Ubuntu – Ubuntu shares not visible on the network

12.04samba

I've run into a strange thing. I just set up my brothers laptop with ubuntu 12.04. I installed samba and shared his Public folder in his /home by right click -> Share this folder. I put in the correct workgroup (JAVED-HOME) in Samba. The computer is able to access the Ubuntu server and read its shares but when I tried to access his Public folder from the server…it gives an error "Failed to mount: Unable to get share list from the server".

Here is the output of smbtree on brothers laptop:

JAVED-HOME
    \\HOME-SERVER           Home-Server
        \\HOME-SERVER\ML-2160-Series    Samsung ML-2160 Series
        \\HOME-SERVER\IPC$              IPC Service (Home-Server)
        \\HOME-SERVER\TOSHIBA           
        \\HOME-SERVER\saad              Saad's Personal Storage
        \\HOME-SERVER\data              Central Storage Area
        \\HOME-SERVER\dvd-rw            Home-Server Asus DVD-RW
        \\HOME-SERVER\print$            Printer Drivers
    \\DELL-XPS-L502X        Saad's Laptop
        \\DELL-XPS-L502X\Public             
        \\DELL-XPS-L502X\samsung-ml-2165-laserjet   Samsung ML-2165 Laserjet (hplj-pcl5e)
        \\DELL-XPS-L502X\IPC$               IPC Service (Saad's Laptop)
        \\DELL-XPS-L502X\print$             Printer Driver`

Here is the output of testparm on his laptop:

[global]
    workgroup = JAVED-HOME
    server string = Saad's Laptop
    map to guest = Bad User
    obey pam restrictions = Yes
    pam password change = Yes
    passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
    passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
    username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
    unix password sync = Yes
    syslog = 0
    log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
    max log size = 1000
    socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=262144 SO_SNDBUF=262144 IPTOS_LOWDELAY SO_KEEPALIVE
    dns proxy = No
    usershare allow guests = Yes
    panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
    idmap config * : backend = tdb

[printers]
    comment = All Printers
    path = /var/spool/samba
    create mask = 0700
    printable = Yes
    print ok = Yes
    browseable = No

[print$]
    comment = Printer Drivers
    path = /var/lib/samba/printers

I'm not running any domain servers, all computers are users and part of the same workgroup.

Best Answer

koogee answered this in a comment:

Turned out to be a simple firewall issue. I disabled it on the client laptop with sudo ufw disable and everything started working. Hope this helps someone.