I have been struggling to set up a Linux box on my LAN. I have spent days trying to get Win7 to see Linux, or when that happens, to see the shares, or to open them. I had little to show for it, so I tried making Linux a WINS server for the LAN (we share a linksys router). Windows now saw Linux fine, but repeated efforts to log in failed. I don't even know why it called for a log in, as I had set Linux' Samba to be as open as possible, in an effort to get the sharing up and running. Nothing was working. On the Linux side, nothing worked either. I had been able to see the Windows shares at one point, but since a Linux reinstall, nothing at all. I then went to the Windows Firewall and wrote a rule allowing the LAN's ip range in without authentication. Suddenly, I began to see EVERYTHING in Linux. And I do mean everything. My entire Win7 box was open to Linux. I have only one or two shares on the box, but I was able to navigate all through my C or D drives and open anything at will. Friends, this was alarming. I rechecked, and my C drive is not set to share. And even if it were, Permissions for, say, the my documents folder, are only given to myself, the Win7 administrators and "SYSTEM". Yet I was in that folder, browsing and opening. Is "SYSTEM" the culprit here? Because letting the LAN connect should not give it permission to browse. I don't know how system got permissions, so I left it there thinking it was necessary. I then rebooted the Linux box into Win XP, and the network/workgroup showed only the shares I had opened up, as it should. This was an issue with the Linux box only. I deleted the firewall rule, and I'm back to not being able to do anything between 7 and Linux. That's bad, but being wide open is worse. I can only guess that Linux somehow identifies with the Win7 system when it is set up a certain way. If so, this is a massive security hole.

Hi, I test the rule on my Windows system. I can only access the folder which I shared not the whole drive. Please edit the rule, allow the connection if it is secure. If the issue persists, I suggest disabling the rule, updating the router firmware and uninstall Windows Live Essentials to check if Linux can access the Windows 7 shared folder. Also, please refer to the link to make sure the configuration on Linux is correct. http://www.7tutorials.com/how-change-workgroup-ubuntu-linux-work-windows To confirm if it is an issue on Linux side, I also suggest contacting Linux forum to help. http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. Best Regards, NikiPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

The key here is that you likely (at some point during the setup/troubleshooting) gave the Linux machine an administrator username/password for Windows. If so, the Linux machine may recognize the built-in C$ (and similar for other drive letter) shares that allow a remote administrator to access the machine. This is by design and is expected behaviour. If you want to give a remote machine/user limited access to a machine, you need to create an account dedicated to this purpose and not use an account with full administrative rights.