Contributor: Samba Team
-Updated: June 27, 1997
+Updated: August 25, 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.
+A domain and a workgroup are exactly the same thing in terms of network
+traffic, except for the client logon sequence. Some kind of distributed
+authentication database is associated with a domain (there are quite a few
+choices) and this adds so much flexibility that many people think of a
+domain as a completely different entity to a workgroup. From Samba's
+point of view a client connecting to a service presents an authentication
+token, and it if it is valid they have access. Samba does not care what
+mechanism was used to generate that token in the first place.
+
+The SMB client logging on to a domain has an expectation that every other
+server in the domain should accept the same authentication information.
+However the network browsing functionality of domains and workgroups is
+identical and is explained in BROWSING.txt.
+
+There are some implementation differences: Windows 95 can be a member of
+both a workgroup and a domain, but Windows NT cannot. Windows 95 also
+has the concept of an "alternative workgroup". Samba can only be a
+member of a single workgroup or domain, although this is due to change
+with a future version when nmbd will be split into two daemons, one
+for WINS and the other for browsing (NetBIOS.txt explains what WINS is.)
+
+Issues related to the single-logon network model are discussed in this
+document. 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 Windows NT-style SAM database with other systems. However this is
+only one way of having a shared user database: exactly the same effect can
+be achieved by having all servers in a domain share a distributed NIS,
+Kerberos or other authentication database. These other options may or may
+not involve changes to the client software, that depends on the combination
+of client OS, server OS and authentication protocol.
+
+When an SMB client in a domain wishes to logon it broadcast requests for a
+logon server. The first one to reply gets the job, and validates its
+password using whatever mechanism the Samba administrator has installed.
+It is possible (but very stupid) to create a domain where the user
+database is not shared between servers, ie they are effectively workgroup
+servers advertising themselves as participating in a domain. This
+demonstrates how authentication is quite different from but closely
+involved with domains.
+
+Another thing commonly associated with single-logon domains is remote
+administration over the SMB protocol. Again, there is no reason why this
+cannot be implemented with an underlying username database which is
+different from the Windows NT SAM. Support for the Remote Administration
+Protocol is planned for a future release of Samba.
+
+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, NT 4.0 and NT 3.51,
+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 samba, although it has been confirmed as possible to use
+an NT server to specify that the location of profiles is on a samba server.
-The support is also not complete. Samba does not yet support the
-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 help of an NT server can be enlisted, both for profile storage and
+for user authentication. For details on user authentication, see
+security_level.txt. For details on profile storage, see below.
-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
Configuration Instructions: Network Logons
-==============================================
+==========================================
To use domain logons and profiles you need to do the following:
1) Setup nmbd and smbd by configuring smb.conf so that Samba is
- acting as the master browser. See INSTALL.txt and BROWSING.txt
+ 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
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.)
+ (Note: for details on the CONFIG.POL file, how to use it, what it is,
+ 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:
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
+domain logons to work correctly. Share level security won't work
correctly.
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".
+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. You will need to use the [global]
"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,
-and deny them write access to the file.
+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,
+and deny them write access to this file.
2) On the Windows 95 machine, go to Control Panel | Passwords and
select the User Profiles tab. Select the required level of
You will now find that the Microsoft Networks Login box contains
[user, password, domain] instead of just [user, password]. Type in
-the samba server's domain name (or any other domain known to exist),
-user name and user's password.
+the samba server's domain name (or any other domain known to exist,
+but bear in mind that the user will be authenticated against this
+domain and profiles downloaded from it, if that domain logon server
+supports it), user name and user's password.
Once the user has been successfully validated, the Windows 95 machine
will inform you that 'The user has not logged on before' and asks you
Once the Windows 95 client comes up with the desktop, you should be able
to examine the contents of the directory specified in the "logon path"
-(the default is \\samba_server\username) and verify that the "desktop",
-"start menu", "programs" and "nethood" folders have been created.
+on the samba server and verify that the "Desktop", "Start Menu",
+"Programs" and "Nethood" folders have been created.
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.
+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 made the folders / files read-only on the samba server,
+then you will get errors from the w95 machine on logon and logout, as
+it attempts to merge the local and the remote profile. Basically, if
+you have any errors reported by the w95 machine, check the unix file
+permissions and ownership rights on the profile directory contents,
+on the samba server.
If you have problems creating user profiles, you can reset the user's
ProfilePath (making a backup if any of the files are needed).
This will have the effect of removing the local (read-only hidden
- system file) user.dat in their profile directory, as well as the
+ system file) user.DAT in their profile directory, as well as the
local "desktop", "nethood", "start menu" and "programs" folders.
4) search for the user's .PWL password-cacheing file in the c:\windows
5) log off the windows 95 client.
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,
+ above), and delete the user.DAT or user.MAN file for the user,
making a backup if required.
--------------------------
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
+NTuser.MAN 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 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.
+NTuser.DAT. Nothing appears to be stored in the .PDS directory, and
+its purpose is currently unknown.
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
+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
that makes NT Workstation _think_ that the link is a slow one is a
matter to be resolved].
+[lkcl 20aug97 - after samba digest correspondance, one user found, and
+another confirmed, that profiles cannot be loaded from a samba server
+unless "security = user" and "encrypted passwords = yes" (see the file
+ENCRYPTION.txt) or "security = server" and "password server = ip.address.
+of.yourNTserver" are used. either of these options will allow the NT
+workstation to access the samba server using LAN manager encrypted
+passwords, without the user intervention normally required by NT
+workstation for clear-text passwords].
+
+[lkcl 25aug97 - more comments received about NT profiles: the case of
+the profile _matters_. the file _must_ be called NTuser.DAT or, for
+a mandatory profile, NTuser.MAN].
+
+
+Windows NT Server
+-----------------
+
+Following the instructions for NT Workstation, there is nothing to stop
+you specifying any path that you like for the location of users' profiles.
+Therefore, you could specify that the profile be stored on a samba server,
+or any other SMB server, as long as that SMB server supports encrypted
+passwords.
+
+
Sharing Profiles between W95 and NT Workstation 4.0
---------------------------------------------------
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.
+If you have this set up correctly, you will find separate user.DAT and
+NTuser.DAT files in the same profile directory.
+
+[lkcl 25aug97 - there are some issues to resolve with downloading of
+NT profiles, probably to do with time/date stamps. i have found that
+NTuser.DAT is never updated on the workstation after the first time that
+it is copied to the local workstation profile directory. this is in
+contrast to w95, where it _does_ transfer / update profiles correctly].
git.samba.org / kai / samba.git / blobdiff