HOW-TO setup/configure SMB (SAMBA) for XBMC

[Canned]

<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>as some lame-ass-semi-warez-kiddie-groups releasing xbmc cvs compiles and linking here in their nfo´s i wanted to make sure you know what we, the xbmc team think about them....
pretty please, visit this link befor you do anything else!</span>



for those of you having troubles getting the samba shares working with windows 2003 servers set as domain controllers, here's the fix:

as an administrator on the win2k3 server, go to your administrative tools (on start menu) and pick "domain controller security policy". goto "security settings" and then "local policies" and finally, "security options". find the setting entitled "microsoft network server: digitally sign communications (always)" and disable it. then you're all set.

the problem here is that microsoft defaultly forces all data sent over the network to be encrypted and thus unreadable by the samba system at this point (supposidly the new samba services allow support for the encryption). this explains why other windows systems are able to see the network shares while xbmc is not. disabling this will set your server to allow unencrypted data to be sent to clients who do not support the encryption. your server will, however, continue to send encrypted data to clients which support it (your windows systems).

hope this helps anyone with the problem.

canned.

[tslayer]

so, i did a quick test to see why people were having issues setting up their windows machine for smb.

here are the quick steps i took.

note! please remember that the username and password can not have a space in it (for the shares xbox/xbmc account)!

1) right mouse-click on the folder you want to share and click sharing. *for example, c:\movies
2) set the share name. *for example: movies
3) edit the xboxmediacenter.xml that has a path with the following format: smb://usernameassword@windowsip/sharename

for example:

<bookmark>
*<name>smb</name>
*<path>smb://tslayerassword@192.168.0.1/movies</path>
</bookmark>

where tslayer is the username and password is the password that i use to login to windows.
(again, you must remember that the username and password can not have a space in it!)

192.168.0.1 is my windows machine's ip address.

movies is the share name i mapped in step 2).

hope this helps anybody wanting to use smb shares in windows.


and to add to that, the same format works on linux using samba v3:
smb://guest:guest@192.168.0.75/mp3 * * * * * *(note! on my linux box it only allows guest user account)

ts

[rebelpeon]

i posted this in the xbmp forums as well, but have changed it a little to reflect the differences in the xml files between xbmp and xbmc.

ok, since it took me a few hours, and there's no definitive place to look this info up, i thought i'd make one * the reason that smb shares have a hard time with win2k3 is that win2k3 expects the password to be encrypted. *however, since xbmp doesn't send the password encrypted, win2k3 denies access. *this guide will cover scenarios in which the win2k3 box is part of a domain or not.

not in a domain:
if your win2k3 box is not in a domain, you can do one of two things. *the preferred way of doing it is to open up your machine's local policy (start->run, then input "gpedit.msc"). *under local computer policy, computer configuration, windows settings, security settings, local policies, security options, change the *"microsoft network server: digitally sign communications (always)" key to disabled. *you will then need to reboot your machine in order for this setting to be enforced. *since the machine is not part of a domain, there should be no group policies that would override the local machines settings. *if for some strange reason you have a group policies running and you're not in a domain, see the section about connecting to win2k3 machines in the domain. *the unpreferred way is to open up the registry (start->run, type in "regedit"), and navigate to hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\lanmanserve r\parameters and change the "requiresecuritysignature" dword value to "0." *after doing this you will either need to restart your machine, or stop and start the srv services and all it's dependencies.

in a domain:
because you're in a domain, group policies will override the local policy if you were to change it as in the above. *if your machine is the domain controller (as was the case for me), you need to edit the domain controller security policy. *it can be found in the administrative tools. *under security settings, local policies, security options, change the "microsoft network server: digitally sign communications (always)" key to disabled. *then get to the command prompt and type in "gpupdate." *this will automatically update your machine(s) with the new domain controller security policy that you edited. *if your machine is not the domain controller, but just a normal workstation/server, then you need to edit the domain security policy. *if you are able to log into the domain controller, this is located under the administrative tools. *otherwise, you will have to use the active directory users and computers snap-in. *go to start->run and type in "dsa.msc", right click on your domain (in my case it's rebelpeon.com), and got to properties. *go to the group policy tab, select "default domain policy" and hit the edit button. *under default domain policy, computer configuration, windows settings, security settings, local policies, security options, change the "microsoft network server: digitally sign communications (always)" key to disabled. *on the machine that you want to share stuff out, go to a command line and type "gpupdate" to instantly update the group policy.

oh yeah, once you have all that setup, you should be able to use the basic setup that is included in the config.xml file. *for me, my domain is rebelpeon.com and the netbios name for that is rebelpeon. *let's assume my server is rbl-dc-01, and that my share is music which allows users read access via the share permissions and it has default ntfs perms. *the user i'm using is xbox:user. *therefore in my config.xml file, it would look like....

<bookmark>
* * *<name>smb</name>
* * *<path>smb://xbox:user@rebelpeon/rbl-dc-01/music</path>
</bookmark>

also, remember, caps shouldn't matter except for the user and password.

hopefully that fixes everyone's problems if they were having it in win2k3. *i was pulling my hair out trying to get this working the other night. *thankfully there were enough posts here and there that i got it working. *i hope this will help by bringing all that info into one location.

[ToeCutter]

after reading what seems like countless support requests, i thought i would provide some basic information on smb and windows xp, as most are having difficulties with xp.

this post is by no means comprehensive, it's just a quick answer to all of the smb help requests i've read.

smb implementation changed significantly with windows xp. smb involves the use of two permission sets to allow access. these are share permissions, as well as ntfs permission. if you have not configured both correctly (or at all for that matter) you will be denied access to a given share.

the first thing to do when sharing files for xbmc is to disable “simple file sharing.” go to any open folder and click tools > folder options > view and remove the check from the “use simple file sharing” selection. click apply and ok.

warning: winxp home supports only simple file sharing. see below for info on ccxstreamgui.

share level access is pretty simple and what most configure to share a directory. simply right-click on a folder, click sharing and security, and click the “share this folder” radio button. add a share name and click apply. no need to worry about permissions, as winxp by default assigns the user group “everyone” read access to the share. now, the folder is shared on the network and everyone has read access, right? well, not quite.

even the folder is shared, there are still ntfs permissions that need to be applied. ntfs permissions apply to all users, remote or local. while you may not see a problem locally (because you’re logged in) you very well may have a problem when you try to access remotely. the network client (xbmc) must authenticate with the host (your pc with mp3s). unless the user is specified in both the xboxmediacenter.xml and your ntfs permissions, you will be denied.

the easiest way to do this is to allow the everyone group read access to the folder. to add a user (or group) to an ntfs folder, right click, click the security tab, and look to see if the “everyone” group is listed in the top pane. if it is, put a check in the read check box under allow and click apply. any user that is allowed access the host pc (logon to your pc) should be able to access the shared directory.

if the everyone group is not displayed, then you’ll have to add it. do the following:

1. right click directory and click “properties”
2. click the “security” tab
3. click “add”
4. click “advanced”
5. click “find now”
6. select the “everyone” group in the bottom pane
7. click “ok”
8. click “ok” again
9. verify “everyone” group is listed in top pane.
10. select appropriate rights (in this case, put a check in the read checkbox under “allow”
11. click “ok”
12. done


but we’re still not done if you have directories (or files!) inside the shared directory. you must set the share folder to pass on its permissions to the folders inside the share. confused yet?

any directories inside the shared folder do not acquire the permissions of the share folder unless you tell it to do so. example: i shared out a directory called share. i can access share just fine, but when i put a folder inside share called child, i can’t open child from my network. i can see it listed, but i simply can’t open it. this is because share and child have different ntfs permissions. like two different locks, they require two different keys. we can however, make child inherit share’s permissions automatically.

to enable inherited permissions, do the following:
1. right click directory and click “properties”
2. click the “security” tab
3. click “advanced”
4. at the bottom are two checkboxes, add a check the checkbox that reads “replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects”
5. click “apply” and you might see a dialog box as the permissions are applied
6. click ok
7. done

now we’ve applied the same permissions to all the files and directories within the share folder. further more, any new directories or files that are added inherit the permission automatically.

as long as the remote user (xbmc) has an account on the pc, you should be able to access the shares just fine. remember to double check all these settings if you’re having problems. more times than not, a single setting may have been overlooked, resulting in access being denied.

for more info on winxp file sharing, go here: windows xp file sharing


“but toe, this sounds hard and complicated! is there any other way?!”

yes! there is a much better way! use ccxstreamgui and allow it to deal with all this silliness. simply drag and drop folders into the gui to share them! it takes about 3 minutes to setup multiple shares using ccxstreamgui. *

yes, it really is that easy. ccxstream uses the xbox media streaming protocol to do its magic. xbms is much more efficient than smb for media streaming. with smb, my cache was up and down like a roller coaster, probably due to some interference on the 802g network i use. with ccxstream, it is locked at 49%. it never budges. i can stream 9+ mbps mpeg2 with zero stuttering. i strongly suggest that folks try this method.

disclaimer: the toe doesn’t know it all, so if i have made some error, feel free to correct the post. and, because i don't know it all, i accept zero responsibility if you smoke gbs of mp3s on your pc by denying yourself access to them forever! do yourself a favor and test these instructions on "development" directories, not production ones!

[budwizer]

Originally Posted by (toecutter @ mar. 31 2004,01:18)

warning: winxp home supports only simple file sharing. see below for info on ccxstreamgui.

fyi - there are a couple of ways to get around the simple file sharing in winxp home.

first method (from ms xp security ng):
-download nt 4 security configuration manager
(http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nt...cm/default.asp)
- run the .exe and extract the file in a temporary directory
- select the "setup.inf" file and choose "install" context menu
- answer "no" if you are asked to overwrite esent.dll

the security tab is now active


second method involves booting into safe mode and making changes:

boot in safe mode.
right-click your file. (it should be in the shared documents folder.)
click properties and choose the security tab.
click the advanced button near the bottom.
make sure the "inherit from parent..." box is unchecked.
click ok twice.

[Papercut]

one more thing:

setting up an xbox username and whatnot is very nice, but you can also just use your regular xp login name and password. *then you don't have to worry about permissions, especially if your account is an administrator account. *(if xbmc logs in as you, it shouldn't have any trouble accessing all that you can access, including shares you've created.)

of course, then you have to put your password in plain text in your xboxmediacenter.xml, which might not be so good for some. *

also, just a note: simple sharing is fine, as long as you save all your files into the shared folder. *i, personally, hate that crap and would much rather share any folder any where when i want without moving it. *there. *i said it. *

another note: *relax works as well as ccxstream (with the gui), and the gui mixes both some nice functionality (virtual directories, for instance) with it's simplicity. *if you can't wrap your head around file sharing, though, you might want to stick with the ultra-simple ccxgui. *it is really easy. *really.

and don't worry. *you have to dig pretty deep in windows to lock your gbs of mp3s. *of course, nobody reads disclaimers anyway. *

now if only i could get smb shares to actually work with xbmc on my xbox... *it all works in theory...
-papercut

[neomotion]

okay, after searching my ass off for a simple tutorial for setting up shares through smb on this website and not getting anywhere, i decided to look further and found one. i thought more people could use this, so i'll post it here. might be a good idea to make this sticky? so here it is.

i just modded my xbox this week and found the files and tutorials here invaluable. i did not find much on smb shares for xbmc/xbmp so i thought i would post a quick tutorial. the following assumes you are running windows xp.

from the pc that has the directory your wish to share:

add a user

right click on my computer
choose manage
select local users and groups > users
right click in right window pane
choose new user
enter a user name, password, and confirm password
uncheck "user must change password..."
check "user cannot change password" and "password never expires"
select create
remember user name and password

enable sharing

open my computer
from tools > folder options > view, check the last option of "use simple file sharing"

find the directory you wish to share and right click, properties
choose sharing tab and check "share this folder ..."
type a share name
choose ok
remember this share name
repeat as needed for other shares (video, music, pictures etc.)

get the computer and workgroup name

right click on my computer
choose properties > computer name
remember the computer name and workgroup

add the share to xbmc

copy the xboxmediacenter.xml via ftp from your xbox to your pc

edit xboxmediacenter.xml
towards the bottom are sections "my picture shares", "my music shares" etc.
go to the section you wish to add a shared directory and edit the following line:

<path>smb://domain;usernamewd@mywindowsserver/movies/</path>

as follows:

<path>smb://workgroup;user nameassword@computer name/share name/</path>

repeat as needed for other shares (video, music, pictures etc.)

save and ftp back to the xbox.

you should now be able to access the shared drive from your xbox.

add the share to xbmp

copy the config.xml via ftp from your xbox to your pc

edit config.xml

each share section starts with <pictures>, <music> etc.
go to the section you wish to add a shared directory and edit the following line:

<url>smb://usernameassword@workgroup/computer/share</url>

as follows:

<url>smb://user nameassword@workgroup/computer name/share name</url>

repeat as needed for other shares (video, music, pictures etc.)

save and ftp back to the xbox.

you should now be able to access the shared drive from your xbox.

[ edited by bazzx on 2004/4/28 13:40 ]

needless to say after this tutorial i got everything to work. i am not dissing anyone here, but for the noobs it is hard enough to get things to work without everyone telling them to use the search function (which doesn't resolve anything, because it wasn't very well documented how to do it). i found this very helpfull setting things up. enjoy.

[nimbles]

i did this one for another forum i frequent, it's not by any means comprehensive- i don't use usernames and passwords- the only thing i can think this is useful for is hiding porn from the rest of the people on your network :d - i suck with html so didn't put in any pics but its reasonably straight forward and i have had some positive feedback from it

this is a guide to using samba share which is one of the streaming protocols used for several apps and emulators. this is not a diss at relax or xns, but i find that if one does the job and doesn't require any additional software to be installed on the pc side, then others aren't required- so please no flames

samba requires that the stuff you want to stream has to be in shareable folders so before i start i'll set out the pc requirements and settings.

----------------
pc/computer
to share a folder on your pc (i'm going to explain it for xp- i'm not sure if it is any different for 98 or me/2000) right click a folder containing stuff you want to share/stream and select "properties". choose sharing and then tick the "share this folder on the network". you are then given the option of changing the share name from what it's called on the pc- that bit's up to you. either way, you will need to note what that name is (the one that appears in the "shared name" box).

the other things you will need to know are your pc's "name" and the "workgroup" it belongs to (to find both of these out, right click "my computer", choose properties and select the "computer name" tab- the "name" is the what xp calls the "full computer name" (without the . at the end), the workgroup should be fairly evident).

some apps will also require the "username"- easiest way to find this out is to get up the task manager and check the users tab and see which one is active

for these examples i'm going to use the following values
workgroup- home
computer- my-computer
username- user

you may also need to know the ip address- i'll use 192.168.0.1 for the pc's ip: haven't come across an app that handles ip's only- and because i'm using dhcp i use the computer name rather than ip because the computer name is far less likely to change whereas the ip may change

the share names for the folders i'm going to share and a brief description of them are:
movies- movies on my-computer
pics- pictures on my-computer
music- music on my-computer
games- games (that i have the originals for) on my-computer- which contains different rom directories and an xbox folder
dvd- dvd-rom drive on my-computer (xp will give you a warning when you try and share a root directory- just ignore it-you can't delete things on a rom drive anyway)

these folders can have further subdirectories- unless you actively prevent subdirectories being shared.

if you decide for whatever reason to password protect these shared folders then also note the usernames and passwords
for the different folders- i personally don't bother, no xbox apps actually ask you for the password- they are in the samba path and therefore don't prevent anyone using your xbox accessing those folders- there is currently no way that i know of, for asking for the pass word when you try to connect.

----------------
xbmc
in this example i'll use a music share so scroll down the xboxmediacenter.xml and find the " <!-- my music shares !-->" line and below that look for the bit in the xml that looks like this:

find this excerpt

with no username & password you can use the following:

it's that simple other ways to enable the share can be done as listed in the example above- but this is the simplest and works for me

now some people are having problems with playing cd's cos they haven't got a samsung drive- well remember how i made the dvd-rom drive shared? well this is why:

it will give you access to the pc's dvd drive. so now you can play all those avi's you burned on cd and vcd and svcd's from your pc drive. the only draw back is that xbmc can be made to autolaunch vcd's svcd's and audio cd's when inserted in the xbox drive- but as xbmc treats the pc drive over samba as a "folder" you will manually have to open up the dat files in a vcd-find the mpegav folder in the vcd and select the one or more dat files- if there are more than one dat files you can use the "stack" option on the left hand side of the file browser to make them play sequentially without stopping.

i would paste the dvd-rom samba share in all of the different media menus (e.g. my videos, my music) because xbmc has preset cache levels that are different for pics (low), music (medium) and video (high)- if you only do it in my pictures and then try and open avi, the video may not playback or may be very jerky.

note that the name of the bookmark doesn't have to be smb, it can be what ever you want- probably best to mention the fact its on the pc somewhere in the name- but the icon for a streamed folder is different to an xbox hd folder.

you can have as many samba shares as you want. i have 3 for videos, 3 for music and 2 for pics- one of each is a pc-
dvd-rom drive

pc tweaks
if you really want you can create "special folders which serve as links to the contents of another folder" using the this program.

you basically create a virtual folder that houses two or more separate folders- e.g. for the emulators maybe a c:\roms and d: (dvd-rom drive). it's your call, i personally don't bother- but would be interested to hear how well it works

[Gamester17]

are you experience error-messages or lost connections when streaming from a windows-based* computer?; here are a couple of tips:

- disable "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" on your windows-based computers network-adapter/card from within windows.
* (control panel => system => hardware=> device manager => network adapters => properties (on your network-card) => power management).

- follow kb177078 (link) to create "irpstacksize" (if it doesn't already exist) and set it to 18 (as the default value 15 is sometimes not enough).

*windows-based meaning pc's running a operating-system from microsoft like windows 95/98/me/xp/2000/2003 (though 95/98/me are too old).

[wabidwoveren]

windows file sharing (also called samba, or smb). built into windows

great tutorial tslayer's favorite, and hosted by the xbox-scene forums
another great tutorial hosted on the xbmc online manual (wakka wakka)
general tutorial hosted by the xboxmediacenter forums

using windows xp home edition? then simple file sharing does not require a password.
using windows xp professional?

smb on windows seem a bit slow? some people reported success applying this patch.
smb on lunux/unix/osx seem a bit slow? some people reported success applying this patch.

if you can connect to winxp shares but you cannot browse the share then try following the troubleshooting tips in this guide:
http://www.techbuilder.org/recipes....le=true