Win 11 machine suddenly no longer sees unRAID shares

[wmcneil]

I have a Win11 machine that suddenly can no longer see any SMB shares on my unRAID server. All the shares are Export:Yes and Security: Public . The Win11 machine continues to connect to other devices (other than the unRAID server) on the network correctly.

 

I have a second Win11 machine that continues to see the unRAID shares fine. On the failing machine, Windows Explorer can see the unRAID server, but if I click on it, it thinks for a while and then displays a "Windows cannot access \\LILY" message (The unRAID server has name LILY). There have been no changes to either of the Win11 machines, or the unRAID server, with the exception that I am using a new router (and a new subnet) to connect them all together. (I have moved to a new location.)

 

I have verified the following settings are identical on both the win11 machines:

* The network type is Private, and Network Discovery is turned on.

* The "Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> Lanman Workstation  / Enable insecure guest logons" setting is "Not Configured" (which the help text says produces same result as Enabled)

* Neither win11 machine has any Windows Credentials defined

* Both win11 machines have workgroup set to "WORKGROUP"

 

The unRAID machine Enable SMB setting is "Yes (Workgroup)", the Workgroup value is set to "MCNEIL_LAN", and Local master is set to "Yes"

 

The unRAID server is running 6.12.4  I have attached a diagnostics log. The Win11 machine that connects to the shares correctly is named nancyL14 and has DHCP address 10.55.73.107, the failing Win11 machine is named billX1 and has address 10.55.73.104

 

I'm really stuck on this one, thanks in advance for any help.

 

 

 

 

 

lily-diagnostics-20231222-1133.zip

[Frank1940]

First thing to try is to set up a Windows Credential in 'Credential Manager' to the Unraid server using an establish 'Share Access' user.   (You will have to reboot the Windows computer to test.)  You may have to setup a Share Access user on your Unraid server.  (All of your WIN11 computers can use the same Share Access user credential!   A Share Access user is just a set of rules as far as Unraid and MS are concerned.  It does not have to a specific individual.  It can just be a group of Client computers that have the same permissions to the same resources on the server!

 

If you really want to use 'An insecure guest login' from your Win11 computer, I would suggest that you actually  set that parameter on your Win11 computer!  (MS really does  not want anyone to actually using guest access to servers.  It would not surprise me to find out that MS has changed the 'Not Configured' default to "Disable"!)

 

IF you want more information about setting Samba on your Unraid server, see the PDF in the first post of this thread:

 

     https://forums.unraid.net/topic/110580-security-is-not-a-dirty-word-unraid-windows-10-smb-setup/

 

[wmcneil]

24 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

First thing to try is to set up a Windows Credential in 'Credential Manager' to the Unraid server using an establish 'Share Access' user.   (You will have to reboot the Windows computer to test.)  You may have to setup a Share Access user on your Unraid server.  (All of your WIN11 computers can use the same Share Access user credential!   A Share Access user is just a set of rules as far as Unraid and MS are concerned.  It does not have to a specific individual.  It can just be a group of Client computers that have the same permissions to the same resources on the server!

 

If you really want to use 'An insecure guest login' from your Win11 computer, I would suggest that you actually  set that parameter on your Win11 computer!  (MS really does  not want anyone to actually using guest access to servers.  It would not surprise me to find out that MS has changed the 'Not Configured' default to "Disable"!)

 

IF you want more information about setting Samba on your Unraid server, see the PDF in the first post of this thread:

 

     https://forums.unraid.net/topic/110580-security-is-not-a-dirty-word-unraid-windows-10-smb-setup/

 

 

Thanks for the info,  I will have a read of the pdf,  try some things, and report back. 

 

I can report on one thing that I did try already:  Changing the windows "Enable insecure guest logons" polisy to "Enabled" instead of "Not Configured", and rebooting, had no effect on the problem I am experiencing (on one of my win11 laptops).

 

[Frank1940]

On 12/22/2023 at 11:48 AM, wmcneil said:

with the exception that I am using a new router (and a new subnet) to connect them all together. (I have moved to a new location.)

 

Your Unraid server has an IP address of    10.55.73.190     and you logged into the server from a computer with an IP address of 10.55.73.104

 

What is the IP address of the Win11 client that you can't connect to SMB?    (I seem to recall that if the Unraid server and client computer are not on the same subnet, there can be connection problems.  If your troublesome client does not have the identical first three sets of numbers---  10.55.73  ---as these two IP addresses, you may have problems...) 

 

Can you log into the GUI from this WIN11 client? 

 

[wmcneil]

I figured this out. My windows hosts file was out of date (because I have moved and have a new subnet). For others looking to verify if this is their problem, the hosts file is a text file that may contain mappings from computer names to numeric IP addresses. For win11, it is located here:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

You will need admin authority to modify it.  Saving it from an editor may not work, in that case save the editor contents to a temporary location, and then move the file from the temporary location to the location noted above. You will prompted by windows that admin authority is required for the move, simply confirm the prompt (as long as your user has admin authority this will work)

 

I understand and appreciate the need to understand the security implications of enabling guest logons. That said, when windows is configured to allow them, and unRAID is configured to allow public access, there is NOT a requirement to configure windows credentials. I see a lot of discussion in these forums on this topic, and it does not serve the interests of the community to insist that windows credentials are required in a configuration where they are not.  In fact, even when more locked-down security is the end goal, it is extremely useful (and frequently necessary) to be able to get things working initially without it.