-Samba now supports domain logons, network logon scripts and user profiles.
+Contributor: Samba Team
+Updated: June 27, 1997
+
+Subject: Network Logons and Roving Profiles
+===========================================================================
+
+Samba supports domain logons, network logon scripts and user profiles.
The support is still experimental, but it seems to work.
The support is also not complete. Samba does not yet support the
-sharing of the SAM database with other systems yet, or remote
-administration. Support for these kind of things should be added
-sometime in the future.
+sharing of the SAM database with other systems, or remote administration.
+Support for these kind of things should be added sometime in the future.
-The domain support only works for WfWg and Win95 clients. Support for
-NT and OS/2 clients is still being worked on and currently does not
-work.
+The domain support works for WfWg, and Win95 clients. Support for Windows
+NT and OS/2 clients is still being worked on and is still experimental.
+Support for profiles is confirmed as working for Win95 and NT 4.0, although
+NT Workstation requires manual configuration of user accounts with NT's
+"User Manager for Domains", and no automatic profile location support is
+available.
Using these features you can make your clients verify their logon via
the Samba server, make clients run a batch file when they logon to
the network and download their preferences, desktop and start menu.
+Configuration Instructions: Network Logons
+==============================================
+
To use domain logons and profiles you need to do the following:
-1) Setup nmbd and smbd and configure the smb.conf so that Samba is
-acting as the master browser. See INSTALL.txt and BROWSING.txt for
-details.
-2) create a share called [netlogon] in your smb.conf. This share should
-be readable by all users, and probably should not be writeable. This
-share will hold your network logon scripts, and the CONFIG.POL file
-(Note: for details on the CONFIG.POL file, refer to the Microsoft
-Windows NT Administration documentation. The format of these files
-is not known, so you will need to use Microsoft tools.)
+1) Setup nmbd and smbd by configuring smb.conf so that Samba is
+ acting as the master browser. See <your OS>_INSTALL.txt and BROWSING.txt
+ for details.
+
+2) Setup a WINS server (see NetBIOS.txt) and configure all your clients
+ to use that WINS service. [lkcl 12jul97 - problems occur where
+ clients do not pick up the profiles properly unless they are using a
+ WINS server. this is still under investigation].
+
+3) Create a share called [netlogon] in your smb.conf. This share should
+ be readable by all users, and probably should not be writeable. This
+ share will hold your network logon scripts, and the CONFIG.POL file
+ (Note: for details on the CONFIG.POL file, refer to the Microsoft
+ Windows NT Administration documentation. The format of these files
+ is not known, so you will need to use Microsoft tools.)
For example I have used:
[netlogon]
path = /data/dos/netlogon
writeable = no
- guest ok = yes
+ guest ok = no
Note that it is important that this share is not writeable by ordinary
users, in a secure environment: ordinary users should not be allowed
to modify or add files that another user's computer would then download
when they log in.
-3) in the [global] section of smb.conf set the following:
+4) in the [global] section of smb.conf set the following:
domain logons = yes
logon script = %U.bat
-the choice of batch file is, of course, up to you. The above would
+The choice of batch file is, of course, up to you. The above would
give each user a separate batch file as the %U will be changed to
their username automatically. The other standard % macros may also be
used. You can make the batch files come from a subdirectory by using
-soemthing like:
+something like:
logon script = scripts\%U.bat
-4) create the batch files to be run when the user logs in. If the batch
-file doesn't exist then no batch file will be run.
+5) create the batch files to be run when the user logs in. If the batch
+ file doesn't exist then no batch file will be run.
In the batch files you need to be careful to use DOS style cr/lf line
endings. If you don't then DOS may get confused. I suggest you use a
DOS editor to remotely edit the files if you don't know how to produce
DOS style files under unix.
-5) Use smbclient with the -U option for some users to make sure that
-the \\server\NETLOGON share is available, the batch files are visible
-and they are readable by the users.
+6) Use smbclient with the -U option for some users to make sure that
+ the \\server\NETLOGON share is available, the batch files are
+ visible and they are readable by the users.
-6) you will probabaly find that your clients automatically mount the
-\\SERVER\NETLOGON share as drive z: while logging in. You can put some
-useful programs there to execute from the batch files.
+7) you will probabaly find that your clients automatically mount the
+ \\SERVER\NETLOGON share as drive z: while logging in. You can put
+ some useful programs there to execute from the batch files.
NOTE: You must be using "security = user" or "security = server" for
domain logons to work correctly. Share level security won't work
correctly.
-User Profiles
-1) in the [global] section of smb.conf set the following:
+Configuration Instructions: Setting up Roaming User Profiles
+================================================================
+
+In the [global] section of smb.conf set the following (for example):
- logon path = \\profileserver\profileshare\profilepath\%U
+ logon path = \\profileserver\profileshare\profilepath\%U\moreprofilepath
The default for this option is \\%L\%U, namely \\sambaserver\username,
The \\L%\%U services is created automatically by the [homes] service.
share specified in the logon path browseable. Windows 95 appears to
check that it can see the share and any subdirectories within that share
specified by the logon path option, rather than just connecting straight
-away.
+away. It also attempts to create the components of the full path for
+you. If the creation of any component fails, or if it cannot see any
+component of the path, the profile creation / reading fails.
+
+
+Windows 95
+----------
When a user first logs in on Windows 95, the file user.dat is created,
as are folders "start menu", "desktop", "programs" and "nethood".
These directories and their contents will be merged with the local
versions stored in c:\windows\profiles\username on subsequent logins,
-taking the most recent from each.
+taking the most recent from each. You will need to use the [global]
+options "preserve case = yes", "short case preserve = yes" and
+"case sensitive = no" in order to maintain capital letters in shortcuts
+in any of the profile folders.
The user.dat file contains all the user's preferences. If you wish to
enforce a set of preferences, rename their user.dat file to user.man,
3) On the Windows 95 machine, go to Control Panel | Network |
Client for Microsoft Networks | Preferences. Select 'Log on to
- NT Domain'. Press OK, and this time allow the computer to reboot.
+ NT Domain'. Then, ensure that the Primary Logon is 'Client for
+ Microsoft Networks'. Press OK, and this time allow the computer
+ to reboot.
+
+Under Windows 95, Profiles are downloaded from the Primary Logon.
+If you have the Primary Logon as 'Client for Novell Networks', then
+the profiles and logon script will be downloaded from your Novell
+Server. If you have the Primary Logon as 'Windows Logon', then the
+profiles will be loaded from the local machine - a bit against the
+concept of roaming profiles, if you ask me.
You will now find that the Microsoft Networks Login box contains
[user, password, domain] instead of just [user, password]. Type in
These folders will be cached locally on the client, and updated when
the user logs off (if you haven't made them read-only by then :-).
+If you make the folders read-only, then you will find that if the user
+creates further folders or short-cuts, that the client will merge the
+profile contents downloaded with the contents of the profile directory
+already on the local client, taking the newest folders and short-cuts
+from each set.
If you have problems creating user profiles, you can reset the user's
6) check the contents of the profile path (see "logon path" described
above), and delete the user.dat or user.man file for the user,
- making a backup if required.
+ making a backup if required.
If all else fails, increase samba's debug log levels to between 3 and 10,
and / or run a packet trace program such as tcpdump or netmon.exe, and
look for any error reports.
+If you have access to an NT server, then first set up roaming profiles
+and / or netlogons on the NT server. Make a packet trace, or examine
+the example packet traces provided with NT server, and see what the
+differences are with the equivalent samba trace.
+
+
+Windows NT Workstation 4.0
+--------------------------
+
+When a user first logs in to a Windows NT Workstation, the profile
+ntuser.dat is created. The "User Manager for Domains" can be used
+to specify the location of the profile. Samba cannot be a domain
+logon server for NT, therefore you will need to manually configure
+each and every account. [lkcl 10aug97 - i tried setting the path
+in each account to \\samba-server\homes\profile, and discovered that
+this fails for some reason. you have to have \\samba-server\user\profile,
+where user is the username created from the [homes] share].
+
+The entry for the NT 4.0 profile is a _directory_ not a file. The NT
+help on profiles mentions that a directory is also created with a .PDS
+extension. The user, while logging in, must have write permission to
+create the full profile path (and the folder with the .PDS extension)
+[lkcl 10aug97 - i found that the creation of the .PDS directory failed,
+and had to create these manually for each user, with a shell script.
+also, i presume, but have not tested, that the full profile path must
+be browseable just as it is for w95, due to the manner in which they
+attempt to create the full profile path: test existence of each path
+component; create path component].
+
+In the profile directory, NT creates more folders than 95. It creates
+"Application Data" and others, as well as "Desktop", "Nethood",
+"Start Menu" and "Programs". The profile itself is stored in a file
+ntuser.dat. Nothing appears to be stored in the .PDS directory.
+
+You can use the System Control Panel to copy a local profile onto
+a samba server (see NT Help on profiles: it is also capable of firing
+up the correct location in the System Control Panel for you). The
+NT Help file also mentions that renaming ntuser.dat to ntuser.man
+turns a profile into a mandatory one.
+
+[lkcl 10aug97 - i notice that NT Workstation tells me that it is
+downloading a profile from a slow link. whether this is actually the
+case, or whether there is some configuration issue, as yet unknown,
+that makes NT Workstation _think_ that the link is a slow one is a
+matter to be resolved].
+
+
+Sharing Profiles between W95 and NT Workstation 4.0
+---------------------------------------------------
+
+The default logon path is \\%L\U%. NT Workstation will attempt to create
+a directory "\\samba-server\username.PDS" if you specify the logon path
+as "\\samba-server\username" with the NT User Manager. Therefore, you
+will need to specify (for example) "\\samba-server\username\profile".
+NT 4.0 will attempt to create "\\samba-server\username\profile.PDS", which
+is more likely to succeed.
+
+If you then want to share the same Start Menu / Desktop with W95, you will
+need to specify "logon path = \\samba-server\username\profile" [lkcl 10aug97
+this has its drawbacks: i created a shortcut to telnet.exe, which attempts
+to run from the c:\winnt\system32 directory. this directory is obviously
+unlikely to exist on a W95 host].
+
+If you have this set up correctly, you will find separate user.dat and
+ntuser.dat files in the same profile directory.
+
git.samba.org / ira / wip.git / blobdiff