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Last updated January 9, 2004
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For issues with Mac OS X Server and Windows Clients, see the MacWindows Mac OS X Server Cross-platform Issues page. For issues concerning earlier versions of Mac OS X 10.2, see our Mac OS X 10.0-10.1.5 page. Some of these problems are also occur with Jaguar. For information on Active Directory integration, see the MacWindows Active Directory Reports page. |
August 26, 2002 -- On Saturday, Apple began shipping Jaguar-- Mac OS X 10.2 (US $129). This release does more for compatibility with Windows than has any previous Mac OS release--a major upgrade for those on Windows networks. The drawback for owners of Mac OS X 10.1 there is no upgrade price. There is also a US $199 5-unit license called the Family Pack. (See also the CNET review.)
Here's a first look at of some of the major cross-platform and networking features, along with a few how-to's:
• Support of Microsoft's Active Directory
Each Mac OS X 10.2 user can access Microsoft's Active Directory without the need for Mac OS X Server on the network, as was previously required. Apple says that "Your network administrator can use the same password authentication system that Windows people use, and can store your home directory on a remote Windows server, if that's how your network is set up." Jaguar includes a new application called Director Access in the Utilities folder for configuration.
We asked Apple's Bill Evans to elaborate a bit, and he offered this:
Mac OS X v10.2 is based on a technology we call Open Directory that manages all directory related services. The primary industry standard for directory service protocols is LDAP and Open Directory provides full support for LDAP. Our Open Directory technology and the Directory Access application also gives Active Directory administrators the tools they need to integrate Macs into Windows networks. With these tools, a user can type their username and password in to the login window and have that be validated by an Active Directory server.
For more on Active Directory integration, see the MacWindows Active Directory Reports page.
• Built virtual private network (VPN) client
The Internet Connect utility has a new command in the File menu called New VPN Connection Window. Choose it, and a window appears offering to establish a VPN connection over your existing Internet connection. It asks you for a server address, user name, and password. You have the option to add the password to the OS X Keychain.
The VPN client uses Microsoft's Point to Point Tunneling protocol (PPTP). Apple says that IPsec is built into Jaguar at the lower networking levels, though there is no user client. It may take a third-party effort or a future Apple update to yield an IPsec client at the user level.
• An SMB file server for Windows clients
For the first time, a client version of Mac OS includes a peer-to-peer SMB file server enabling Windows users to access files on the Mac. Mac OS X will give you the URL that Windows users can type,but according to Apple, the Mac should show up in the My Network window of a Windows PC. By default, the Mac is placed in the "WORKGROUP" work group on the Windows network, but that can be changed using Jaguar's new Directory Access utility.
There are several steps to turning SMB sharing on. First, you click a box in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. Next, you create accounts for the PC users in the Accounts pane of System Preferences. For each account, you need to check a box labeled "Allow user to log in from Windows."
• SMB client now with browsing
Mac OS X 10.1 added the ability to access Windows file servers via the Windows-native SMB file sharing protocol, but only when you typed in a URL. Version 10.2 adds SMB browsing, so that Windows servers appear in the Connect to Server dialog. The Windows workgroup(s) appear(s) in the left column. Click on a workgroup, and you'll get a list of Windows file servers. Click on server and you can log on. (The "smb:/" URL is also displayed, though you no longer need to type it in.)
• Reorganized Sharing configuration
The Sharing pane of System Preferences has been reorganized in a more logical manner. The default tab, Services, lists seven services that you can turn on to allow other users to access your Mac. These are:
Built in firewall with exceptions for services
The Sharing pane of System Preferences has a new Firewall tab that lets you permit access by the seven services listed above. It also lists the ports the services are using.
Internet Connection Sharing
Finally, a feature that Windows has had for awhile--the ability to share a single Internet connection with other Macs and PCs on a local network. You turn on Internet Connection Sharing with the click of a single button in the Internet tab of the Sharing pane of System Preferences.
• Rendezvous networking
Rendezvous doesn't enable Windows integration, but should work with PCs systems that use the ZeroConf standard. It basically makes IP configuration like AppleTalk configuration--devices discover each other and self-configure.
• Preview exports to a variety of Windows and Mac formats
The Preview PDF reader application can export a PDF file several file formats, including BMP, JPEG, Photoshop, PICT, PNG, SGI, TGA, and TIFF. The Export command is in the File menu.
• Bug fixes
As with any major releases, there are always bug fixes. We discovered that an annoying problem with SMTP e-mail disappeared with Jaguar. The problem, not universal but widely reported at Apple's discussion forums, prevented some users form sending more than small email messages using certain ISP, including EarthLink. (The problem was not seen in OS 9.) We had experienced the problem with all versions of OS X before Jaguar and with every e-mail client we tried. The problem disappeared with the first developer build we received after WWDC in May.
Version 10.2.8 October 6, 2003 -- Apple has re-released Mac OS X 10.2.8 Update (Build 6R73). Apple pulled the original release of this update due to problems with Power Mac G4 and Ethernet, among other problems. There is now another version for the Power Mac G5, and another for the server called Mac OS X Server Update 10.2.8 (Build 6R73). Among the listed enhancements are support for USB 2.0 devices, "including PCI and PC cards for computers that do not include USB 2.0 hardware." The Software Update utility listed LDAP as having "enhanced functionality and improved reliability," but the Knowledge Base article did not mention LDAP.
Mac OS X 10.2.6 fixes AFP/MS UAM bug. May 7, 2003 -- Less than a month after issuing the last Mac OS X update, Apple released the version 10.2.6 update. Among the improvements are those in the area of AFP and SMB, including a fix for the Microsoft UAM Finder crash created by Mac OS X 10.2.5 Combo Update.
Mac OS X 10.2.5 update addresses SMB issue, has other bugs. April 11, 2003 -- Yesterday, Apple released Mac OS X 10.2.5 update through the Software Update mechanism and as a stand-alone installer that updates 10.2.4 to 10.2.5. The Software Update panel said 10.2.5 improvements were in "AirPort, Bluetooth, Classic compatibility, FireWire, Graphics, Image Capture, Mail, and OpenGL." However, Knowledge Base article 25405 does not mention AirPort. It does, however, mention SMB file sharing:
Addresses a potential data loss issue that could occur when copying certain files to an SMB volume.
This refers to the SMB file corruption issues that we've been reporting since last October.
The Software Update panel also mentions AFP file sharing and Windows file services:
The update includes improvements to AFP, web services, dial-up connections over PPP, and Windows file services, as well as audio, disc recording, graphics, and printing improvements.
However, the Knowledge Base article does not mention AFP.
However, readers are reporting that the update creates other problems, including reinstalling the same Gimp-Print problem caused by a recent Security Update, even if you've already fixed it. Reader also report that the update has a conflict with the Microsoft UAM (an option for accessing Services for Macintosh). After the update, launching the MS UAM cause the Finder to quit and restart. One reader send a workaround. We have reader reports on the Mac OS X 10.2.5 update below.
Mac OS X 10.2.4 update: SMB and AFP fixes promised; Word problem fixed. February 19, 2003 -- Apple released a Mac OS X 10.2.4 update at its web site and through Mac OS X's Software Update feature. Although it promised improvements for SMB and AFP file sharing, readers are reporting that some of the problems reported below have not be fixed. However, other readers report that the 10.2.4 update does fix problems with Word X that we've reported.
Here is what Apple says is related to AFP and SMB:
Apple releases OS X 10.2.3 Update: major cross-platform problems not listed as fixed. December 20, 2002 -- Yesterday Apple released free v10.2.3 updates for Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server. At 51 MB for the client version,10.2.3 is a large download, with fixes and improvements in many different areas. Some of the fixes are related to cross-platform fixes, there was no mention of the networking problems we have been reporting, such as the SMB file corruption bug, the "dot-underscore" problem, or the problem with files disappearing on servers when names are changed.
The Software Update mechanism mentioned improvements to "AFP and WebDAV networking," but the longer Knowledge Base article did not mention these. The article mentions these cross-platform improvements:
Reader reports on 10.2.3 are below.
Mac OS X Server Update 10.2.2. November 18, 2002 -- Apple has released Mac OS X Server Update 10.2.2 which "delivers enhancements and reliability" to components of the cross-platform server, including:
Software RAID, NFS, FTP, Print services, Apache 2, WebMail, IP Firewall, LDAP, Open Directory Password Server, Workgroup Manager, Macintosh Manager, and Security,
It also adds journaling, a new protective feature for HFS Plus file system for use "in the event of an unplanned shutdown or power failure." Apple says:
When you enable journaling on a disk, a continuous record of changes to files on the disk is maintained in the journal. If your server stops because of a power failure or some other issue, the journal is used to restore the disk to a known-good state when the server restarts.With journaling turned on, the file system logs transactions as they occur. If the server fails in the middle of an operation, the file system can "replay" the information in its log and complete the operation when the server restarts.
However, some third-party utilities can inadvertently turn off the new journaling, according to Knowledge Base article 107259. You can tell this has occurred when "The Apple Disk Utility no longer indicates the volume is journaled."
10.2.2 fixes SMB browsing issue. November 26, 2002 -- Apple Knowledge Base article 107085 says that Mac OS 10.2.2 fixes a problem where numbers appear in Connect to Server dialog instead of computer names of Windows workstations. This is a problem with Mac OS X 10.2 and 10.2.1 when there is DNS reverse lookup on the network. In this case, PCs appear with DNS names, such as "dhcp192.168.10.12" or "h2n1079p2." The article says updating to 10.2.2 clears up the problem.OS X 10.2.2 fixes Win2K password-protected volume bug. November 15, 2002 -- John DeMillion reports that this week's Mac OS X updated, v. 10.2.2, fixes a problem with Windows clients accessing file sharing volumes on OS X 10.2.0:
The recent Mac OS X 10.2.2 update fixed the problem introduced in v10.2.0, where password-protected volumes couldn't be mounted (at least it did for OS X clients hitting a Win2K SP3 server).Password-protected volumes is a feature of NT4/Win2K/UNIX ASIP servers (Apple's own ASIP & Mac OS X servers have never supported it) that allow you to place a password directly on a share, so that even though (for example) all users have read-only access to a network volume, no one can get to it unless they know the volume password, over and above their own username/password. We find this feature very useful for implementing a "universal software installer" volume so that we can go right to a user's machine and do installations from this volume without having to go through all the mess of dismounting/remounting volumes and re-authenticating multiple times.
This functionality worked fine in Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X 10.0 through 10.1.5, but they broke it in 10.2.0. It's working again in 10.2.2, although it's not mentioned in the fix list.
If you've seen this fix, please let us know.
Virtual PC slowdown in Jaguar
Please see our Virtual PC 5 Report page for information on this problem.
Please see our Virtual PC 5 Report page for information on this item.
September 9, 2002
Justin Clark
I can also verify that PocketMac does not work under Jaguar. I formatted the hard drive and freshly installed MacOS X and PocketMac. I can not get my Compaq iPaq 3870 to communicate with my PowerMac G4. This was previously working under MacOS X 10.1.5.
NOTE: there is also a discussion of this problem with SMB on our Mac OS X 10.0-10.1.5 Reports page.
August 27, 2002
Steve Crossman reports having problems accessing AFP (AppleShare
compatible) file servers with Mac OS X 10.2:
Jaguar is a godsend and a disappointment. Using Jaguar to connect to our Win2K servers, which has MacServer IP v7, I cannot access any files, unless I copied them there using Jag. All the files don't have an icon, only a light gray dashed border around them. When I click on them, they disappear and the Finder's display of how many files are there decrements each time.I have been in touch with one other user experiencing the same symptoms, but with just AFP built-into Win 2k. SMB works fine.
August 30, 2002
Marcus J. Albers
We've run into the same problems with Jaguar trying to access Win2k servers running MacServerIP version 8. The problem doesn't appear on our servers running the native SFM server, however. I have contacted Cyan about this, and they said that they are aware of the bug and are working on an update. No ETA.
August 30, 2002
Tobias Ross
For some odd reason, Files that appear just fine under MacOS 9 and AppleShare on a MacServer IP 8 (XP and 2000 server) appear with the file icons ghosted out under MacOS X 10.2. Any idea what's happening? I'm not seeing this on a different server running Services for Macintosh.I actually updated to MacServerIP 8 hoping it would fix the problem. Services for Macintosh has no such issues, although I do see a lot of ._ files from time to time from Windows.
Suggestions
August 30, 2002
Steve Winegar
We saw this happen last night as we were going final with a large job. One of the team logged in to our Win2K server from Jaguar and saw files disappear as he clicked them. We're digging into it, but nothing to report right now. Also, we came across another potential headache. If you log onto a Win2K server share that is shared as both SMB and AFP form Jaguar using SMB, then copy Mac files locally or to another Mac or AFP-mounted volume, you lose the resource fork. This can really mess up some types of files like Quark and Photoshop that depend on resource forks.
August 30, 2002
John DeMillion
I saw Steve Crossman's report on the Win2K AFP issues with Jaguar. FWIW, almost all of our Win2K AFP volumes work fine with Jaguar. When I open a directory with a lot of files/folders in it, the initial list view does show files with generic gray icons with outlines around them as he describes, but in my environment the Finder quickly moves down the list replacing the generic icons with the file's real icon. Not sure what's happening to Steve, but it's not happening here. I'd suggest trying a CHKDSK on those volumes if he hasn't recently, or perhaps some of these hints on fixing AFP volumes, which now apply to Win2K SFM as well as Win NT:I mentioned "almost all" of our volumes because Apple once again forgot to test with password-protected AFP volumes, and Jaguar breaks support for them. This is a volume that has a password assigned to it that is independent of the user's login/password, and you can create them in Win2K/Win NT SFM as well as in UNIX implementations.
If you log in and try to mount one of these volumes with Jaguar, you don't get prompted for the volume password, and the "Connect to Server" dialog disappears, leaving you as you started, and the volume doesn't get mounted.
Apple broke this functionality once before in a classic Mac OS release, I think it was 8.6, and they fixed it a few months later.
The workaround that we use is to run the Classic Chooser, which allows you to mount the password-protected volumes, and they show up immediately on the Jaguar desktop, just as if you mounted them from the Mac OS X side.
Please see our VPN Reports page for information on this problem.
August 27, 2002 -- Steve Maser report three issues and suggestions he's discovered about Windows file sharing in Mac OS X 10.2:
1) If you do an upgrade install and turn on all the Windows File Sharing features, you must *reset* your password in the Accounts System Preference to have the ability to log in to the Mac from Windows. Clean installs don't have this problem.2) While a "WINS" setting is in Directory Access, it's currently not working. You can set a WINS address there, but the machine will still not look beyond the local subnet when browsing. A patch for this will be coming eventually.
3) The default name for the Mac as it appears to Windows is "Samba 2.2.3a <hostname>" For some reason, Apple didn't put the ability to rename your NetBIOS name in the SMB configuration, so you have to manually edit /etc/smb.conf and put a "netbios name = <name>" in the [global] section. It would be nice to have a GUI utility to do this, though...
August 30, 2002
Dan Ruth
I have also seen issues 1 & 3 that Steve Maser ran into. I upgraded to 10.2 and wanted to try file sharing with Windows right away. I wasn't able to connect at first, then I changed my ID and password to match those of my Windows machine and it worked just fine. Once connected, I noticed the connection to my Mac on my Windows machine was in fact "Samba 2.2.3a <hostname>" - I did not try anything to change this, so I can't comment on the workaround.
September 16, 2002
G. Braque
I have the same issues with accessing my iBook (G3 500 MHz) from my Win 98 machine using Jaguar. I can browse the Windows machine without any problem from the iBook. I've "reset" the password, i.e. changed the password but I still couldn't gain access. The error keeps reporting that my "password is incorrect," but it's not. I've wasted considerable time troubleshooting this issue to no avail. If anyone has a clue as to a fix, I'd appreciate it.I can report that this is not an issue with Win XP and iBook. I was also using the beta version of Dave prior to having any luck. I uninstalled Dave and used the native SMB protocol built into Jaguar. Works without a hitch so far. My iBook can browse the XP box and XP has no problems sharing with the iBook. Oh, BTW the iBook is networked to the PCs via an airport card and a Dlink 614+ wireless router.
TIP: Check your user name and version of Windows
September 17, 2002
Nik Sands
When older versions of Windows (prior to Win 2000) log into an SMB share (whether on a Mac, or PC), they can only send the username that is currently logged into Windows, even if you supply a different username in the connect dialogue (although some versions of Windows don't even allow you to type another username - only a password).It might be worth these users double-checking what name they're logged into Windows as, and making sure it's the same user they're trying to connect to the Mac as.
Buried in a recent Apple developer Technical Note TN2053 Mac OS X 10.2 is the one-sentence explaination of why so many of our readers can't get SMB (Windows) file sharing browsing to work in Mac OS X 10.2:
"SMB browsing is only supported on the local subnet."Initial descriptions of the problem
August 30, 2002
Dave Garaffa
Where I work we have a C class network 100.200.x.y and we have many thousands of machines across many subnets. When I installed Jaguar I was excited with the news that I could finally SMB browse and as soon as I entered the 'connect to server' dialog I noticed the different WORKGROUPS (ala WINS) but many were missing. When I entered our companies 'MAIN' workgroup all I was able to see were other machines that were on the same IP SUBNET as me.I then went to DirectorySetup and set my 'default workgroup' and typed in our company's WINS server IP address.
Now when I went back to the 'connect to server' dialog and click on our 'default workgroup' the list of computers I see contain exactly ONE device (the WINDS server that I entered in DirectorySetup). All of the machines from my default subnet are now gone. When I delete the WINS server (via DirectorySetup) the other machines from my subnet return to the browser.
No matter what I do I can't seem to browse the ENTIRE company network. Also the only way for me to connect to an SMB server is with the following: SMB://domain-name/share/ (this works for every machine I've tried - both on and off my subnet)
Where domain name is either the IP address or the DNS name of the machine. If I try to connect with the following I am also unable to connect. (note on our network 'WINS-host-name' does NOT equal 'DNS-host-name'... So the following always fails.
SMB://smb-name/share/
After rereading this I'm not ever sure it makes sense but maybe some of those who really know this stuff well might have some ideas.
August 30, 2002
Douglas Higley
After updating to Jaguar yesterday on my G4 500 TiBook, I found that the SMB browsing function does not work properly. I tried the finder command "Connect to Server", the search window pops up, but after several minutes, it stopped and could not find any machine on the network. If I type the SMB command for a machine's specific IP address directly in the address line, I can connect to any machine on the server without any problems. There is also no Workgroup or * in the left pane.
August 30, 2002
Kevin Housen
When I try to browse our corporate network of Windows servers I only get a partial list of workgroups. Furthermore, when I click on a workgroup I see only a small fraction of the servers in that workgroup.
September 4, 2002
Jason Preston
I have experienced the problems described on your site, especially the ones described by Dave Garaffa. I am using the new PPTP client in Internet Connect, which works fine. After I connect I can't browse to any machines on the corporate network (no machines on my subnet). If I configure the WINS server and workgroup in Directory Access, I can see only that one machine in the 'Connect To' window.It looks like the problem is not specific to VPN connections.
Hopefully any fix to allow browsing across subnets will take care of my scenario as well.
September 4, 2002
Brian James
For users that open their connect to server windows and see no windows computers or workgroups: are you sure you installed the "BSD Subystem" when installing OS X. It is an optional component but users on apples discussion board are claiming that once they went back and installed that component they were able to find windows shares without a problem.
September 4, 2002
Noel Adolph
I am experiencing the same results as others with 10.2 on a corporate network. Typing in the smb://share.company.com brings up a proxy authentication window, then allows you to browse from a dropdown menu the available shares. However, browsing by WORKGROUP in the Finder will only give you a list of available shares on a subnet. Totally frustrated, I resorted to installing DAVE beta 4.0 so I could work. Apple still has work to do in this arena.
September 4, 2002
Chris Garay
As some of your other readers have reported, it doesn't work....at least on WINS networks.I was in the Seed program and reported that bug early in the test process (I can furnish the bug number if you'd like it). It was only last week (and three engineer escalations later), that Apple finally sent me an e-mail acknowledging that the nmblookup tool in their implementation of SAMBA wasn't working properly on WINS networks, and that they were planning to make a fix available via the Software Update control panel at a future date.
September 4, 2002
John P. Matznick
Yes I have seen this same issue on our enterprise global WAN. I am in Technology Development but have an extensive background in IT Management, so I have done some testing and it may be because of internal configurations of all LAN switches and WAN routers. I do not have the time to do nay elaborate testing of this issue however maybe someone else does. The problem may be able to be fixed in the NetInfo Manager under OS X Utilities.If I am not mistaken, in order for OS X to browse Windows networked systems it needs to do some IP broadcasting. These broadcasts I know for a fact are blocked on our corporate internal network subnets to eliminate chatter from any machine and application. There are a number of other Windows and Mac applications that also use this broadcast method to communicate and I have found the same issues with these as well. When 'Connecting to Server' only a partial listing of systems... on our local 10.52.x.x are displayed however typing in the server or system IP address and pressing Enter will show an authentication prompt and the the shared resources available on the that system. So this does seem like an SMB issue to me.
September 4, 2002
Todd Miller
I have had the exact same experience as Dave Garaffa. I also had tried to enter a WINS address in the Directory Access under SMB and also experienced the problem of ONLY the wins server's IP number showing up.Here are some things I tried - none of them worked.
I had DAVE 3.1 installed. I uninstalled it.
I noticed that my OS X machine was winning the browse master elections on my subnet. I had to edit smb.conf to make that stop. OS X was a very poor browse master showing only 25 of the 2879 machines on the domain.
I REINSTALLED OS X 10.2 onto a repartitioned and reformatted drive. This showed some improvement. I now get the same problem as Dave Garaffa describes. This was painful, but I wanted to be sure that this was not a problem of DAVE or SMB browser being partially (un)installed. Before reinstalling, I could only see 1 or 2 machines on our domain. Now I see what would be reasonable to assume are all the Windows machines on my subnet. I see the DOMAIN or WORKGROUP names of all the workgroups or domains that are represented with machines on my subnet. I also see more traditional type IP names from other Macs on campus. Strangely, not all Macs. Like I see 5 Macs listed in a group called psychology.uiowa.edu. I am one of only two or three Macs in this subnet, so I know that some Macintoshes are able to advertise themselves across subnet boundaries, but not all. I do not have AppleTalk turned on my computer. (God I liked typing that!!)
I have some ideas. Reverse lookup doesn't work on the machines in our Active Directory. Say I have a machine whose netbios name is HAPPY. If I ping HAPPY.mydomain.com I get 65.123.98.12. If I do a NSLOOKUP on 65.123.98.12 I get DOM98-12.mydomain.com as the computer name. I notice that the names listed in the Connect to Server Browser are of the DOM98-12 variety, and not their NetBIOS names. I think that OS X is not using NetBIOS to create a list of machines on the domain, but rather some kind of network broadcast. If this broadcast were limited at the switch or router, it would explain why only the single subnet shows up. Also it would explain why you get the IP numbers' reverse lookup name rather that the NetBIOS name. This is a total guess on my part.
Our Domain is running Active Directory in mixed mode.
I can connect to Windows machines by typing in their IP Name. For instance FILESERVER.mydomain.com. Because Windows 2000 machines register themselves in active directory's DNS, and because our sub-domain handles it's own DNS,
I am able to type in Windows 2000 or better server's NetBIOS names only to connect. If I want to connect to a pre-2000 machine, either its netbios name needs to be manually entered into the DNS server, or I need to type in its IP number to connect. If I type in the NetBIOS name of a Windows NT 4.0 server, I am not able to connect. This is further proof that OS X doesn't support NetBIOS.
The part I don't get is that if OS X doesn't do NetBIOS, what is it doing participating in and WINNING master browser elections?
I noticed posting about the issue of SMB browsing being limited to the local subnet on OS X 10.2. I'll offer a brief explanation of browsing for the readers so that they might understand why this is occurring. Granted I don't have anyone to confirm that this is the reason, but the behavior is expected given the way the browser service works.Browsing under Windows works on two levels. Within a network segment (within a subnet depending on your network configuration) workstations will advertise their NetBIOS names and availability. One computer within the segment will be elected as a segment master browser and will create a browse list of computers on the segment, other will become backup segment browse masters. These computers will distribute the browse lists to clients on the segment that request one.
On the second level, the segment master browsers will replicate their browse lists with the central domain master browser. The domain master browser is usually located by a special record on a WINS server or LMHOSTS file. This replication of lists allows for browsing between network segments.
I believe OS X 10.2 is only capable of creating its own browse list and not of obtaining one from a segment or domain master browser, thus is limited to segment-level browsing only. In playing a little bit with it I am not entirely sure how it is building its browse list, but it appears to be dynamically generated by the local machine, but I haven't done any in-depth looking to figure it out exactly. My guess is that the OS X box creates the browse list itself from replies to a broadcast and does not retrieve the list from a segment or domain master browser.
Regardless of how it is created, it is evident that OS X 10.2 is not capable of creating or retrieving replicated (multiple segment) browse lists.
September 26, 2002
Victor Roudenko
I wouldn't say this is scientific, but based upon my earlier ventures into Samba it may be that OS X doesn't implement the nmbd daemon which I believe is responsible for doing WINS and NETBIOS types of lookups which would let it span subnets.Perhaps someone out there could confirm or deny this.
Note: Apple says Mac OS X 10.2.1 fixes this problem.
August 27, 2002
Mike Trakas reports this problem with Mac OS X 10.2:
Burning CD's in the Finder that contain files within subfolders, can no longer be read by machines running Windows. The Windows machines can only see the folders, not the files inside them.
August 30, 2002
Bill Buchanan
I read about this in the discussion forums on Apple's tech support site. I installed Jaguar onto my iBook 14" before I knew about this, and gave it a try, fearing the worst. Of course, that is exactly what happens. The PC can see the folder on the CD, but it won't open the folder so that you can see the files inside. The folks on the discussion forum are mighty irate about the whole situation, and have made their demands that Apple return the functionality of the ISO 9660 standards immediately, since there was no such issue with OS X 10.1.5. Apparently, Toast is supposed to be able to get around this, but some users report that Toast 5.x doesn't work properly with Jaguar! Naturally, you can boot back to OS 9.2 as your startup CD, but that is sure taking a giant step backward.Furthermore, you have the restrictions of the 31-letter filenames in OS 9.x. I have to say had I known about this, I never would have upgraded my computer. This is a major problem with compatibility with the dark side. Pulling this off during Apples "Switch" campaign is even more baffling.
August 30, 2002
Mike Trakas points out that this problem has been reported on the
Apple
discussion forums, the Ars
Technica forums, and the MacFixIt
forums.
September 6, 2002
Gordon Williams
I have had the same experience on multiple systems running cleanly installed versions of 10.2Hopefully there will be a fix forthcoming from Apple. In the meantime, don't put anything below the top level of the cd's directory, or use "Disk Copy" to create and load an MS-DOS or UNIX image and then burn that to an inserted blank CD, if compatibility with platforms is required.
NOTE: These discussions have been moved to the MacWindows Active Directory Reports page.
September 20, 2002 -- Gimp-Print 4.2.2 for Mac O X Jaguar is now available as a standard Mac OS X installer package. The software includes open-source printer drivers for Epson, Canon, Lexmark, and HP printers drivers that act as plugins to the CUPS printing technology built-in to Mac OS X 10.2. When combined with CUPS, Gimp-Print adds printers that are otherwise unsupported on Mac OS X, including USB, TCP/IP and network shared Windows printers via SAMBA.
In Mac OS X 10.2, you can access CUPS by going to your web browser and entering http://127.0.0.1:631. We've tried to find out more about Apple's implementation of CUPS, which lets you print to PC printers and print servers that you previously could not. There are still no Knowledge Base articles about it and nothing in Mac OS X Help. Apple's Developers page on Mac OS X printing just barely mentions the existence of CUPS in Jaguar. Apple describes CUPS as the print spooler in Mac OS X 10.2 and later. We did find a press release at the CUPS.org site from last March, when Apple licensed the technology from Easy Software Products. CUPS is actually a bit more than a print spooler, and includes a version of GNU Ghostscript, which is how CUPS enables Jaguar to print to non-Postscript (non-Mac) printers.
September 20, 2002
Michael Kuntscher sent us a detailed description of how to use the
cross-platform CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) technology built
into Mac OS X 10.2, as well as a description of the technology.
CUPS is probably one of the coolest additions to Mac OS X. CUPS is the foundation of Jaguar's new printing architecture. When you open Print Center and add a printer for example, you are really using CUPS.If you open a browser and type in http://127.0.0.1:631 and hit Return, you are taken to the web interface to CUPS. If you click on the Printers link you will see the printers you have already configured in Print Center. If you add a printer using the web interface, it will also appear in Print Center.
I have a Netgear PrintServer (PS110) that I have been using for more than a year now. I have never been able to print to the two printers connected to it through my Macs until Jaguar came out. This is because the Previous printing architecture could not be configured to print through a print server, especially when one of the printers connected to it is "Windows-only." That printer is a LaserJet 6L.
However, with CUPS, all that has changed. Using the web interface, I clicked the link for "Add Printer." The next screen asks for printer name and location, so I typed that stuff in. Then on the next screen you are presented with a pulldown letting you select how your printer is connected to your computer. I chose "LPD/LPR Host or Printer" and clicked continue. On the next screen you enter the IP address for the print server (different connection selections in the previous will present different options on this screen obviously). The LaserJet was connected to the first parallel port on the print server, so I typed
"lpd://192.168.1.140/p1" and clicked continue.
The next couple of screens is where CUPS really shines. CUPS comes with a set of printer drivers that boast far more choices than Apple had been able to support with the previous printing architecture. On this first screen you choose the manufacturer of the printer. Clicking continue, you then select the kind of printer. By default, CUPS will list a couple of options for HP: a deskjet option, and a LaserJet option. An addition you can get for CUPS, called gimp-print, expands that list even further, allowing me to actually select a driver for the LaserJet 6 series of printers! Clicking continue one more time configures and sets up the printer driver and CUPS will tell you whether the operation was successful. Now the printer is ready! Open a Print dialog and you will see that printer listed. That's all there was to it.
With a little extra configuration (namely creating a symbolic link that allows CUPS to see the SAMBA spool file), you can get CUPS to offer you the choice of "Windows Printer via SAMBA" in the connection screen of the setup wizard mentioned above. Then you just type in the SMB address of the shared printer,
"SMB://[workgroup];username:password@computer/share" (not sure if that's the right format or not, but you get the idea) and now you can send jobs to a printer connected to your PC or known to your PC. This is how I got my deskjet printer to work on my Macs. It is connected to the second parallel port on the print server and so I set up CUPS to send the job to my PC, which knows how to send jobs to that printer.
The reason Apple may not provide any documentation in Help Center specific to CUPS is because setting up a printer in Print Center uses CUPS, but that this is not revealed to the user since all they typically care about it is printing, not the underlying method or technology that is used to accomplish it.
As I mentioned earlier, gimp-print is a freeware addition to CUPS that adds tons of printers and more printing and configuration options.
The latest version is 4.2.2, which is good for the just released 10.2.1. It has an installer that does everything for you. Once it is installed, when you go to set up a printer using the CUPS web interface or Print Center (I believe), you will see a lot more printers listed than before.
CUPS is the very basis of Jaguar's printing architecture and opens up a whole new realm of printing possibilities to Mac OS X users.
September 27, 2002
Adrian Fry
The new printing architecture in 10.2 is great in a mixed PC/Mac environment...CUPS appears to allow printing to all sorts of printers, but not a shared printer on a PC as shipped by Apple. You need to download gimp-print first, then, if you want to print from Adobe applications like Illustrator, you will also need ESP Ghostscript - to be able to print via Samba. I tried it at work and it printed like a dream to a shared LaserJet 6! You need to make sure you get the Samba share address right. Oh, and to configure the printer after, go to http://127.0.0.1:631 - the print centre hasn't got many options in it.
September 27, 2002
Kevin Montera
I thought I would share my experience printing to networked dot matrix printers using Mac OS X 10.2. In my business a number of employees need to print various multipart forms on Okidata 320 turbo dot matrix printers. Each form is loaded onto a separate printer so there are always ready to be used. The employees use FileMaker Pro to print the forms. On Mac OS 9 I used PowerPrint for Networks to network the printers. However PowerPrint for Networks is not Mac OS X native (and no plans by the software developer to further develop the product) and therefore Mac OS X applications cannot print to these printers. So under Mac OS X 10.1.X I was stuck running FileMaker Pro 5 in classic mode to print to these printers. There was always a problem of different style output on the form depending on which computer was used to print the form. Also it was difficult to configure Windows computers to print using PowerPrint for Networks. The future use of Mac's in my business looked bleak.However thanks to Jaguar and Apple's licensing of CUPS printing technology I can leave the Classic environment behind forever and have a seamless cross-platform solution for printing to these dot matrix printers. I purchased HP Jet Direct 300X print servers and attached them to the printers. I assigned IP addresses to each print server. Okidata has an article (Doc# 2057) on their website which describes how to configure HP Jet Direct Devices to the 300 series turbo printers which basically states that you set the Parallel Mode to "Centronics" and the Parallel Handshaking to "nACK and Busy". I used Print Center to add the printers using IP Printing.
For the printer model I selected the Epson 9 pin series that is listed under the ESP popup menu. I upgraded everybody to FileMaker Pro 6. Now the Mac's are equal citizens with the Windows machines in their ability to print to the dot matrix printers. I know its not the most exciting subject but I think it demonstrates Jaguar's ability and potential that Mac OS 9 never had.
TIP: using CUPS through the Print Center. September 30, 2002 -- Michael Kuntscher sent us a description of how to use the Mac OS 10.2 CUP features using the Print Center utility instead of the web interface:
A friend showed me a cool "hidden" feature in Print Center that makes it easier to configure the full range of printers available through the use of CUPS in Jaguar.Open Print Center and go to the Printer List window. While holding down the Option key, press the Add button in the toolbar. A sheet will slide out that looks just like the one you would get if you hadn't held down option. However, upon viewing the first pulldown menu in that sheet, you will see the new listing "Advanced" at the bottom.
Selecting this gives you a graphical, Print Center-based version of the same configuration options available through the web-interface to CUPS (http://127.0.0.1:631). You'll notice the one-to-one relationship between the options presented here and those presented in the web-interface configuration wizard, just all in the same window.
October 21, 2002
Michael Perbix
After installing gimp-print, I set up my laptop to print to my HP Deskjet 970 CXI printer shared off of a windows 98 machine. As long as the computer name and share names do not contain spaces, it works like a charm. I use the URL ofsmb://machine_name/share_name
You can password protect but for home use it should be fine without. You can add your name and password into the URL. I am using the PCL_900 driver and have printed a variety of pages with success.
Remember you need to hold down the option key when clicking on the ADD PRINTER Icon, then select the Windows via Samba option located under ADVANCE. I also connect via wireless to a Linksys router. The Windows machine is connected via Ethernet.
SMB file corruption problems with Jaguar.
October 15, 2002
Suraj Rai
I recently posted the following on the macsx-admin@omnigroup.com mailing list. There are serious problems with SAMBA and Jaguar. File corruption being the biggest one. My post to the mailing list on October 2 follows:I am having some really weird problems with 10.2.1 and Windows XP File Share. Basically, I have 4 JPEG files on my desktop and when I try to copy to them over to my XP share, only 3 get copied. There is one file which is refusing to get copied for some reason. When I drag the file over to the share, it looks like it is copying the file but after a short while it just disappears from the folder. The file in question does not have any funny characters in it's name. Copying it using /usr/bin/cp works.
Any ideas as to what might be happening here? Is there a way to set the log level of samba in 10.2.1?
Related to this I have created a short video clip to illustrate the problem. As you can see from the clip the problem is intermittent. This problem occurs both with Windows shares and Linux SAMBA servers. This does not happen with NFS.
I also noticed that sometimes the data gets corrupted when transferring over SAMBA. JPEG image files in particular gets corrupted.
I would advise against using SAMBA for file sharing due to these problems. The data corruption issue is very serious since you will probably only notice it after the fact. I have reported the issue to Apple.
October 16, 2002
Graham Niblo
Had a similar problem trying to copy a couple of gif files to a Samba server running on our Solaris/Apache web server. One copied fine, the other did no appear to want to copy at all, but I eventually found that it had, with a name change. On the Mac it had a name like r2_f9_c0.gif, and on the server it appeared as _r2_f9_c0.gif.I'd be grateful for any feedback about what is going on. Is it related to the fact I was trying to overwrite existing files?
October 23, 2002
Michael Hasse
I have been seeing all sorts of odd problems with SMB connections if the file name has spaces or underscores in it. E.g. a file called "My new file.doc" or "My_File.doc" will have problems copying, opening and saving changes, whereas files named "Mynewfile.doc" or "MyFile.doc" are fine. Simply renaming them appears to be sufficient.I have also seen problems with () and %, but at least those are a little less common and less surprising.
I should mention that this is while connecting to a Linux (RedHat 6.1) box. My 98 and 2K machines have no such problems and I have not tried from the Mac to 98 or 2K shares.
October 24, 2002
Kevin Spencer sees it with Excel files:
I've begun to experience file corruption with Excel workbooks transferred to and from a Windows NT file server. After working and saving an Excel file, I've saved it to a Windows SMB share. When I double-click the file on the server, I receive a file corruption error message from Excel. The original file on the Macintosh is OK. I have not experienced this problem with earlier versions of Mac OS X. SAMBA is definitely broken here.
October 24, 2002
Rafael Garcia sees Flash files corrupted with both Linux SAMBA and
Windows servers:
Copying Flash files from a Mac OS X workstation to a Debian Samba Server or to a share on a Win 2k box using the built-in Samba Client results in a corrupt .fla file. Today we copied several files from a Mac OS X 10.2.1 workstation to a Linux Samba Server version 2.2.3a-6 and back to the Mac OS X workstation. Text files, Photoshop-files and .swf files were transferred correctly, but Flash .fla files got corrupted.md5sums:
Local on the workstation:
# md5 /Users/User/Documents/version1.6.9.fla
MD5 (..) = 16d987b172fcdebb7bdf92f1746bd85aOn the server:
# md5 /Volumes/TRANSFER/version1.6.9.fla
MD5 (..) = 9d02b541258325022cfaef12ca800811Copy from the server on the workstation:
# md5 /Users/User/Desktop/version1.6.9.fla
MD5 (..) = 9d02b541258325022cfaef12ca800811That means that the .fla file was modified while being transferred from the workstation to the server.
We tested the same scenario with a Win2K box: copying the same files from the Mac OS X workstation to a Win2K share produced the same problems:
Local on the workstation:
# md5 /Users/User/Documents/version1.6.9.fla
MD5 (..) = 16d987b172fcdebb7bdf92f1746bd85aCopy from the the Win2K share on the workstation:
# md5 /Users/User/Desktop/version1.6.9.fla
MD5 (..) = 06693daab779cce82a54245e504e07c7With other types of files it worked:
Local on the workstation:
# md5 /Users/User/Documents/flash.swf
MD5 (..) = e6354f1e0ac381eabd446032b68e7605# md5 /Users/User/Desktop/flash.swf
MD5 (..) = e6354f1e0ac381eabd446032b68e7605
November 4, 2002
Sebastian Alvarez
Apple's implementation of SMB in Jaguar is unusable. I mounted a Windows drive, it mounts just fine, and then I transferred video files of different types: AVI, MOV and Mpeg-2. For AVI files, most of them can't even be played; Mov files, they play and just before reaching the end QuickTime Player on Windows crashes. For Mpeg 1 and 2 files, it's very funny. The transfer actually "steals" a few bytes from the end of the file, so the video ends a few seconds before it should, from 10 to 30 seconds.Apple promotes Jaguar as having full network compatibility with Windows, and this is what they call compatibility? All transferred files corrupted? It's just pathetic.
November 4, 2002
Gary Satterfield
The OS X clients were able to connect to the MS shares through SMB, but had loads of file corruption issues with Quark files, PDF files, Photoshop files, Excel files, and TIFF-IT files. [The problems cleared up after installing Services for Macintosh and connecting via AFP, Apple File Protocol.]I talked to Quark Tech Support about the file corruption issue. They had me copy a suspect Quark file from the SMB share to a local Mac desktop, then to an AppleTalk share and then back to the Mac desktop. This seems to fix the Quark file corruption issue to a degree, but as with anything on a Windows server, the solution is hit-or-miss. There is also an issue with Quark 4 freezing while opening a file saved down to Quark 4 from Quark 5. They suggested the same workaround.
The characters everyone seems to be having trouble with are standard Forbidden Characters on the Windows platform. Files with any of these characters become corrupted as they are moved, copied, or backed up. And what's worse is that if a folder contains any of these Forbidden Characters, all the files stored in this folder become corrupted. The SFM services on Win2K and NT seem to protect these files from becoming trashed, but if you have a cluster or just don't have SFM installed, you're out of luck.
This file corruption issue is very serious. We are all very happy the IT department religiously does backups, as some 600 GB of files had to be restored due to this problem. My opinion: if you value your data, don't trust it to SMB.
November 11, 2002
Dan Schwartz
I too am seeing a variation of the Jaguar -> SMB/CIFS corruption problem at a photo lab, where the X10.2 workstation is transferring TIFF files prepared in Photoshop 7 to the NT4/SP6a/Workstation RIPstation/front end for a Durst Epsilon photo printer. What is devastating is that the files appear to transfer correctly; but instead of being corrupted to the point where they (gracefully) don't open, about half of the files have a black stripe across the bottom 10-15 percent of the imageSince dozens of image files are sent to the RIPstation at a time and are automatically "nested" (optimized placement & rotation for minimal paper waste) for output without previewing, the corrupted results aren't seen until the roll has been printed and processed... Sometimes hours later or even the next morning, as the 30 inch wide printer only runs at 4 inches per minute.
Because the RIPstation is part of a package and the Durst RIPstation software isn't certified for either NT4/Server or any Win2k version, I'm almost stuck. I *temporarily* fixed the problem in this small lab by upgrading the Win 98 cash register (POS terminal) to Win2k/Server and setting up an SFM -enabled shared folder on it, with Directory Replication enabled to automatically retransfer the files from the cash register to the NT4 RIPstation intake folder. Ugly; but for the computer newbie owner/operator it's bulletproof.
If you have seen this problem, please let us know.
10.2.2: is SMB corruption not fixed
November 26, 2002 -- Kevin Spencer reports on his web page (Nov. 15 entry) that the SMB file corruption issue appears to be fixed in the MacOS X 10.2.2. He says:
One very bad bug that appears fixed involved file corruption when copying files to and from a Windows SMB share. That feature was OK in 10.2 but broke with the 10.2.1 update.
December 13, 2002
Gérald Thirion reports
I have the same big problem. Whenever I put a file (for example a *.mov file) from Mac OS X to a Windows server via an SMB connection, the file is corrupted and unreadable. I just downloaded the 10.2.2 OS X upgrade but it is still the same.
December 16, 2002
Gérald Thirion
Good news, It works now. I don't know why, but effectively, the files are not corrupted anymore. Mysteries of computers.
December 16, 2002
David Dunham reports that the problem does not occur when he uses the
Unix shell command cp (copy) in the Terminal application, which could
point to the Finder as a source of the problem:
I have seen this problem under 10.2.2, but not all the time. When a file is corrupt, I have so far always been able to copy it successfully by using the Terminal (and the standard "cp" command).Furthermore, I have reported this to Apple using the developer bug tracking system. (Non-developers should report it as well, probably through the Mac OS X feedback page.)
December 16, 2002
Rick O'Brien says "I still experience SMB file corruption under
10.2.2. Especially Word files."
December 16, 2002
Brett Rockwood sees corruption of PDF files. Not only that, but his
problem began with 10.2.2:
Having read about SMB corruption I just want to confirm that I have had numerous problems transferring PDF files created on Mac OS X to Windows file servers. More often than not they come up as unreadable/unopenable. I never had this problem with 10.2.1 but since moving to 10.2.2 I keep my fingers crossed everytime I have to transfer a file. Interestingly enough, I can do a "save as" from 10.2.2 out of Acrobat to a Windows file server and it has (almost) always worked but if I try to drag a file from 10.2.2 to a the windows server it is often corrupted.
December 16, 2002
Jon Nedry sees the problem with Quark files:
I can confirm the problem still occurs on our server. It appears it happens when copying files TO the server, not when retrieving them from the server. We are running 10.2.2 on an NT server. We don't seem to see the problem with Illustrator or Photoshop files, but it does occur in Quark files. It *appears* that the problem is occurring not in the visible portion of the file, but in the invisible part of the file (the apple-double portion that begins with ._ )I'll keep pounding on this to try to figure it out, but for now, I can't exactly call my info rock-solid. Feel free to post it as confirmation that the problem does exist, but I'm not sure the other parts are much more than theory at this point.
December 16, 2002
JF Paradis also see the problem with Quark, which he says he can
reproduce 100 percent of the time:
There is still a problem though: Quark.Quark Express runs both on OS 9 and Classic and it seems its file structure relies on the old resource & data fork: when you put a file on a SMB mounted volume and bring it back, you can not reopen it. The problem does not show-up with a AFP volume (Apple File Protocol). Our backend servers are on Windows NT.
All other applications are fine: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, etc... Quark is the only Classic application we are using.
The Apple SMB client stores on the NT server two separate files, the regular data file and a .filename for the resource fork. When it retrieves the file, it recombines both.
In my experience, only Quark has a problem with SMB. The bug is consistent, I can reproduce it 100 percent of the time:
Quark, and maybe applications that rely on the resource fork, really suffers from this bug. It is a pain, but for now, we are using AFP.
December 16, 2002
Ingemar Arfvidsson
I also often experienced corrupted files when copying files to Windows servers until I noticed that selecting another folder in the Finder window, in this case a local folder, fixed the problem.
December 16, 2002
Tom Knoff
No problem to a couple of NT 4 machines with 10.2.2
December 18, 2002
Jarl Sobel
SMB corruption with 10.2.2 is definitely an issue. I experience the same trouble as other users [with Mac OS X 10.2.2 and earlier] , but with text files in the form of Mathematica Notebooks (produced by Mathematica from Wolfram Research ). Not all files are affected, but the files that are, become corrupted in exactly the same way every time.A simple workaround that I have found, other than using the cp (copy) command from the Terminal application, is simply to enclose the file to be copied in a folder, and drag the folder to the server. Then, the file inside the folder is copied without errors.
December 20, 2002
Brian Kearney
I've tried Jarl Sobel's suggestion to copy a folder, rather than a file to eliminate file corruption--but I've found lately that the folder will copy, until it gets to a Quark document, and will invariably then report that "one or more objects cannot be found" and not copy the Quark file, or any other file after the quark file (listed alphabetically). Copying the quark file, and then the rest of the files seems to then work--individually or in a group. Mac is an 867, 10.2.2, and the server is W2K, SP2.
December 20, 2002
Lawrence You finds that corruption occurs when the server folder is
in icon view, but not in list view:
I've seen the problem where some files copied from a local disk to an SMB volume are corrupted. Recently, I have been collecting Acrobat (PDF) files and copying them from my Mac OS X 10.2.2 and 10.2.3 SMB clients to a FreeBSD 4.7 host running SMB as a server. Occasionally files would be corrupted when they were copied. Occasionally the problem would occur using a G4 Dual 1 GHz (Quicksilver) client, but I could never reproduce the problem using a PowerBook G3 333 MHz (Bronze/"Lombard") client. Both are running 100 Base-T Ethernet to the SMB (FreeBSD) server. I could speculate that it might be related to a race condition that arises from multiprocessors, processor speed, or something else but I don't have any proof. It would be interesting to know if anyone has this problems with uniprocessor systems.I did some testing a few weeks ago to try to discover if there was anything reproducible about the file corruption problem. My testing of a dozen or so files turned up this:
Corruption would occur when I dragged a file into a folder when you are using "icon view". If I used "view by list" and I think also "view by columns" the file would not be corrupted. The corruption occurs on block boundaries of about 1 KB in size (for example, 0x4fc00-0x4fff or 0x5f800-0x5fff) and is always filled with zeros in the copy.
Corruption never occurred for me when I used the traditional Unix copy command, "/bin/cp", or the Mac OS X copy tool "/Developer/Tools/CpMac" (available if you have the developer tools installed). Copying a file from the server to my local OS X disk never produced incorrect results.
My workaround is to just not use "view by icon" on SMB directories or to use AFP (but that opens up another can of works because the Netatalk implementation that I'm using on FreeBSD has its problems too).
December 20, 2002
Samuel Litt
Here's a workaround I use when ever I encounter a Mac OS X Finder issue that prevents me from copying data to and from a server: I use a third party utility like Lacie's SilverKeeper (a free program), Dantz's Retrospect, or Intego's Personal Backup to move data to and from the problematic server in lieu of Mac OS X's Finder.I came up with this workaround when I encountered an error with a Snap Server while bulk copying files and encountering some nebulous message complaining about file name size.
December 28, 2002
Jon Nedry
I can follow up on a few of the items listed:1) Regarding JF Paradis' post [Dec 16], my problems are also with Quark, but intermittent. I have not yet been able to get it to happen 100 percent of the time. I've copied hundreds of files to test this and at this point it tends to run around 13 percent of the time (1 out of every 8 files is corrupted).
2) Copying files within folders (as posted by Jarl Sobel) seems to work fine every time. I've copied over 600 files to test it and all worked fine (unlike my previous tests). I haven't experienced the problems posted by Brian Kearney [Dec 20].
3) The problem is still very much present in 10.2.3.
There is very little presence for this issue at the discussions at apple.com, I would suggest people start adding to the posts there to underscore the significance of the problem.
If you can add to this discussion, please let us know.
Problem persists in 10.2.4
February 19, 2003
Jarl Sobel
I just downloaded 10.2.4, and the problem with SMB corruption still persists.Apple claims that the Mac OS X 10.2.4 Update "Improves results when copying large files (4 GB or larger) to a Windows file sharing (SMB) server", so it seem to address only a part of the problem.
I've experienced problems with files less than 300 kb in size. Also, I experience no difference depending on if a directory is in icon view or in list view, as posted by Lawrence You, on Dec 20th. My machine is a 1.25 GHz dual G4.
November 11, 2002 -- Ken Bell has a problem with files on a Windows 2000 becoming invisible to Mac OS X 10.2 when the names are changed:
I am running a 2000 server, latest service packs. File sharing works fine Mac and PC until people start renaming the files. This does not effect the PC's or OS 9's in the office but the renamed file is no longer visible to the 10.2 Macs. Ejecting the disk and reopening the share fixes the problem.OS 10.2 exhibits this problem regardless of what client machine changes the name, Win2K, OS 9, OS X. I have tested two different 2000 servers.
One small caveat, if an OS 10.2 machine is the one that renames the file, it can still read it, but not any other 10.2 machines. (But again, if it is a non 10.2 machine that renames the file, none of the 10.2 machines can see or read it.)
November 15, 2002
David Minehart
I can confirm, and slightly elaborate upon, the observation that OS X loses track of renamed files on a W2K server. I created a file named Test.txt on the server by copying an existing text file using OS X and renaming it. I then used a nearby PC to rename the server's file to Test2.txt. Back at the Mac, Test.txt sat there unchanged. After a couple minutes, I clicked on Test.txt. It immediately changed to Test2.txt, with a blank icon instead of the usual icon looking like a text page. Upon clicking on it again, it disappeared completely from the list of files. Closing the server's folder's window from OS X and reopening it didn't bring back the file. To the Mac under OS X, a file renamed on the W2K server is as good as deleted.
November 15, 2002
Fred Leonard
It's not just renamed files-- it's also new files added, filed deleted, etc. It seems Mac OS X cannot see any changes. The only fix I have found is to unmount the PC volume, and remount it. Then the files show up.I am still fighting trying to find a good solution to synchronize my files. Timbuktu Pro isn't any help because it can't work with long filenames, and it can't sync. I was trying Tri-Backup, but I can't because the Finder can't mount the volume in any reliable means.
SMB doesn't work. The only thing that mounts and sees the files correctly is FTP. If I mount a PC volume using FTP://ip_address, instead of SMB, everything looks great, except it only mounts read-only. FTP doesn't work in read/write mode at all. Even using the Windows local Admin logon.
I have been zipping folders and moving them over and unzipping them, or burning CD-RW's. This is a major pain.
I have talked to Apple about this, and they have no solution. They cannot get FTP, SMB, or anything else to work. I even went as far as mounting the share in Virtual PC and dragging the files out of Virtual PC. It works, but is way too slow. I still have about 4 GB to transfer from my Compaq laptop to my PowerBook, and I just can't find any way to do it.
November 26, 2002
Romeyn Prescott
I want to chime in on this issue. I manage both an NT 4 Server running ExtremeZ-IP and a RH7.3 box running Netatalk. Here's what I did with each server.
- On my PowerBook (Mac OS X 10.2) I created and saved a text file with Eudora called "filetest".
- I copied this file to a volume on the server.
- I attached to the same server/volume with an OS 9 box and renamed the file "testfile".
- I opened the volume on my PowerBook attempted to access the renamed file.
The Netatalk server had no troubles.
Netatalk is version 1.5.5, ExtremeZ-IP is whatever was new for that product about a year ago.
November 26, 2002
Jack Stoller
After reading the notes on MacWindows about this problem, I decided to do some detailed testing. The information below is what I found. I hope it's helpful, and plan to post it to Apple's feedback page.To see the effects of the following actions, you need to be viewing the same folder on a Windows 2000 Server from 3 machines: 1) Win 2000 Professional, 2) Mac OS X logged in using AFP, and 3) MacOS X logged in using SMB. Note that in MacOS X the effect of a change made on the other machines is not visible unless you click out of and back into the folder window, or click on an item in the folder window (e.g. window updates are not made automatically, as they are in MacOS 9 or Windows).
1) Create a Word file on the Windows machine with a long (>31 character) file name. The AFP machine sees the Windows "Short Name". On Windows, rename the file but keep the first 6 characters the same. The entry does not change on the AFP machine.
2) Now change one or more of the first 6 characters but keeping the name size > 31 characters. The AFP machines displays the short name but with an outline-only icon. Click on the name, and it disappears from the window. Dismount the volume, and remount it, and it now has the correct Windows short name.
3) Rename the file so that it retains the .doc extension but is <=31 characters. On the AFP machine, the proper name appears but with an outline-only icon. Click on the name, and it disappears from the window.
Dismount the volume, and remount it, and it now has the correct Windows long name.
4) Create a file whose name is > 31 characters on the SMB MacOS X machine. Copy the file to the Win 2000 server. The file entry will not appear at all on the AFP Mac (nor will it appear on a pre-MacOS X machine). Rename the file so it's name is <=31 characters. It will now appear on the AFP Mac.
5) Many Mac files copied to the Win 2000 produce an "invisible" companion file whose name starts with "._". Text clippings are one example. Such a file to the Win 2000 server. On the Windows machine, edit the file name (but not the "._" file (which Windows won't allow you to do, anyway). The file entry will either disappear from the SMB Mac or appear with the extension now showing and in some cases (like text clippings) the data missing.
January 29, 2003
Jack Albright verifies that the problem still occurs with Mac OS X
10.2.3:
We are also seeing the "disappearing files" problem with Windows 2000 Server and Mac OS X v 10.2.3.Create file on Windows 2000 server from Mac.
Rename the file from Windows.
Go back to Mac and the file is gone.
Dismount and remount the volume from Mac and the file reappears.Also occurs with Snap Server
February 13, 2003
Kate Fitch
Thought I'd report on a similar issue we are seeing with Mac OS 10.2.3 and a SnapServer. The Macs are connecting to the SnapServer (running the latest OS) using the latter's AppleShare emulation. Occasionally, when clicking on a file to open or preview it, the file "disappears." Unmounting, then remounting the volume seems to fix it. Because of this, I am keeping my Mac OS X test group small so I don't have to deal with unnecessary panicking!I am wondering, perhaps the fact that Windows networking is also enabled has something to do with it? We have two PCs, both running Win 98 SE, that require this be turned on.
February 20, 2003
Tony Pires
I have seen the same exact problem with Snap Server where, one moment the file is there and the next, it is gone! Only by unmounting and remounting the drive will it return. I have had an OS X and OS 9 machine side by side and one will show the file (OS 9) while the other (OS X) will not. Strange.Workaround
June 2, 2003
Jayme Thomas
I just read the couple posts about various invisible files and have a similar experience to add for you. We use a standard low end Dell Win2K SP3 server and have (2) Mac OS X clients, (6) Windows XP Pro's and a Linux box.Our OS X boxes are both occasionally unable to see files. We have seen this issue for HTML and Flash .FLA files. The files are there, the permissions are all as they should be, and the Mac's don't see them at all.
Copying the file back into the directory solves the problem immediately.
The XP workstations have no problem seeing the (invisible) files.
If you've seen this problem, please let us know.
TIP: Win XP firewall can cause Jaguar SMB -36 error. November 26, 2002 -- Apple Knowledge Base article 107096 says that port blocking in a firewall can cause a -36 error when trying to use Mac OS X 10.2.x's Connect to Server to connect to a Windows SMB share. The error, "SMB Connect Error = -36" indicates that the Windows PC has refused a connection. The article suggest checking for the blocking of ports 137, 138, and 139 on a firewall on the PC:
If you are connecting to Windows XP, make sure that the Internet Connection Firewall settings are not interfering with your connection. SMB uses ports 137, 138 and 139. These ports should be open on the Windows XP computer.
If you can verify or otherwise shed light on the following issues, please let us know.
Effect of 10.2.3 on Virtual PC
December 28, 2002
Stephen Suess
I use VPC 5 and noticed a significant speedup after installing Mac OS X 10.2.3. I haven't tried VPC 6, but I don't think the speedup is due as much to the new version as it is to the OS update.
December 28, 2002
However, Charles Gaudette found that some PC benchmark tests ran VPC
5 at about the same speed in 10.2.2 and 10.2.3:
I am running VPC 5.0.4 on a G4@867 MHz(x2), 1 GB DDR. Before upgrading to Mac OS 10.2.3 I ran PCMark2002 (free "ad-ware" version) twice. Then I re-ran the tests, restarting the Mac and VPC before each run of the tests.Also note that VPC 5.0.4 was set to 256 MB RAM for my Win XP Pro image and I left Norton AntiVirus 2003 for Windows running during all four tests.
Mac OS X 10.2.2
Mac OS X 10.2.3
PCMark2002 test #1
PCMark2002 test #2
PCMark2002 test #1
PCMark2002 test #2
CPU: 1347
CPU: 1317
CPU: 1332
CPU: 1336
MEM: 1054
MEM: 1048
MEM: 1069
MEM: 1046
HDD: 512
HDD: 528
HDD: 521
HDD: 526
As you can see I am currently of the option that VPC 5 gets no benefit from the fixes put in place by Apple. It looks like VPC needs the rewrites found in VPC 6.0.0 to get a speed boost.
Editor's note: we would only point out that canned Windows benchmarks historically have not told the whole story in terms of VPC performance.
Effects on MS Remote Desktop Connection:
Two readers report opposite effect of 10.2.3 on Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection.
December 28, 2002
Brian Convery
RDC (MS Remote Desktop Connection), which crashed quickly on my dual G4, seems to be stable with the 10.2.3 update installed. I am crossing my fingers that this tool is fixed!
December 28, 2002
Chris C. Gaskins
After I installed 10.2.3 my Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection stopped working. Now it just hangs with the spinning multicolored wheel.Improved print handling
December 28, 2002
Joseph Quartson
Installed new OS update and printing now supports "first page from tray 1 and the remaining from tray 2"Not a big deal for some, but we run an office with 3 HP printers all with multiple trays that use letterhead with continuation sheets. At last a return to OS 9 functionality!
Fixed Windows FTP Server isssues
December 28, 2002
Stephen Suess
Another thing fixed for me by the 10.2.3 update: I can now properly connect to and use Win NT and Win 2000 FTP servers from the Finder. Before 10.2.3 I could connect from the Finder, but would only see a blank window and be unable to upload or download files. This appears to have been fixed with 10.2.3
Problem with Word X and Win Servers
This problem seems to have appeared with Mac OS X 10.2.3. Readers report below that the problem disappeared with 10.2.4.
December 28, 2002
Rick Leeper
I'm using a new PB G4 (1 GHz, with 1 Gb. RAM, OS 10). At my office I have to occasionally access a Win 2K server via Ethernet (with the most recent Service Packs, patches and updates). Everything has worked fine for over a year...Since I installed the 10.2.3 update on my laptop last week, when I try to use MS Word X (with all of the various updates and patches installed) to edit a document on the Win 2K server and save the changes to the server, I get an error message:
There is an unrecoverable disk error on file Word Work File D_9. The disk you're working on had a media problem that prevents Word from using it. Try the following: - Try formatting another disk. - Save the document to another disk.The "disk" in question has over 28 Gb of free space. I get the preceding error even when logged in as "Administrator." If I save the file changes on my laptop's desktop, I can immediately copy over the same file on the file server.
When I boot off of my OS 9.2.2 disk partition I can freely edit the files on the server using Word 2001. BUT, when I try to run Word 2001 in Classic Mode while booted under OS 10, I get an error message stating that the network drive is full.
All of my other programs work fine reading and writing to the Win 2K file server, it only seems to choke when Word X tries to write one of its temporary files to the server since I installed the 10.2.3 update.
January 6, 2003
Martin Geithmann
I can confirm the problem with saving files to a Win 2K server from a Dual Processor G4 867, and an 800 MHz iBook, both running Mac OS 10.2.3 and MS Office with the 10.1.2 update. The problem seems to occur only with documents created from templates, rather than with a new blank doc created from the normal template. I've seen confirmation on MS's public newsgroups as well, with the exact same error message.
January 6, 2003
Arthur Visser
I have exactly the same problem as described, since I upgraded OS X from 10.2.2 to 10.2.3 on my PowerBook G4 667 MHz. No solution (yet).
January 6, 2003
Nick Collingridge
I too get errors saving files from Word X to a Windows 2000 server. The error message (image enclosed) says the following:There is an unrecoverable disk error on file Word Work File D_1734. The disk you're working on has a media problem that prevents Word from using it. Try the following: * Try formatting another disk. * Save the document to another disk.When I click the OK button in the dialog Word quits unexpectedly. If I restart Word after this the file is auto-recovered (presumably from an auto-recover file on the local drive) and I can successfully save it to a local drive.
When I search for a file with the name given in the dialog I find that it is on the Win2K server disk and is 32.5 MB in size! there are also a couple of other files with similar names from previous crashes, each of which is 32.5 MB in size. Needless to say I have now trashed these files.
It appears that the only workaround is to save to a local drive and then copy to the Win2K server if the file has to be on the server (for backup purposes etc). The file will then need to be moved back to a local drive before it is edited. The problem occurs whether it is a file being opened from the server or is a new file which is being saved to the server.
Config is MacOS X 10.2.3, G4/800 with 1 GB RAM, MS Word v. X SR1 10.1.1 (2425). The Windows 2000 server has SP2 loaded. One thing to note is that the connection to the Win2K server uses AFP and not SMB.
January 6, 2003
Franz-Juergen Haas
After updating to 10.2.3 I get this Error message too (but in German, I use a German system), when I try to save a word-file to a w2K-Server over AFP:»Error with word temp file, try to save to another disk« and so on, and after all Word crashed.
No problems saving to HD, no problems saving to an Appleshare-Volume (OS 9).
Saving Excel file doesn't create problems. It seems to be only a Word issue.
In the newsgroups microsoft.public.mac.office.word and discussions.info.apple.com this problem are some postings about this issue.
Two workarounds suggested was to repair permissions or to remove and reinstall Word. I did both, but it didn't help.
Another workaround suggested there is to save over SMB; this is not really good for me, because I have to work with Quark 4, which give me an -51 error, when I try to save on a W2k Server over SMB.
Now, I think it is best to downdate to 10.2.2. But the problem: The 10.2.2 update link at Apple is linked to the 10.2.3 update. When I didn't find it, I think I'll go back to the roots: 10.2.0.
I use a Dual 867, Word X
Problem only with AFP
January 7, 2003 -- Readers are reporting that the error with saving Word X files to a Windows 2000 Server only occurs with an AFP connection and not with an SMB connection. (There is another widely reported error with SMB and corruption of files, reported above.)
January 7, 2003
Jack Stoller
As reported on your site, editing a Word document on the server can fail, but my experience shows it's limited to Apple Filing Protocol connections on Win2K servers. I've tried it on a server with SFM and another with MacServerIP 8. Word is unable to create its work file, and so gives an error message about disk problems, then crashes. If I try it on the same server using SMB, it does not fail. I noted that if I make changes to the document and save (but not close), Word creates and leaves a work file in the same folder. When I close the document, the work file is deleted. As far as I know, this is a 10.2.3 problem, but I don't edit Word docs on the server too often and I mostly work in SMB. (BTW, editing an Excel document does not fail.)
January 7, 2003
Paul Williams
As with your other correspondents, I've experienced these errors with temp files on the remote Win2K server volume, mounted via AFP. During a save, I get the same error message:"There is an unrecoverable disk error on file Word Work File D_3. The disk you're working on had a media problem that prevents Word from using it. Try the following: - Try formatting another disk. - Save the document to another disk."And Word quits. A file is deposited on the server... "Word Work File D_3".
If I mount the same volume via SMB, I don't get any errors. I'll keep plugging away -if only to see if the Quark documents and PDFs are still corrupting with the 10.2.3 update.
January 20, 2003
Mark Roberts is another MacWindows reader reporting that using SMB is
a valid workaround:
What was described IS true. The workaround is to log into the Windows Server as a SMB server. e.g.: smb://servername
January 21, 2003
Steve Wake
Yes, we have found a SMB connection (as opposed to AFP) has resolved the problem connecting to a Windows 2000 Server from OS 10.2.3, and Word X...Nice to know this isn't new to the MAC-Windows community!
January 29, 2003
Mark Read
I can verify that this problem exists with both AFP on AppleTalk (Windows NT4 Server) and AFP on TCP/IP (Windows 2000 Server) connections from 10.2.3. Microsoft Word then quits (automatically).A suggestion
January 20, 2003 -- Timothy Godby suggests that the problem can be avoided if you mount the Windows 2000 Server before launching Word. If you can verify or dispute the effectiveness of this suggestion, please let us know.
January 21, 2003
Daniel Foshee
I'm glad that works for Timothy, but it does not work for us. We have users running OS X 10.2.3, and they leave the workstations up 24/7. They have shares mounted all day, and only occasionally use Word X. However, after they fire up Word, they still experience the error. I've done a restart, let the shares boot up in OS X, and then start up Word, per Timothy's suggestion, but the error still pops up.
January 20, 2003
Igor Zagatsky reports that Microsoft has posted some information
about the problem at a newsgroup:
Microsoft acknowledged the problem in the microsoft.public.mac.office.word newsgroup. They claim they are working on a fix with Apple.
Here is a portion of the post by Matt Centurión of the Macintosh Business Unit:
This issue has been found to affect Word X and Word 2001 (under Classic) who have upgraded their OS X to 10.2.3 and who connect via AFP to Windows servers running Windows Services for Macintosh.Error messages include "Disk Full" or "Unrecoverable Disk Error" an attempted saves to network share.
We are currently working with Apple to resolve the issue. Workarounds include:
- Using "smb://" instead of "afp://" to connect to share. (It has been mentioned in this newsgroup that the use of the SMB protocol may corrupt files when accessed by other AFP clients as well. This has not been our experience but we suggest caution when implementing this solution if you have not used it before. Any issues with the SMB protocol use should be reported to Apple.)
- Not upgrading to OS X - 10.2.3 until more information is available
No other information is available at this time. I will post when there is, but I don't have a timeframe for any such updates.
Reader says Word and Win2K errors occur in OS 9 as well.
January 14, 2003 -- Responding to our reports of errors with saving Word X files to a Windows 2000 Server , Fil Magnoli says he's seen it with Mac OS 9:
The problems working with Word files on a Win2K server is not a new one. Similar errors can be repeated when working with OS 9.x and Office 2001 (Word application is the only one with the problem as far as I can tell). To edit from, and then saving to, a MS Word file on a Win2K server results in an error indicating that you have to save the file with a different name, and that there is not enough space to complete the operation. I've been able to repeat this problem using Office 2001 on a Win2K server, but not using OSX/Office X combination. Others have posted similar, if not identical, issues to Microsoft's site, but I have yet to see a fix, or even an acknowledgment from Microsoft on the issue. Others have noted that the problem doesn't seem to occur with OS 9.x and Office 98, or OS X and Office X, but that's hardly a fix for anyone with a large install base of Macs.
Luis Antezana has seen the problem with Windows NT Server:
Regarding your "error with saving Word X files to a Windows 2000 Server" report, I just had a user report the same error, except our servers are all Windows NT 4 (service pack 6a). She was using AFP to access the server. She claims the whole computer crashed, as it wouldn't let her click in any of the other visible programs. She had restarted by the time I got there so I couldn't verify any of this in person.
If you can verify either of these issues, please let us know.
January 20, 2003
Frank Cellini
Regarding "Reader says Word and Win2K errors occur in OS 9 as well." This seems similar to a problem we had when saving to an AppleShare IP server. The solution there was that the client must have read write access to the server root volume. Word writes temp files to server root when saving files.Word X problems occur on Netatalk
January 27, 2003
Daniel Lautenschleger reports that the problem of errors
when saving Word X files saved to Windows AFP servers also occurs
on Netatalk servers (AFP for Linux and Unix):
I can confirm that the saving of Word X files to a Windows 2000 server and the "unrecoverable disk error" problem also occurs when the file is opened from a Netatalk volume.
February 19, 2003
Arthur Visser:
My Microsoft Word (v.X) no longer crashes when saving a file on our Win2K file server over an AFP connection, after I updated OS X 10.2.3 to 10.2.4 (Software Update).The workaround of using a SMB connection to the Windows server is no longer needed.
February 19, 2003
Daniel Foshee:
The OS X problem of not being able to save Word or Excel files on AFP shares of a Win2K (it would report a corruption problem, and wouldn't save, though Office 2001 in OS 9.x had no problems) have disappeared with the 10.2.4 update on our G4 setups.
February 19, 2003
Jack Stoller:
Regarding the following issue when editing MS Word docs on an AFP file server that first appeared in 10.2.3:"There is an unrecoverable disk error on file Word Work File D_9. The disk you're working on had a media problem that prevents Word from using it. Try the following: - Try formatting another disk. - Save the document to another disk."
It appears this issue is resolved in 10.2.4.
February 26, 2003
Dave Dalton
As far as I can tell, updating to Mac OS X 10.2.4 seems to have eliminated this bug where you cannot save a file back to a Windows 2000 server. Hopefully other readers of MacWindows will have successful results. This is a description of the problem from MacWindows:To edit from, and then saving to, a MS Word file on a Win2K server results in an error indicating that you have to save the file with a different name, and that there is not enough space to complete the operation. "
Dalton finds that the 10.2.4 update doesn't fix another problem:
This update did NOT resolve the bug with Mac OS 10.2.x and Eudora 5.2 when users have their folders located on a SNAP server. Eudora reports I/O errors when it tries to write to the History file , and Nicknames file. The Eudora Settings file can be changed. Very strange but looks like some kind of permissions issue. The same Eudora folder when located on a Win2K server behaves fine. The folks at Eudora have not been very responsive. They probably cannot replicate the client server environment necessary to reproduce the problem.
February 26, 2003
Mark Wellard
The update to 10.2.4 did not solve the AFP sharing and Word problem on my new 867Mz G4.
TIP: Defining OS X firewall for Timbuktu for Win. January 27, 2003 -- A reader named Peter sent in this tip for using setting the Mac OS X built-in firewall to enable users of Timbuktu for Windows to access it:
Apple provides some predefined, non-editable firewall rules with Mac OS X 10.2.3. There is one set up for Netopia's Timbuktu that only opens tcp port 407. This allows another Mac using Timbuktu to make a connection, but if you are trying to connect from a Windows version of Timbuktu, the connection will be blocked.You need to create new rules that open udp 407 and tcp ports 1417, 1418, 1419, and 1420 to get full functions from a Windows Timbuktu connection.
(Netopia has confirmed this problem and will try to get Apple to fix it, but suggested end user messages to Apple might also be helpful.)
Problems when mounted SMB volumes are not available (Known issue)
The Mac OS X Finder locks when an SMB volume goes off line after a server volume is mounted. (One reader describes the problem as a "VERY extensive after the lock up, at times over 15 minutes." Apple posted Knowledge Base article 107407 acknowledging the bug, but offered no real fix
Dozens of readers report having the problem. We've posted a sampling of these here, arranged into catagories.
First report
February 28, 2003
Andrea Mariottini reports this problem that locks up Mac OS X:
I found this problem on MacOS X 10.2.4: if I mount an SMB volume, then shutdown the PC hosting that volume, I'm not able to unmount the volume from the Mac: the maleficent wheel appears and there's nothing I can do. Even shutdown is not possible, nor launch Terminal or other applications or restart the Finder.PowerBook and AirPort
March 4, 2003
Chris Anderson
I've seen this on OS X since forever. It also happens on a mobile machine if you move the PowerBook or iBook out of the Airport range of the network where the SMB volume was mounted from. Nasty.
March 4, 2003
Andrew Cunningham
I see this if I sleep my PowerBook and forget to unmount, but only if you have open files on the SMB volume. It was present in 10.2.3 as well
March 4, 2003
Brandon Smith
Just wanted to drop a note and verify that I have this problem as well. I have a PowerBook 800 DVI that I use with my airport network at home in which I connect to a PC via SMB. If I don't "eject" the server when leaving for school, my PowerBook may lock up when I get to school and return from sleep. I have the same problem when at the school and connecting to their servers via Ethernet (SMB). I MUST eject those servers to ensure I won't have to restart when returning home. Hopefully Apple will resolve this issue quickly as it is quite frustrating and the reboot time is VERY extensive after the lock up, at times over 15 minutes.
March 4, 2003
Tiffany Truong
My friend and I both have a PowerBook and we often connect to each other's computer vis computer-to-computer network with the airport wireless card. My friend would connect to my computer to get a file off my shared folder and leaves my shared folder mounted on her computer. When I turn off my airport and disconnect from our shared network, she cannot unmount my computer from her PowerBook. It usually will take a few minutes before she can get her mouse back (the circular rainbow runs for some time). At this point, I would reconnect to the network and let her eject the mounted volume from her desktop.Problems with other applications besides Finder
March 4, 2003
Damion Moyer-Sims
Finder is not the only application that encounters this problem. I have also found it with Curator, for example, when I am viewing remote folders. If I have a list of remote folders on the Windows box in Curator, and the Windows box has been shut down, then I get the spinning wheel if I try to open any of those remote folders. Fortunately, I am able to Force Quit apps when this happens. Finder does not appear to Force Quit when encountering this problem.Virtual Private Networks
March 4, 2003
Dave Prosper
I've had a similar problem: I attach to our campus network through a VPN, mount some drives through Samba, and when I disconnect from the VPN my drives are still there. So I go to unmount them-and they will_not_unmount. Sometimes it even crashes my system: The gray screen of death pops up and prompts me to reboot my machine.
March 4, 2003
Ron Atkinson
The symptoms can be duplicated by having mounted drives and starting up a VPN tunnel with split-tunneling disabled (such as the Cisco or Netlock clients), some applications will take a long time, some will just hang. It's usually best to unmount all drives before hand.I haven't tried it with Linux yet, but many people have said the exact same problems occur there too, so it might be a problem with how the Unix/Linux versions of SMB clients are written.
Microsoft Windows also issues when it loses connections to remote mounted drives. Once again, start up a VPN client (E.g. Cisco or Nortel), then try to start Windows Explorer and it'll appear to hang for a couple of minutes. Some applications will also take a long time to start and appear to be hanging, but after a couple minutes things will work fine on the application or explorer. Microsoft Windows appears to have timeouts in it that just eventually give up and lets you continue, but Unix/Linux clients appear to not act the same and will cause systemwide problems.
Every time I connect on a VPN with my OS X 10.2.4 system I have to unmount all my network drives beforehand. If I forget then I have to disconnect the VPN, unmount the drives, then reconnect. Since my Windows XP system (I have 3 desktops here, XP, OS X, and RedHat 8.0) shares a documents directory that I mount on my Mac, every time I connect on the VPN with my XP system I have to unmount the share from the Mac too or it will become problematic since it no longer sees my XP system share anymore. I wish they would fix that....
Dealing with the problem
March 4, 2003
Geoffrey Riley
We saw this a few days ago. When we rebooted the Windows computer, the Mac relaxed. We ejected the network connection, and then we could shut the Windows computer down without interference.
March 6, 2003 -- David Blaymires a long report about a problem with Mac OS X and the Omnis 7 database running a Windows 2000 Server SP3. He describes the problem and a workaround he came up with.
I have found a workaround for MacOS X computers to access Omnis 7 datafiles on Windows 2000 servers running Service Pack 3. I've written as much info as I have been able to glean in all these months of problems, in the hope that others may find a gem in here that may lead to a permanent solution. Perhaps the kindly folks at Raining Data Corp (Omnis), Apple and Microsoft can investigate this more as a result of this information and maybe find a real solution.Problem: Although the permissions for all users were set to allow full read/write access to the directory that holds the datafile, when a Mac OS X user opened an Omnis datafile, and Omnis did the first write to the data file, the user was told that access to the data was not available &endash; i.e. They did not have write access even though the permissions for the folder are set to give them this. The Omnis application can be either running in Classic, or be a native MacOS X application, the same problem results.
This problem only surfaced with the release of Windows 2K SP3, and occurs with any version of MacOS X.2 or later. It does not affect MacOS 9 computers, who continue to have unfettered access to the Omnis datafile in SP3.
The source of the problem has not been identified. I have read messages on various Microsoft Newsgroups that indicate that there was a problem in earlier versions of Windows 2K where permissions were not being implemented properly, or interpreted properly. Supposedly, the story goes, this is now "fixed" in SP3. The only problem is, there is a problem in how the permissions are now being interpreted by Mac OS X workstations, so even though the Windows 2K server says that they have permission to read/write to the folder, the reality is that they can't when it is a shared file. There are no problems saving a Word document (for example) to the dame directory as the datafile, but try getting 1 user in to the datafile. Impossible.
I've had MS Certified engineers work on all levels of permissions and with all levels of auditing turned on and there's no event that gets trapped when the MacOS X user is told the datafile is not available. To all intents and purposes, they have full read/write access - except to an Omnis datafile.
Workaround: While sitting at a Mac OS X computer, create a folder DATA (any name will in fact do) on the Windows 2K server and make sure that the access permissions (get info on the folder &endash; Cmmd-I) show that EVERYONE (i.e. Owner, Group and Other) all have Read/write permissions. Then move the datafile to this folder. Its as simple as that.
As far as I can tell, there's no problems with this workaround, as the permissions for the enclosing folder can control who needs to even have access to the Omnis related files in the enclosing directory. Anyone who has access to the enclosing directory can have full read/write access to the folder that contains the datafile.
The only potential problem I can see with this is in the event that someone changes the permissions for the enclosing folder, they have the option of copying the permissions to all enclosed items. In that event, the DATA folder could lose it's unique "everyone read/write" permissions set in MacOS X. In that even, quit everyone out of the datafile, rename the folder to DATAX, then at a MacOS X computer, create a new DATA folder (with the full read/write permissions) and move the datafile to the new DATA folder.
For those whose solution to this problem was to move the server back to SP2, this will enable you to move to SP3 and solve some of the myriad of security issues that Windows servers seem to have. Many of our recent clients could not do this because they have new servers that only came with SP3, and/or the security issues outweighed the data access problem.
SMB file locking fails on Mac OS X 10.2.4 clients.
NOTE: Some readers have attributed to to the March 24 Mac OS X Security Update (see below).
March 24, 2003
Bill O'Connell reports that file-locking on Windows 2000 SP3 servers
doesn't work when Mac access them with SMB:
The Mac SMB client does not lock files when it opens them read-write, and it ignores existing locks on files opened read-write by Windows clients. For example, an Excel document on a Windows 2000 server is opened by a Windows client. A Mac client (10.2.4) can open the same file read-write without any warning that the file is in use. The same problem occurs when the file is opened by the Mac client first. On the Windows 2000 server management console, under open files, the entry for the Mac SMB client shows 0 locks, while the entry for the Windows client shows 3 locks. If the file is opened on the Mac using AFP, the file is correctly locked and this problem does not occur.
March 26, 2003
Jørgen Straarup
"Yes, we have the same problems. We can't use our 10.2.4 server."
March 28, 2003
John Duffy
Our company develops a relational database that runs cross platform, and we've experienced the same problem. Just wanted to confirm that this is a problem in 10.2.4.
March 28, 2003
Debra Sawyers attributes the problem to the March 24 Security Update,
reported directly below.
I'm not sure if the problem we're having is related to the one mentioned on your site, but we'd been file sharing quite nicely with our PC server for quite a while. We have several levels of sharing, one with AppleShare works fine, the SMB share we have no longer connects when trying to access from 10.2.4 using Go -> Connect to server and pulling it from the list by IP we get an error = -36. However, if we connect by using the name of the computer it works fine.so: error occurs for SMB://192.168.1.1
But not for SMB://tamaserver
Same machine. Correct IP. No explanation. This only occurred after the recent security updates
March 28, 2003
Tony Swash also has the 10.2.4 problem with SMB
file locking (directly above this report), which some readers
have attributed to the Security Update:
I too have had this problem. I couldn't connect to my Windows XP machine using my new 1.42 duel processor Mac running 10.2.4 until I actually typed the name of the PC into the Connect to Server dialogue box.
If you've seen this problem, please let us know.
Problems with Mac OS X 10.2.4 security update.
A number of users have reported various problems with the the latest Mac OS X Security Update from March 24, 2003. If you've seen these or other problems with the Security Update, let us know.
10.2.4 problem with SMB file locking
See article directly above this one.
SMB problem with printers, Gimp-Print
We now have for suggested solutions sent in by readers, below.
Problem
March 28, 2003
Mark Morris
I am also having SMB problems following the latest security update. I had connected to a Win2K printer via SAMBA for months with no problems. Since installing the update, I can no longer connect to the printer. Checking my error log, I see an NT_Signon error. I have noticed others have posted a similar problem on other bulletin boards.Solution 1
March 28, 2003
Benjamin Iseman indicates that the printer problems readers have with
Security Update is specifically related to Gimp-Print. (See elsewhere
on this page.) He also offers a workaround:
Previous to the 3/24/03 security update, I had been happily printing to a number of old (i.e., non-postscript), networked HP LJ 4 printers by sending jobs to a Windows NT 4 server via CUPS/GIMPprint/Ghostscript. (There is an excellent tutorial on this Gimp-Print method.)I, along with several other people who are posting in various threads at http://discussions.info.apple.com, lost the ability to print using the method described above after applying the 3/24/03 Samba security update. When I attempted to check the Samba connection to the Windows server after applying the update, I got the following results:
% smbclient -L server1 -U biseman
added interface ip=192.168.0.49 bcast=192.168.0.255 nmask=255.255.255.0
added interface ip=192.168.0.56 bcast=192.168.0.255 nmask=255.255.255.0Got a positive name query response from 192.168.0.2 ( 192.168.0.2 )
Password:
session setup failed: NT_STATUS_LOGON_FAILUREI got the same NT_STATUS_LOGON_FAILURE when I use the server's administrator
userID and Pass so it wasn't a permissions issue.
Although very unsatisfying, the only solution to the problem that I found was to downgrade /usr/bin/smbclient and /usr/bin/smbspool to the pre-security update versions. Since Samba is open source, I have uploaded the older versions of /usr/bin/smbclient and /usr/bin/smbspool to my iDisk and they can be downloaded from here.
Obviously, using these files will most likely reintroduce the security bug that the update was designed to fix. Accordingly, proceed with caution.
The procedure I followed was to delete all of the samba printers on my machine via http://127.0.0.1:631/printers. I then logged in as root and made a copy of the newer SMB files and saved them to the root desktop.
Finally I replaced the SMB files mentioned above and restarted. When I added the printers via http://127.0.0.1:631/printers everything worked right away.
Aprli 4, 2003
Marty Schlacter
Saw your March 28th article about SMB problems after the March 24th Update for OS X. I had the same problems. At first, my backup scripts stopped working (I used smbclient to do manual tar backups of a windows box). Then I noticed my printing stopped working. Going back to the older smbspool and smbclient fixed it.
Aprli 4, 2003
Richard Laycock
I tried the March 28th fix from Ben. Unfortunately, his files (dated from last fall) were mismatched to my installation and totally screwed up my Samba printing. The Advanced option changed to "unkown printer" although the path box still had the "smb:// " in it.Fortunately, I got a better set of these from another guy in Apple Discussions (Gerry Simmons). His files were from immediately prior to the 3/24 update (dated in Feb.). This did work on my machine. I had to path it with user:password@DOMAIN unlike the simple DOMAIN as it was pathed before. After a restart it's working once again. As on Ben's fix-it file you do have to set permissions on the three files to System (RW) Wheel (R) Everyone (R).
Solution 2
Most readers report that this suggestion works to fix the problem.
I was also hit by the SMB printing problems the Security Update caused. My assumptions are identical, and I successfully followed Benjamin Iseman workaround (which might open the hole again, but since I'm behind a firewall I'd rather have printing capabilities).Specifically I performed the following steps:
1. Download the files on Benjamin's iDrive to the desktop
2. Open Applications/Utilities/Terminal
3. Type the following commands (use "sudo" in front of a command if you get an "Operation not permitted" error):
cd /usr/bin
mv smbspool smbspool-upd30324
mv smbclient smbclient-upd30324
mv ~/Desktop/smbspool .
mv ~/Desktop/smbclient .
chmod +x smbspool smbclient
chown root.wheel smbspool smbclient4. Launch Print Center.
After this printing worked right away on my machine, so I didn't have to remove all printers and reinstall them again.
April 4, 2003
Paolo Verri says:
I tried the SMB workaround after 10.2.4 security update with Erik van de Pol's step-by-step instructions and it worked just fine.
April 4, 2003
Brian Fischer:
Much to my disappointment, I replaced the "new" Samba software with the "old" Samba software (as is outlined in your lead article) and it fixed the problem."Disappointment" because I don't expect this type of problem from Apple.
April 4, 2003
Bill Pridgen
Like others, I found that I could no longer print from my Mac to printers connected to Windows 2000 computers after the March 24th update. I tried the suggested fix involving replacing smbspool and smbclient with the previous version. It worked! I followed the directions of replacing the files, and everything was back to normal, with no need to delete my Samba printers or reboot. I did have to use sudo.
April 4, 2003
Mark Morris
I tried Erik van de Pol's suggestion (replacing the smbclient and smbspool with older versions) and am happily printing on our windows network again today. I have no idea what the security update did to these files, but I am grateful that someone figured out a workaround.Unlike Erik, I did have to remove my old and set up a new printer before the workaround would work...not a big problem compared with being unable to print at all!
April 4, 2003
Myron Jones (4/2)
I used the previously posted instructions. I assumed that I needed to make the owner and permission changes which were not mentioned in the previous post. Thanks for the clarification. It will save a lot of people some time.
April 4, 2003
Michael Friesen
I have tried this fix, and it works. However, I still get theNT_STATUS_LOGON_FAILURE
when I try to use smbclient to connect to the windows 2000 machine from the command line. I have no problems with smbclient when connecting to a Win XP machine.
At least the printing to my Win 2000 machine works again!
Solution 3
April 10, 2003
Rotaiv
Everything I have read regarding this problem has