PC can't connect to NAS

(Sorry...I had a stroke about 6 months ago so I'm very slow. I'm trying to teach/train myself all the stuff I had for years)
I have just reinstalled Windows 10 and now my PC can't connect to my NAS - please help! Thanks.

Our other PCs connect fine - I even fixed our other PC but now I can't remember it - that's the problem with my stroke.
The other PC I enter the address (I've not used 192.168....) with "\\ournas_name" and then get "Windows cannot access \\ournas_nas".
Any help appreciated!

can you ping the nas from the pc? how are you connecting ie explorer or cmd prompt are you entering the password and username set on the nas NOT the windows name?

Samuria said:

can you ping the nas from the pc? how are you connecting ie explorer or cmd prompt are you entering the password and username set on the nas NOT the windows name?

Thanks. Sorry, but I'm slow...

Have now re-pinged and its confirmed (it took me 2 hours to learn this again!). So to confirm the PC can connect and logon to the NAS, but I can;t connect to the location on the NAS.
I'm connecting to the NAS by accessing the files in the NAS (\\ournas\...).

Thanks!

Did you set username password up on the nas and permission for the folder?

Samuria said:

Did you set username password up on the nas and permission for the folder?

Sorry! Can you advise on how to do this simply please (after the stroke it's now very slow - and after the best part of 35 years IT!).

Thanks

Not knowing the nas I cant be specific but on most as you set them up you can set folders and for the folder set a user name and password and read write permission etc it will then ask for password when you connect if your logged in to windows with an account that matchs the nas it may not ask as it will get passed by default

Hi there

If the NAS is Linux based you can set the shares in SAMBA, start SAMBA and then the shared folders should be available on Windows.

1) ensure SAMBA is running (services are SMB and NMB or SMBD and NMBD) depending on Linux OS in the NAS

2) set up the smb.conf file -- simple example shown below. smb.conf usually exists in /etc/samba.

This example shows 2 HDD's mounted on the NAS that Windows can access -- here there's minimal security but it's an example. Setting to browseable also means that you can browse the directories easily.

Create the following directories in /mnt as Read/write (/mnt/DV1 for example). create as many as you have shares or HDD's. Simply create empty directories in /mnt and allow read/write access. You only need to do that once.

Now simply on the NAS make sure the disks are mounted - as root or sudo type in mount /dev/sdx -t auto -o rw /mnt/DVx
where x = 1,2, etc depending on how many HDD's / shares you want.

The auto parameter in the mount command means the kernel will take and determine the file type automatically -- saves messing around with fstab entries or wondering what the file type is.

Here's the smb.conf file which is the simplest possible one you can make --- it's got very little security but it's a good start as samba has a zillion and one options. Once that's working you can add as much security as you like later.

#======================= Global Settings =====================================

[global]
max protocol = SMB3
# can set it to SMB2 if you want experimental SMB2 support.
#
workgroup = WORKGROUP
server string = Samba Server Version %v

; max protocol = SMB2

log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size = 50
security = user
passdb backend = tdbsam
name resolve order = bcast host lmhosts wins

load printers = yes
cups options = raw

; printcap name = /etc/printcap
# obtain a list of printers automatically on UNIX System V systems:
; printcap name = lpstat
; printing = cups


#============================ Share Definitions ==============================

[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = yes
writable = yes
valid users = %S

[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
browseable = no
guest ok = no
writable = no
printable = yes

[HDD1]
comment HDD1
path = /mnt/DV1
guest ok = yes
writeable = yes
browseable = yes

[HDD2]
comment HDD2
path = /mnt/DV2
guest ok = yes
writeable = yes
browseable = yes


Windows will see the shares as HDDx (the names in the square brackets).

For example I have 2 NAS boxes both with 2 shared HDD's (actually 2 RAID arrays on each box - however Windows it sees them as discrete HDD's). I have the above same smb.conf file in both NAS boxes.

Here's what Windows sees.



Cheers
jimbo

winchesterstoke said:

Sorry! Can you advise on how to do this simply please (after the stroke it's now very slow - and after the best part of 35 years IT!).

Thanks

Hi WinchesterStoke

On the problem PC, if you search for 'Advanced Sharing Settings', maximise the window and then press Alt+PrtScn to take an image of the screen to the clipboard. Can you then post a reply containing this image?

Regards
UKMedia

Thanks all!
Sorry for the slow response (had to pop back to hospital but back now but slow)

I will go through the very kind responses!