Samba Shares stopped working after recent Windows 10 update

mitu · 14 Feb 2021, 07:30

@philbobaggins You screenshot doesn't show the path you're trying to add. Make sure you're using 2 backslashes when entering the location \\retropie_ip\roms.

PhilboBaggins · 14 Feb 2021, 07:40

@mitu I used two backslashes for the location.

I'm also able to ping my retropie from my PC.

mitu · 14 Feb 2021, 09:15

Then I have no idea. I can't reproduce this and not sure what causes it - I have the latest updates on Win10 and the mapping or browsing still works.

What Windows edition do you have and which release ?

PhilboBaggins · 14 Feb 2021, 09:35

@mitu

mitu · 14 Feb 2021, 09:46

Windows Education Edition has - by default - disabled guest browsing, this may be the issue here, though this isn't a recent change and I'm surprised you've been able to access \\retropie before any recent updates (or re-installation?).

Try using SFTP to access RetroPie with WinSCP, instead of file shares.

PhilboBaggins · 14 Feb 2021, 10:03

@mitu I enabled guest browsing initially and got samba shares working (until recently). I have constant connection issues when using SFTP with WinSCP. It keeps trying to connect, and then only connects for 5-10 seconds before it disconnects and tries several times before reconnecting again for 5-10 seconds. This is the reason samba shares has been preferable to me. Is this an experience you've heard of with other users?

mitu · 14 Feb 2021, 13:04

@philbobaggins said in Samba Shares stopped working after recent Windows 10 update:

Is this an experience you've heard of with other users?

Honestly, here in the forums at least, your issue seems more prevalent than any SSH/SFTP problems when used to tranfer roms.

gmsinger8808 · 14 Feb 2021, 17:34

@philbobaggins If you go into the RetroPie-Setup Script and access the Samba Share settings under Configuration / tools, then samba, if you click restart Samba Shares, do you get a message about samba.service not found? I'm having the same issue with Samba and I noticed that message. I am running 4.7.7 currently.

PhilboBaggins · 15 Feb 2021, 07:58

@gmsinger8808 I tried restarting the Samba service and it looks like I'm getting the same error as you are.

@mitu Do you have any thoughts on what might have changed recently that would cause the service to not be found? I've never tried removing and re-installing Samba shares but do you think it would be worth giving it a try?

mitu · 15 Feb 2021, 08:51

@philbobaggins said in Samba Shares stopped working after recent Windows 10 update:

I've never tried removing and re-installing Samba shares but do you think it would be worth giving it a try?

No, I don't think that will make a difference. The restart error is a bug in the config script, the service is not called samba anymore.
You can check that it's running with

systemctl status smbd
systemctl status nmbd

PhilboBaggins · 15 Feb 2021, 22:46

@mitu I don't understand the entire output but it looks like Samba is running fine.

mitu · 16 Feb 2021, 05:57

Yes, it works fine (as expected), the issue is on the Windows side.

EDIT: can you try installing wsdd and see if it changes anything on the Windows side ? It's a simple script which you can run from the command line to test if retropie is visible again on the network from Windows.

JenGun · 16 Feb 2021, 18:54

@philbobaggins Please open the command prompt in Windows 10 and run:

net use r: \\retropie\roms

gmsinger8808 · 16 Feb 2021, 20:52

@mitu Could this have to do with the disabling of SMBV1? Would forcing SMB3 on the Pi help with Win 10 communication?

PhilboBaggins · 16 Feb 2021, 22:51

@jengun said in Samba Shares stopped working after recent Windows 10 update:

net use r: \retropie\roms

Interesting. I thought enabling "Enable insecure guest logons" for my Lanman Workstation config would have allowed guest access. Apparently not (see below). I don't suppose you have a solution?

mitu · 17 Feb 2021, 05:09

@gmsinger8808 said in Samba Shares stopped working after recent Windows 10 update:

@mitu Could this have to do with the disabling of SMBV1? Would forcing SMB3 on the Pi help with Win 10 communication?

No, it's not a matter of protocol. Both Linux (on the Pi) and Windows don't use SMB1 by default and Windows even disables it by default on new installations since Win 10.

JenGun · 17 Feb 2021, 05:59

@philbobaggins

I thought enabling "Enable insecure guest logons" for my Lanman Workstation config would have allowed guest access. Apparently not (see below). I don't suppose you have a solution?

This registry value should work:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters] "AllowInsecureGuestAuth"=dword:1

PhilboBaggins · 17 Feb 2021, 22:57

@jengun That did the trick! Thanks a lot for your help and insight. Hopefully this is a solution for others. FYI @gmsinger8808

JenGun · 18 Feb 2021, 07:04

@PhilboBaggins

@jengun That did the trick! Thanks a lot for your help and insight. Hopefully this is a solution for others. FYI @gmsinger8808

Glad it works because, to be honest, I don't have Windows 10: it remains a mystery to me that helpful error messages only appear on the command line and that updates sometimes overwrite settings. Why SSH doesn't work for you remains to be clarified (in another thread) ... :-)

TrisM · 26 Dec 2022, 15:11

@PhilboBaggins - thanks for this, annoying Microsoft just disable features and then do not show any alert when attempting to use them. I also see you can edit this via Local Group Policy Editor (https://www.nodeum.io/howto/guest-access-in-smb2-disabled-by-default-in-windows-10)