I enabled the logging, removed and added sources as instructed, and uploaded the logs. If the logging functionality is bugging out, there isn’t much I can do. Can’t hand-write the logs. Sorry for sounding irritated, but it’s the weekend, and I was planning to watch a movie last night and failed and tonight, also failed.
Ok to get you going I suggest you login via SSH and run grab-logs -A and share the URL
I understand your frustration as a quick fix to be able to watch movies I suggest that you either use scp (WinSCP :: Official Site :: Free SFTP and FTP client for Windows) to transfer the files from your PC to the Vero (if they are not too big) or put them on a USB stick and plug that into the Vero. Or you also could install the Samba Server from the APP Store and copy the files from your PC with that.
Surely the goal is to get you up and running as soon as possible with accessing your PC via SMB.
We really need logs to proceed further. Then I am sure we can resolve this promptly.
At the moment it is hard to advise without that information.
What version of Windows do you have?
Actually I have read through the whole thread once more and figured out we never have asked what are you using as samba server! Is it a NAS ? Which NAS? Or is it a Windows machine? Which version of Windows?
That is indeed what I’m wondering 
The system may not be patched for WannaCry.
Windows 10 Pro with the creative update installed.
OK, after trying all sorts of things I think the following applies on Windows:
- You cannot access a Win10 share without a login on that server.
- In Win10 there is effectively no longer a Guest user.
- It is possible to create a user without a password using the commandline but I for one can’t connect to a share using that user from linux (using smbclient or kodi)
- once you have a user on Windows she can access any share where she (explicitly) or ‘Everyone’ has access
If you can connect from other computers (you don’t say what OS they are running except for the fire) it could be because thay are also Windows and/or have trusted each other in the past by some mechanism.
The following applies to Kodi:
- passwords for your shares are stored (in plain text!) in ~/.kodi/userdata/passwords.xml
- if you get ‘can’t connect’ or other similar error messages, the only way to restore things that I’ve found is to manually edit the relevant entry in passwords.xml. Or else delete the entry and re-boot and you will then get the username-password prompt screen if you try to access the share. BUT ONLY if SMB1 is enabled.
The following applies to OSMC/Debian:
- you cannot browse to SMB shares without setting the SMB version to 1 or ‘none’ in Settings->Services->SMB client (enable Settings level Advanced) AND enabling SMB 1 support in Windows.
Basically, it’s a mess since Microsoft rushed around at the Wannacry scare and linux devs haven’t caught up yet. In short, I would suggest:
- create a user osmc on the NUC
- enable SMB1 support on the NUC and select SMBv1 or None in SMB client settings in Kodi
- attach your source(s) in Kodi by browsing to them and saving the username (osmc) and password.
You can then re-establish SMBv3 on both vero and NUC.
Hope this helps.
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I don’t know the difference between SMBv3 and SMB1 (and never had the reason to research it for my previous devices), but will try some of the steps above before returning the device.
However, perhaps @sam_nazarko or someone from the community should write a detailed, step-by-step guide (i.e. with screenshots) explaining how to access media from SMB shares for users who are running the latest version of Windows, which is probably a significant percentage (if not the majority) of your customer base. Especially since the previous Kodi instructions no longer apply. Just tell the user what to do from the beginning instead of working backwards and reverse-engineering problems after they appear.
I am not a novice at this and was an early Xbox Media Player user in 2004 and used XBMC/Kodi on all sorts of devices, but this is just maddening and not at all consistent with the praise I heard about the Vero and all the ease of use that should come with it.
Most of our users fortunately use NFS, with a small number of SMB users then using QNAP or Synology devices. Obviously that isn’t helpful in this situation.
Unfortunately some of the changes to Samba have caught us off guard in this update. You may even want to use the previous month’s update until we work it out in detail if you want to get up and running quickly.
I think @grahamh has quite concisely summarised the next steps forward.
SMBv1 is now a deprecated protocol. There are a number of security vulnerabilities associated with it and over the Summer it was responsible for a number of companies and institutions being attacked. If possible, it should not be used. Microsoft have since made patches that change core functionality of SMB and remove some features that were appreciated quietly in the past (such as share browsing).
Older devices will never receive updates, so SMB browsing will still work for now on them. They may even seem more plug and play initially, until Microsoft finally remove SMBv1 support altogether in a future Windows update.
In the near future, it may make sense for us to package Samba downstream from Debian so that we have more fine grained control over the package and can test the updates more vigorously. I agree that a write-up makes sense; but for now, we need to work out what’s causing problems for you so that we can collate this information and include troubleshooting steps as well.
Sam
Sam, do you mean they use non-Windows operating systems or they use NFS sharing in Windows? If the latter is possible and would result in a smoother way to access shares, I have no problem with trying it.
I think NFS is just installed from Programs and Features on Windows, but haven’t used it in a long time.
Most of our users seem to be using a NAS storage device.
OK, in that case I’ll stick with trying to get SMB to work (from a quick glance, configuring NFS in Windows 10 does not seem to be very user friendly and requires multiple REGEDIT and command line steps).
I still think it’s important to consider a user who prefers his hard drive or SSD sitting on a desk plugged into a computer and not on the floor plugged into a router where it can be kicked or chewed by a pet. Also, not being a NAS user, I’m not sure if a router can power an external drive via USB or if that would require yet another AC adapter. But that’s another consideration, because many people want to minimize the number of power bricks they have plugged in.
Yes. Ideally, Samba should just work. I am sure in a week or so we will have our heads around this better. Unfortunately this doesn’t help you much in this scenario.
Another alternative is to plug it in to the OSMC device, install Samba Server from App Store and share the device that way.
Sam
If the only current solution is to enable a deprecated protocol that leaves my network vulnerable, then I’d rather set the Vero aside and watch movies by connecting a laptop to my TV for a week until you guys figure it out.
Understood. I think @horner’s instructions will let you run SMBv3.
I’ll grab a Windows 10 VM and update it now
Thanks. If you could just make a note of this thread and ping me when there is a solution, that would be great.
Of course. Stay tuned.
It has been more than 2 months since I bought this device, and I still haven’t used it once, despite having spent an enormous amount of time on trying to get SMB to work. Those $165 weren’t exactly burning a hole in my pocket. I am giving it one more chance before I send it back.
Can someone please provide me with CLEAR instructions on how to get SMB to work with Windows 10?
I still believe that the writeup (linked below) from @grahamh Is relative easy to follow.
In the regards to your Windows 10 approach it might be the easiest to follow the advice of enabling SMB1 for the setup (chnage it after successful established connection) within Kodi if you don’t want to do the manual work of fstab.
I thought we had established that SMBv1 was deprecated AND insecure, so I am not sure you should be directing users to use it.
I have created the osmc user in Windows and specified an exact SMB path in OSMC (instead of pointing it to “smb://” as I did previously. What else needs to be done?