so much for this!
Finally – something that worked. I appreciate your time in making this article.
A bit of a warning. Your way here can cause other network related issues. Its also not as easy as just following what is found on github.
github Ubuntu install:
“deb https://pkg.ltec.ch/public/ distro main
Replace distro with the name of your distro, e.g. buster or xenial (issue lsb_release -cs if unsure). After an apt update you can install wsdd with apt install wsdd.
You also need to import the public key of the repository like this apt-key adv –fetch-keys https://pkg.ltec.ch/public/conf/ltec-ag.gpg.key.”
And that’s it. It should be running plus no network conflicts that your way creates.
Thanks, Jran. I may consider updating the article to simplify the install. However, my method works across many distributions and I’m hoping that distributions like Ubuntu will eventually include wsdd in future releases by default. I will monitor this article and update in due course.
Thanks for that worked perfectly…How many days fighting with …never mind your solution was the answer
I want to THANK YOU immensely for providing this information. It was flawless and worked perfectly. I cannot thank you enough.
Thanks so much for this … have struggled forever with trying to figure out why windows (again!) stopped being able to see — let alone connect to — samba shares.
This. Made. My. Day.
Thank you very much for this clear and concise solution. It works perfectly on my Ubuntu Mate 20.04LTS media server. Now to try this on my Centos v7 dbms server.
OMFG! Thank you!! Thanks you so much!!!
This worked great! Thanks!
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You so much!!!
It’s woriking 🙂
How to See Ubuntu Machines and Samba Shares on a Windows 10 Network
works like a charm windows 10 sees linux mint Yesssssssssssssss
ps would it be possible to have a printer friendly link 🙂
Your instructions worked great and I have now set things up on both of my machines. But now I have the same problem as jp2558: My Windows machine (Win10) can now ‘see’ the share on my Ubuntu machine but when I try to open that folder, I’m asked to “Enter network credentials” so I provide my Ubuntu machine user name and password. But I get back “Access is denied”. Stuck.
The way I fixed this was adding my outlook.com user. I found this
Linux windows 10 credentials
>> sudo useradd [email protected]
>> sudo passwd [email protected]
>> sudo usermod -G users [email protected] [the group users is configured in Samba as valid access group]
>> sudo service samba restart
for shares I installed webmin on my ubuntu server and added shared folder’s with outlook.com user and my linux user as well.
I’ve followed all the instructions and everything seems to be in order however when I try to map a drive in win10 it says access denied.. I do have one folder mapped in ubuntu and the smbclient service is running. I can see the share, but just can’t access it. One thing I did notice is if I look at the share in nautilus the share doesn’t seem to be there but if I run sudo nautilus I can see the share…. I’m stumped at this point….?
Thank you so much. 2 days of @#$%&%$ around after upgrade 20.04 stopped me being able to see Samba shares on all my windows 10 machines, this was one of the the simplest fixes I found and it is the only one that worked. 🙂
👍
Exellent guide worked flawlessly on ubuntu 20.10
Thank’s a lot DevAnswers, please share this on stackoverflow or comment cause I’ve gone ahead and shared I’m sure many other people will need this service 🙂
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/64525643/how-to-see-ubuntu-20-04-machines-and-samba-shares-on-a-windows-10-network
Perfect guide – thanks and congratulation!
Let me leave a small hint: please correct the swapped letters in headlines for wsd “WDS”.
Ah! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Great, I am often frustrated by Linux procedures which are for other versions, depend on specifics of an intstallation, omit details assumed to be known by all -but not by me-: This is precise, complete and it works!
ahh, what a pleasure to follow a perfectly created guide and see success right away
Ty it helped me out a lot
hi,
i am an absolute linux/ubuntu noob. after 3 days of following different guides for connection problems between ubuntu and win10 (without success except loosing my mind) i found this awesome explanation. Thank you so much for your effort.
I sitting at my Windows desktop following this guide using super putty to cycle through my long-missing SAMBA shares R-pi’s and and Ubuntu server running my Ubiquiti controller and video services. No sooner I’m done with each SAMBA servers config from this guide, BAM, it’s populating my Win10 network explorer. KUDOS!
Finally I found the greatest step by step guide!!! Thank you Author, you’ve done an amazing work!!!
Let me just describe in short my problem and what result I wished to achieve:
What steps shall I have to do???
Thanks in advance
Hi
I have the same problem as you .
Could you fix it?
Thanks
Hey,
I did the master branch install and the Samba share didn’t show up in Win10 or the server either. I then uninstalled and installed the feat-discovery branch and installed fine. But when I ran the wsdd status command at the end, I had the following errors.
wsdd.service – Web Services Dynamic Discovery host daemon
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/wsdd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sat 2020-08-15 16:15:41 EDT; 40s ago
Main PID: 30179 (python3)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 18918)
Memory: 10.1M
CGroup: /system.slice/wsdd.service
└─30179 python3 /usr/bin/wsdd –shortlog
Aug 15 16:15:41 devastator systemd[1]: Started Web Services Dynamic Discovery host daemon.
Aug 15 16:15:41 devastator wsdd[30179]: WARNING: no interface given, using all interfaces
Aug 15 16:15:41 devastator wsdd[30179]: /usr/bin/wsdd:989: DeprecationWarning: The ‘warn’ method is deprecated, use ‘warning’ instead
Aug 15 16:15:41 devastator wsdd[30179]: logger.warn(‘new address {} on {}’.format(addr, interface.name))
Aug 15 16:15:41 devastator wsdd[30179]: WARNING: new address 127.0.0.1 on lo
Aug 15 16:15:41 devastator wsdd[30179]: /usr/bin/wsdd:992: DeprecationWarning: The ‘warn’ method is deprecated, use ‘warning’ instead
Aug 15 16:15:41 devastator wsdd[30179]: logger.warn(‘ignoring address on {}’.format(interface.name))
Aug 15 16:15:41 devastator wsdd[30179]: WARNING: ignoring address on lo
What do I need to edit to remove or fix those errors?
Also wanted to include the feat-discovery branch, I dont’ see the share or the server in Win10. I’m running Ubuntu 20.04
You shouldn’t need the feat-discovery branch anymore, and by the way, those errors are “normal” – but they are removed in the master branch.
I would recommend removing it and reinstalling master branch. Then I would make sure sharing and enabled correctly in Win 10. Check firewall, etc. Can you see other Win 10 shares for example? (if you have another machine to test).
I reinstalled the master branch, rebooted Win10, checked over my Win10 FW and I can’t see anything that would stop the Samba server/shares from showing up. I really haven’t played with the Win10 FW I have my advanced sharing option set to “Private” vs “Public”. Network Discovery is enabled on Private and so is “Turn on automatic setup of network connected devices”. Other than that, I don’t see what else to change that would prevent the shares/server from showing up. On another note, I have an app called CX Explorer on android and it can see my Samba server name just find. I also checked on my 2 Nvidia Shields and they are not seeing the shares/server under the SMB mounting section in Kodi.
One other note, I’m able to reach the share by mapping a network drive, using the server IP address.
So I setup my 2 laptops with a share on each and I can access them and see the “Computer names” under the Network section in explorer. However I don’t see the folder or “Computer name” for my desktop on either of the laptops. Not sure if that would cause any problems with seeing the Samba share. I also don’t see the Samba share or server name on either of the laptops.
I also am able to see the computer names and shares of each laptop on one another.
So my desktop is seeing the other Win10 laptops, but still not showing Samba. Not concerned about the laptops not being able to see my desktop at this point. Just want that Samba server and share to show up on all the computers at this point.
Any suggestions?
Have you set up a shared folder in Ubuntu? You can list them with
smbclient -L localhostMine looks like:
Yup they do:
Sharename Type Comment
SMB1 disabled — no workgroup available
LTS is the one I’m sharing
I noticed something funny happening. So I can’t see the server. I can Map a network drive to the share. Now if I goto “Map Network Drive section and type in \LTS and then click browse, I see the server ip address under the Network tree.
Network
v
192.168.1.101 (ubuntu server)
Laptop 1 (laptop shares are still accessible)
Laptop 2
If I expand the server 192.168.1.101, I then see the LTS share, and I can map the drive or specific directory on the sharew I want. But still no luck on it showing up under Explorer – > Network.
I posted a couple messages yesterday, they were pending review. When I refreshed the pending messages were gone. Not sure if you got them or not. Let me know and I can re-post.
UPDATE: I’m now able to see my desktop computer and shares on my Laptops and vice versa. Still no luck with the Ubuntu Samba server or share showing up. Except on my cellphone.
Fixed. I had switched from /home/username/sambashare to /home/samba/sambashare and needed to run
the following series of (sudo) commands: service smb stop; vi /etc/smb.conf (to make certain the new path was changed); service smb restart; service smb force-reload; service smb status. I can see the non-empty files now. My first files (in the old sambashare path) had the same names (as the ones in the new sambashare path) and were created with touch (so were empty). I wish I could’ve merely edited my original comments so these added ones are not separate, however, the “waiting for approval is the slowdown and I didn’t want to bother anyone with my mistakes, as one comment would’ve allowed. That’s life. Best to all. chris
Leave it to me to misspell my own name as chrisd rather than chris. I must have daemons on my mind.
I am seeing the Ubuntu 18.04 sambashare folder and its files (in both This PC and Network/ubuntu-ipAddress) however, when opening or editing the one-liner test files, they have no lines in them at all. I must have missed an ironically-described “intuitive step” along the way. Does the issue sound familiar? Thanks.
Worked perfectly. Now just have to figure out how to connect as a different user
Well Done. Thanks a lot. You did my day! My Xubuntu changed interface name(Ill try later discover why). My ip was changed, also interface name and I couldnt reconnect my win10 to samba server on Xubuntu 18.04. I found this wsdd package and suppose, may be later, will be included on next version of Ubuntu.
Thank You SO Much!
I followed the instructions without success.
All services are available and running (samba & wsdd), in Windows Explorer I can see the Ubuntu machine but I get an error when I try to open it. Windows displays a “Windows cannot access \MYSERVER. I run the diagnostics but all I get is this message: “Troubleshooting couldn’t identify the problem”.
I’m running Windows 10 Version 2004 (19041.329) and Ubuntu Desktop 20.04.
Any help will be appreciated.
Can you check this article?
https://devanswers.net/network-error-problem-windows-cannot-access-hostname-samba/
regarding the Ubuntu 20.04 related issue, I opened an issue on Github and the answer is: use v0.6
I replaced the /usr/bin/wsdd file with the v0.6 wsdd.py and everything is OK now. Most warnings have also vanished.
It would be great if you could update your post here, because your detailed step by step instructions are very helpful for people like me.
I would not have even tried without your guide.
Thanks again!
Hi Pat. Many thanks for the update and kind comments.
I have now updated the guide to use the master branch as these CPU and race issues seem to be resolved in 0.6.
I have kept the instructions for installing the feat-disovery branch at the bottom of the guide just in case anyone is having issues with the master branch.
Same as Boandlgramer 🙁
Didn’t work for me. No discovery and the service puts a 100% load on one core permanently. No special warning, looked like it’s working but it didn’t.
Ubuntu 20.04 – fresh install.
Did you have Samaba installed and working before following this guide? To check if it’s working ok, run
sudo systemctl status smbdIf we can gather some more information about this issue, we can submit an issue on the GitHub.
After a bit of “guesstroubleshooting” (I am not python fluent, by far!) I managed to make it work (samba server visible and no more 100% CPU load), by editing the wsdd file in the
def handle_request(self):part to add a break statement as shown below (100% load was created by a never ending loop)While at it, I also replaced 6 occurences of
logger.warn(bylogger.warning(to get rid of related warning messages.Now I don't have the message about "using all interfaces" or something similar any more, but I have warnings about
invalid resolve request:…Not sure what they mean but they don't seem to hurt… in my own case 😉
This is not a clean fix, I don't have the required knowledge, it's just an opportunistic fix.
HTH
Thanks for the response. Hopefully it can help others.
(And sorry for the comments system, it’s still a bit buggy when handling code but I will have it fixed soon)
Same problem as described by others. The process uses one core at 100% all the time.
Ubuntu 20.04? Can you check your Samba service status?
sudo systemctl status smbdGuide has now been updated and this issue should be resolved.
very clear steps, thanks!
That has to be the fastest I’ve ever seen windows network neighborhood respond.
Thanks.
Best solution that I have seen. Works great. Now I can see the ubuntu servers.
Sorry – didn’t work for me. No discovery and the service puts a 100% load on one core permanently. No special warning, looked like it’s working but it didn’t.
Ran it on ubuntu server 20.04 – nearly clean install.
Not sure what that could be. Perhaps raise the issue on GitHub https://github.com/christgau/wsdd
Best solution that I have seen. Works great. Now I can see the ubuntu servers.
👍
Installed this morning following guide above with the “feat-discovery” changes. Everything worked as advertised except the status numbers were different and I had an extra line of warnings. I was using ssh on Windows Powershell to install and after the sucessful installation I jumped to my Windows File Explorer and opened then after a few seconds the Network section showed all of my Windows machines and the Linux server. I clicked on the server and it then showed my Linux shares which I opened a previous saved text document and watched a clip of a video from the server on the Windows machine.
Next I used Powershell to reboot the Linux server and closed the File Expolrer window. Linux server has a fast bootup and after waiting a minute I opened a new File Explorer window and again after a few seconds all Windows machines and Linux server appeared in the Network section.
Wonderful and thank you. I have a 3 drive ZFS pool on the Linux server. To get the shares setup using the ZFS wrapper, Samba configuration, and Windows Discovery has taken me quite a while in which weeks were spent using Duck Duck Go and Google to almost finally end this journey. Hopefully the Samba gurus will get their socks on and implement this discovery process soon. Kind of silly for the “Next Operating System” to be behind M$ Windows instead of leading.
Thanks again,
Rich
Delighted it worked! Thanks for the comment.
Any update about the boot issue?
The guide has now been updated to use a different branch (feat-discovery), which will resolve that reboot issue.
If you had already installed the master branch, please follow section “How to Uninstall wsdd” and then reinstall by following section “Installing WDS on Ubuntu”. Let me know if it works.
It’s works until reboot, then the
wsddservice fails to start. I have to start it manually myself. Any ideas?There is a problem with the master branch of wsdd, which causes a race issue on Ubuntu after reboot. The guide has now been updated to use a different branch (feat-discovery), which will resolve that reboot issue. If you had already installed the master branch, please follow section “How to Uninstall wsdd” and then reinstall by following section “Installing WDS on Ubuntu”. Let me know if it works.
A note from the wsdd dev on this issue:
Thank you so much this had been driving me crazy !! i had even tried smb1 and it still wasnt working but i followed your instructions and tada worked like a charm!!
Great!