Buffalo Nas + Zorin

doobre · August 31, 2025, 12:27pm

Just in case someone is looking for some info on the above, I have just reinstalled Zorin 17.3 from the usb. Zorin found all my NAS and assigned then a ftp and file-sharing point for each one, without any input from me, they all have an annoymous user login as well. Also the windows PC's on the network were acccessible thru smb://.

Zorin did all this automatically during the install., and they all appear in the FILES app.

The first time I did the install, it was from a ventoy usb and not onto a separate SSD, but as a dual boot with win10. That install found the NAS and windows PC's but did not setup any access points/entries in the FILES app. and after many tries at accessing the shares on the nas and PC's I was unable to. I tried adding a "smb NT1" to the samba conf file etc, and posted here about in another reques for help. but no luck.

I'm not saying that the different installation method was the cause of the difference in functionality, but that is the my experience.

I have read somewhere that it maybe possible to immitate the wake up function that the Nas Navigator software provides, in which case that, for me, is a real good reason to adopt Zorin full time. SInce all my nedia is stored on them in raid.

Then the only other thing keeping me in windows is iTunes.
cheers CD

swarfendor437 · August 31, 2025, 1:34pm

Which software did you use for creating the USB boot media? I think then your thread could become a Tutorial/Guide.

Ponce-De-Leon · August 31, 2025, 5:15pm

When it worked automatically, You have only zorin installed on a System or was this Dual-Boot, too?

And for the Dual-Boot: Did You had Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS and Fast Start-Up in windows disabled?

doobre · August 31, 2025, 11:37pm

Hi there

the first install was using an iso [Zorin-OS-17.3-Core-64-bit-r2.iso] mounted on hiren's bootcd(USB) and booted from that USB.

the second was using the same iso but mounted on its own usb, created in rufus.

don't remember which options (if any) I set when using rufus, sorry.

doobre · September 1, 2025, 12:24am

when it worked automatically, Z was installed on its own separate SSD, (win10 ssd was removed), and install was through the "something else" option, where I created new partitions for efi, ./ and /home.

My PC is very old HP-Z210 workstation tower, so I don't think the bios (2009-2012 American Megatrends) has those options.
cheers CD

doobre · September 1, 2025, 5:34am

Update - same day sept01 pm

OMG the windows PC's have dissapeared from the list of connections in the FILES app. And the "Windows Network" at the bottom of the FILES app. shows no contents, however the NAS's are still there.!!

trying "smb://oem1/" replies with "Failed to retrieve share list from server: Network dropped connection on reset" which was the same warning I received when trying access the windows PC's after the first attempted install.

Yikes this is troubling me..

Forpli · September 1, 2025, 5:53am

Maybe some ideas from this site can help you?

doobre · September 1, 2025, 7:14am

Hi there, thanks for the tip/link
I went through all the smb v1 stuff the first time I tried zorin and remember adding a line to a config file.
I also recall finding the smb.conf file in a diff location than in your text and in many forum posts.
But now I do not see the file /etc/samba/smb.conf at all. in fact there is no "Samba" folder anywhere on the computer. I know it doesn't make sense. It was there yesterday. and shared PC's was working too.
But I am old !!

doobre · September 1, 2025, 8:16am

Ok doke
I reinstalled samba, edited the smb.conf to add the "min protocol = NT1" (which is what I did back in July) and it doesn't help. It didn't help back then either.

I restarted (a la windows 'best practices') no better.
Now I wished I had taken a partition image yesterday when everything was 'peachy'.

Thinking aloud, the SMB v 1 was required to access the NAS's. But now even without SMB1 the NAS's are accessible.
So there shouldn't be the need for SMB1 because the windows PC's(win10 pro) do have SMB1 enabled but should be accessible with a newer SMB.
I'm going crazy here.

BTW > the instructions at Fix 'Failed to Retrieve Share List' Error in Linux SMB Share didn't fix my prob.

I tried SMB3, SMB2 and SMB1 & NT1 (SMB1 gives an error
"Job for smbd.service failed because the control process exited with error code"

My smbstatus shows version 4.15.13-ubuntu, even though I have edited in the lines for SMB3 and restarted the service, so seems that the lines are being ignored.

IF it needs to be SMB3 for my win10 PC's, How to downgrade it?.

And finally this all worked properly and automatically yesterday after the installation.

cheers CD

Ponce-De-Leon · September 1, 2025, 10:22am

So, this means all is good now?

doobre · September 1, 2025, 1:10pm

No sorry, that was my final comment on reflection.

Everything was fine yesterday, today I can not see the windows PC's at all. The "windows network" section of the FILES app is completely empty.

I am assuming that a package that I installed last night has removed the sharing function that was setup during the installation yesterday.

Thinking of doing another re-installation from zero. Bumma

doobre · September 1, 2025, 11:51pm

haha reappeared !

next morning, restarted the zorin pc, and all the windows pc's are searchable in the "other locations" using samba (smb://pcsharename) and I can setup a 'bookmark' for each location.
The all Nas's were remembered by Zorin and appear in the FILES app. as a ftp and file sharing link. The Nas's are also searchable through (smb://nasname)

All the windows PC's and Nas's were powered on and connected to the network all night long.

in terminal - smbstatus shows samba version 4.15.13-Ubuntu

cheers CD

Ponce-De-Leon · September 2, 2025, 9:51am

So, a Restart helped for now. Keep an Eye on it if it works stable now and if not report back.

doobre · September 3, 2025, 12:35am

Hi there
I 'think' I had tried several restarts, before I gave up for the night.
But I will monitor.
cheers CD

doobre · September 4, 2025, 12:56am

After a few reboots and booting to Win10 a few times, all the mounts are permanent (he says tempting fate).

I specified SMB v1 in the fstab file for the 4 NAS (yes they are that old) but not for the win10 PC's, on which SMB v1 is active (through the windows - programs & features), but this is only so they can access the NAS as well. The PC's don't need SMB v1 specified for Zorin, they connect without it just fine.

Next, Just need to see what happens if a share is not powered on during a boot up.

cheers CD

doobre · September 15, 2025, 7:54am

Yikes! All the Nas shares have disappeared again, everything was working great until today.

None have mounted automatically, and none of them will mount manually. However all the windows PC's are mounted just fine.

I am receiving various responces to the sudo mount command.

sudo mount /media/LS-WXL14A_Share_3
mount error: could not resolve address for LS-WXL14A: Unknown error

sudo mount /media/LS-WXL3FD_Share
mount: /media/LS-WXL3FD_Share: can't find in /etc/fstab.

I have re done:
sudo apt install cifs-utils > already the latest version (2.6.14)

fstab has remained unchanged, so too the user accounts on the Nas.

using the smb direct request [smb:\192.168.#.###] in the "connect to server" box of Nautilus, it shows the shared folder name and icon, but if I select to "mount" it, I get the warning "Unable to access location - Failed to retrieve share list from server: Connection refused".

Same message if I use the shares name [smb:\LS220D21E\Share_4]

Of course all the Nas' are powered on.

Last time this happened it was suspected that a reboot had sorted it. But not this time, I have rebooted several times and into Win10 as well, where the Nas' are all working fine.
Ideas anyone.
Cheers CD

doobre · September 15, 2025, 10:44pm

Hi there
Some more details, and screenshot to show the weirdness.
After several more reboots, there has been no change.
The NAS cannot be accessed but the windows PC's can.
The windows PC's mount automatically.
I have disabled the firewall.
The NAS can be accessed through "afp" protocol (see screenshot attached).
The web UI of the NAS can be accessed through the brave browser (see screenshot attached). And access is available to the "admin" user, as well as the "plex" user that was necessary for plex media server to access the media.

Ideas anyone!?
cheers CD

edit
I cannot access the users folders in my own home folder through the Plex interface either, but the file manager can (see attached x2).

doobre · September 15, 2025, 11:35pm

Update - the "connect to server" option at the bottom of the file manager, will connect and mount the Nas with a manual entry. ex: "smb://ls220d21e/share_4" and it can be 'Book Marked', yeehar!

However, for each initial time I connect, it will ask for the user and PW, even when the "remember forever" was selected the last time I connected.

So looks like the credentials for the NAS' are being forgotten. They are shown in the fstab file and are correct.
eg: " /LS220D21E\Share_4 /media/LS220D21E_Share_4 cifs username=plex,password=plex,vers=1.0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777 0 0". Perhaps that is why the Nas shares are not mounting automatically.

cheers CD

zenzen · September 15, 2025, 11:57pm

Keep in mind that the /etc/fstab file works independently from the file manager. This file gets loaded at boot, and if successful the file system will show you the files at the specified mountpoint (in your example, that would be "/media/LS220D21E_Share_4").

You need to make sure that this location already exists upfront, however. To create it, you can run:

sudo mkdir -p /media/LS220D21E_Share_4

The entry at /etc/fstab also seems a bit suspicious, the first field in particular. Try with:

//LS220D21E/Share_4

That's two forward slashes at the beginning, instead of just the one, and also when separating host from shared folder name.

I'll take a close look tomorrow if this doesn't work.

doobre · September 16, 2025, 1:35am

Hi there
Thanks for your reply and the pointers. No hurry, I am grateful for any help and suggestions, I'm a newbie to this linux stuff.!.

I should point out that all shares were 'working fine' before yesterday, and that it's only the Nas that will not mount. All the win10 PC's shares are mounting correctly.

My Apologies > The double slash not appearing was my mistake in copy/pasting,

However, that fstab file is unchanged and so are the directories in /home/media/ directory.

Your suggestion to change the "/" to double slash [//LS220D21E//Share_4] did not make any difference.

Regards the /media/ directory, below are the directories listed in the /media/ directory.

------------------------------zcdadmin@zcdadmin-HP-Z210-Workstation:/media$ ls

Latest_Movies
LS-WXL3FD_share
OEM1UsersPublic
OEM3UsersPublic
Latest_TV
New_Movies
OEM2UsersPublic
Plex-Photos
LS220D21E_Share_4
New_TV
OEM3_Latest_Movies
root
LS-WXL14A_Nas_Backup_3
OEM1-Flac
OEM3_Latest_TV
SQ-playlists
LS-WXL14A_Share_3
OEM1-Hi-Res
OEM3_New_Movies
Torrents-OEM3
LS-WXL1C8_Share2
OEM1-Media
OEM3_New_TV
'myusername'

zcdadmin@zcdadmin-HP-Z210-Workstation:/media$

Actually, I don't recall seeing a "root" directory in that /media/ directory!?

Here is the complete list of entries in the fstab file, the mounting/accessible windows PC's are all named OEM****.
The Nas' are all named LS***** and they do not mount automatically.

The responce in terminal :
/media$ sudo mount /media/LS220D21E/Share_4
mount: /media/LS220D21E/Share_4: can't find in /etc/fstab.

However, the bookmark and the manual entry in "Connect to server" box [smb://220d21e/share_4/] both do mount the drive and it is accessible.

//OEM1\Users\Public     /media/OEM1UsersPublic          cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM2\Users\Public     /media/OEM2UsersPublic          cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM3\Users\Public     /media/OEM3UsersPublic          cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM1\OEM1\040Media    /media/OEM1-Media               cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM1\OEM1-Flac        /media/OEM1-Flac                cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM1\Hi-Res           /media/OEM1-Hi-Res              cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM1\SQ-playlists     /media/SQ-playlists             cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM1\Plex\040Photos   /media/Plex-Photos              cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM3\Latest_Movies    /media/Latest_Movies            cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM3\Latest_TV        /media/Latest_TV                cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM3\New_Movies       /media/New_Movies               cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM3\New_TV           /media/New_TV                   cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//OEM3\Torrents-OEM3    /media/Torrents-OEM3            cifs    credentials=/home/.smbcreds,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777        0       0
//LS-WXL14A\Share_3             /media/LS-WXL14A_Share_3        cifs    username=plex,password=plex,vers=1.0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777       0       0
//LS-WXL14A\Nas_Backup_3        /media/LS-WXL14A_Nas_Backup_3   cifs    username=plex,password=plex,vers=1.0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777       0       0
//LS-WXL3FD\share               /media/LS-WXL3FD_share          cifs    username=plex,password=plex,vers=1.0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777       0       0
//LS-WXL1C8\Share2              /media/LS-WXL1C8_Share2         cifs    username=plex,password=plex,vers=1.0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777       0       0
//LS220D21E\Share_4             /media/LS220D21E_Share_4        cifs    username=plex,password=plex,vers=1.0,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777       0       0

cheers CD