[Bug 206585] Re: cannot browse windows shares via gvfs-smb

[Mark Ellse]

Recent experience with the network leads me to believe that this is, at least in part, a Windows Browser-Master problem. 
Windows is known to have trouble (some say it's broken) with browsing peer-to-peer networks. One computer in the network takes the role of being a browser master. There is a defined hierarchy of who does it - generally the machine that is on longest but has the more recent operating system. The browser-master is the machine that stores a list of host names and their ip addresses, enabling browsing of the network. I think that Linux machines on a Windows network rely on the Browser-Master for browsing.

Setting up a Windows computer as a broswser-master is inaccurately and
incompletely documented and supported by Microsoft, who really you to
have a Windows server. My experience that the process of a browser
election can be completely confused if other machines are on the
network, leading to unreliable browsing with both Windows and Linux. In
particular it may be that a non-Windows DHCP server inhibits Windows
machines from being browser-masters.

Browsing problems on our network seem to have disappeared since we've
installed an SME server (www.contribs.org) AS A DOMAIN/WORKGROUP
CONTROLLER. This has resolved our browsing problems.

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cannot browse windows shares via gvfs-smb
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/206585
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