Connecting to Sambasrv - Mac OS 10.4.2

After upgrading from Mac OS X 10.3.x to Mac OS X 10.4.x, some users may receive an error message when they try to connect to a Samba or Windows (SMB/CIFS) server. (Please refer to Apple's support website for more information.) However, Mac users can resolve this problem by configuring their computer to allow connections to these kinds of servers using plain text passwords.

Mac users should follow the steps below to configure their computer to use plain text passwords to make SMB/CIFS connections. (You must be an administrator to do these steps.)

Also please note that it is necessary to complete steps 1 through 11 only once. After that, you need only use steps 12 through 14 to connect.

Make sure that you are not currently connected to any Samba or Windows (SMB/CIFS) servers and that you do not have any Samba or Windows-related error messages open.
Open the terminal by opening your Applications folder, then opening the Utilities folder.
At the prompt, type sudo pico /etc/nsmb.conf
Press the Return key.
Enter your password when prompted, then press the Return key again.
You should see an empty file and a "New File" notice at the bottom of the Pico window that appears. If the "New File" notice doesn’t appear, the file already exists.
Enter the following into the file so that it appears as follows:

[default]
minauth=none
Save the file by pressing Control-O, pressing the Return key, and then exiting the Pico window by pressing Control-X.
At the prompt, type sudo chmod a+r /etc/nsmb.conf
Press the Return key.
Restart your computer.
From the finder, select Go --> Connect to server:
For the server name, enter the following, replacing userID with your own RCS userID, such as smithj:
smb://samba.rpi.edu/userID
When prompted, enter your RCS userID and password.

If this does not work, you can try to connect to smb://128.113.22.15/userID instead of smb://samba.rpi.edu/userID.

Last modified: March 3, 2009