# Win2003 Server R2 won't allow SMB with Mac OSX 10.4.11



## malcolml (Apr 7, 2008)

Hi I have a simple Windows server, not an AD just using as a file server. When connecting via AFP the mounted share will periodically disconnect without warning from the Mac. If i attempt to use SMB then I get the -36 error. I have applied the nsmb.conf fix described at Apples support pages, but this has not helped. What else can i try to get either AFP to be stable, or to get SMB to allow connections..

Thanks

Malcolml


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## Giaguara (Apr 7, 2008)

Finder's implementation of smb is "special", if it has to be expressed in a politically correct way.

Does the share name or the mount path contain a "-" (hyphen) in it? This is one of the examples Finder does not deal with, and it has been a "feature" since at least 10.1. so only 5 years... Change the share name if you have access to it, or use other methods.

One thing that MAY work, but I consider a poor practice, is to make a nsmb.conf as in http://www.macosx.com/forums/networking-compatibility/52386-smb-shares-tiger.html. This is what Apple suggests as a solution to the Finder -36 error when  connecting to smb shares. This will make all smb passwords be sent in cleartext so it may not be a useful tip for many environments. 

http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-s...mb-error-36-always-finder-terminal-works.html has a lot more of this error...

*Finder* gets this error -36, but the underlying smbclient is not affected by it. So even when your share name contains a hyphen, and is nested 12 folders deep in the path, smbclient does not get this error. So if you have ever used Terminal, consider *smbclient ipaddress/sharename -W workgroupname -U username* as the best way.

This error is just one of the reasons I wish they rewrote Finder from scratch. It's a 100% Finder issue, and it has been there since the day Mac OS X Finder could deal with smb communication, and all this time smbclient as the background service has been working correctly.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106471


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## malcolml (Apr 7, 2008)

The share is on a D: untitled partition, and has been made using the top level as all items on this drive need to be accessed from the Mac. What i don't get is after applying the apple nsmb.conf fix, i still cannot access the share and continue to get the error, with the consol logs still reporting that there has been a failure at login.

I could try AFP, but this seem unstable as this disconnects from the Mac for no reason.


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## Giaguara (Apr 8, 2008)

Does smbclient from terminal work for you?


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## malcolml (Apr 8, 2008)

I have not tried this yet, will give this a try otherwise i am considering installing DAVE from Thursby on the Mac to overcome the problem.

Thanks for the help


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