I change the workgroup name at /etc/samba/smb.conf, but somehow the file gets overwritten with the original value WORKGROUP. And logs say:
Tue Jan 14 12:39:40 2025 daemon.err nmbd[22228]: Samba server GL-X3000 is now a domain master browser for workgroup WORKGROUP on subnet 192.168.8.1
Why is this happening?
I'd also like to install wsdd2 so the share can appear in Windows File Explorer / Network. Is that expected to work?
The Samba starts with a gl-script and will cover the content of /etc/samba/smb.conf you configured.
Why need to re-define the workgroup name?
Add the SMB URL manually in Windows explorer, does it not work?
I would like to put it in the same workgroup as all the other computers in the office. Can I edit the gl-script?
Yes, adding the SMB URL manually in Windows explorer does work, but I would like for the share to be discoverable (using wsdd2) rather than manually adding an IP address. Manually adding is ok for 1 or 2 machines, but not so great for 12.
I found that seems the 'WORKGROUP' didn't need to modify it in the script, trying to modify the configuration etc/config/samba4 directly:
uci set samba4.@samba[0].workgroup='WORKGROUP'
uci commit samba4
WORKGROUP can be change what you want.
Hi Bruce, changing the workgroup worked, thank you.
Installing wsdd2 also worked.
Next question: smb.conf contains a config item "netbios name" (currently set to GL-X3000). This is what now shows up in Windows File Explorer. How do I change this please?
thank you...
What is the 'netbios name' for?
Is it the 'description'? for the samba device name.
NETBIOS is a reaaaaally old protocol for workgroups without DNS.
SMBv1 depends, mostly, on NETBIOS.
That's why Windows might show it up.
I see my wsdd2 process has the following parameters:
/usr/bin/wsdd2 -i br-lan -N GL-X3000 -G MYWORKGROUP -b v
Per packages/net/wsdd2/files/wsdd2.init at master · openwrt/packages · GitHub it gets the -N parameter value from netbios name so at first glance it is neatest to modify that config.
If that can't be changed, another possibility may be to set netbios aliases.
But apparently, the “modern” way for samba4 is to use the hostname and not the netbiosname, so perhaps I should be looking to change the X3000's hostname...
