Windows Server authentication configuration

It is important to know what specific protocol is being used to authenticate the client that tries to access the shared folder (e.g. NTLM or NTLMv2 ?). Especially in a corporate setting, the authentication setting is quite key and is strongly enforced. I figure out the settings when I stumble upon the guide to Enable NTLMv2 on Windows Server 2003 (from which I link the image below without prior consent )

To do this, you go to Start > Program Files > Administration Tools > Local Security Policy

The guide shows how to set Windows Server 2003 to use NTLMv2, but in knowing this, you will know what the configuration is on the server that you are trying to access/mount into the linux box. If you are the sysadmin of the windows server, then all is well. But otherwise, you know how and what to ask from the sysadmin. 

Using mount.cifs in /etc/fstab

As we know, /etc/fstab is used to specify the filesystem mounting. Mount directive specified here will be executed during system startup, so whatever you put in here will persist across reboots. The command mount -a forces Linux to reload the config.

Information about CIFS mount can be found in the man page. The command man mount.cifs reveals all that you need to know about CIFS mount in Linux.

The below is extracted from Wikipedia, which actually provides the working configuration that got our problem solved:

# mounting cifs
//pingu/ashare  /store/pingu cifs credentials=/root/smbpass.txt,sec=ntlmv2 0 0

credentials=/path/to/file

The option can be used to specify the file that contains the credential information. In this case, the file may look like this:

username=<username>

password=<password>

The nice thing with this approach is, as the creds are stored in the file, even though it is in clear text, you can protect it as usual with the good ol’ filesystem security. You may put it in /root, or in any other directory and set the appropriate permission. On top of username and password, you can also specify domain in the credential file. However, Windows server usually assumes a default domain (as the server should be registerer against a domain controller). So usually, the domain part is not needed.

sec=ntlmv2

Credentials are not the only option you can use. If you try the above and fail, know that CIFS support different authentication protocol. So check the server side config, choose the right auth type try it on in /etc/fstab, do mount -a and see what happens. 

Debugging

To see what the OS is doing you can try dmesg | less

To see the CIFS mount status, you can try cat /proc/fs/cifs/DebugData

Insallation is as easy as

apt-get install wallpaper-tray

To use it:

1. Right click in your Gnome taskbar
2. Add to Panel..
3. Choose wallpaper-tray

you can make it point to multiple directories in your filesystem. You can even make it follow symlinks. Indeed, it is now time to browse the best HDTV wallpaper this month from Deviantart.