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Caution: Various Internet HowTo articles advise changing the default Vista and Samba security policies. Those articles are wrong. There is no need to adjust the default settings relating to NTLMv2 in Linux or Vista.

Introduction: openSUSE has been capable of interacting nicely with Vista since openSUSE 11.0. Some folks are having trouble with the Vista settings so I'll run through some settings that will enable old-style free sharing. Once you can do that it's easy to tighten up the security in Vista to require authentication from the openSUSE users.

These settings are for all Linux machines, not just openSUSE. These settings are almost the same for Windows 7. I have repeated the tutorial for Windows 7 on this site: Setup Windows 7 on an openSUSE Samba Network.

Set up Linux: Settings are the same for all Linux Distros (including openSUSE). Set your Linux machine to use Broadcast Name Resolution e.g. see this tutorial for typical settings: openSUSE/Windows LAN Primer.

Network Names in Vista: Here's how to set the names for your Workgroup and your Vista computer on your LAN. These names attach to Icons in your Network Browsers. Go to Start --> Control Panel --> Classic View and select System --> Advanced System Settings. Activate the Tab Computer Name and examine the names Full Computer Name and Workgroup. You select a unique network name for the Vista machine but make sure the Workgroup name is the same for all computers on the LAN. Click the Change button to alter the names if necessary. Restart the Vista computer to make the changes effective.

Initialise Vista's Network: Go to start --> Control Panel --> Network & Sharing Centre. The screenshot below appears.

The Network icon should be labelled Private network. If it's labelled Public network, click the option to customise and a screen will open where you can select for a private network.

Now for the Sharing and Discovery settings. You must switch Network Discovery and File Sharing to On. The remaining four options are optional extras. You can read about them and decide by clicking the inverted chevrons. To imitate the style for XP and Windows 2000 you would have Password protected sharing set to Off.

Creating a Shared Folder: Recall that we have set for open sharing similar to Windows 2000/XP. The following description is based on that. Create a folder anywhere convenient and Right click --> Properties. This will open a dialog shown in the Screenshot #1 below.

You should see in Screenshot #1 (in the Password Protection panel at the bottom) a statement that a username and password aren't necessary for access to folders shared with "Everyone". If you don't see that, then re-do the settings in the Sharing and Discovery section of the Network and Sharing Centre.

Next click the Advanced Sharing button and the panel in Screenshot #2 will open.

When the panel of Screenshot #2 opens, tick/enable the option to Share this folder. The share name (e.g. vistashare) is preset as the name of the folder you are sharing.

Next you have to set network access to the share: click the button for Permissions and the panel of Screenshot #3 will open.

The group Everyone should be in the frame for Group or usernames (if not then click to Add the group). In the lower panel, adjust the permissions to allow Full Control (including Change and Read). Click whatever Apply and OK buttons to make it stick and you'll have a network share that is visible from Linux.

That's only part of the story. So far you've enabled the share to be seen on the LAN. To enable access to the share, you must also adjust the non-network access permissions. Return to the folder and Right click --> Properties --> Security Tab. You must match the Security permissions to your network permissions set in the previous paragraph, for example Full control to Everyone. Look in Group or usernames panel under the Security Tab. If Everyone is not present, add it by clicking the Edit button then the Add button. Then highlight Everyone and click/enable Full control.

The shared folder I've described here gives full access to everyone on the LAN. Many would regard that as too broad, unwise. You can tighten the security easily by reducing the access from Everyone to specific people, by requiring password access or by reducing the access rights below Full control. The main thing is to remember to match the access permissions for the folder according to the Security Tab to the access permissions according to the Sharing Tab.

Note on Windows Firewall: You opened the Windows firewall for Samba communications in the earlier segment titled Initialise Vista's Network. You don't need to do anything further. But if you've fiddled with the firewall settings or just feel the need to check, then go to Control Panel --> Windows Firewall and click to Allow a program through Windows firewall. Make sure that Core Networking, File and Printer Sharing and Network Discovery are all enabled.

There it is, hope it helps.
Swerdna: 16 September 2007.     Last updated: 19 May 2010

In updating this tutorial I mirrored an outline for Windows 7 shares by venzkep.

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