Lubuntu vs intranet

[Kilsgardet]

I could not get my intranet to work on Lubuntu 24 so I deleted it and installed Lubuntu 22.

On Lubuntu 22 it worked satisfactory, I could operate the other computers in the network but the Lubuntu computer was invisible for the Windows computers.

Today I got an update that I installed and suddenly the intranet does not work.
First I got this messages: Failed to retrieve share list from server. And: The specified location is not mounted.
Then the symbols for the other computers in the network disappeared.

Why did you do that?

Is there any way to remove the last update and get the intranet back.

Very strange policy of Lubuntu community to issue updates that makes it impossible to have a personal intranet.

[That_Random_Guy]

If I understood this correctly, you have installed a fresh Lubuntu 24.04 (right now, you can download 24.04.1, so I will assume you mean this),

Next, from the Lubuntu machine, you tried to browse to other Windows shares on your network? Does that sound right? Can you please confirm that this did work with Lubuntu 24.04 initially but not after running updates?

When you say “operate”, what do you mean exactly? I’m assuming you mean that you’re able to browse files and folders that are actually on the Windows computers from the Lubuntu machine.

You sound surprised that the Windows machines cannot see the Lubuntu machine? I’m not so sure they’re supposed to be able to see the Lubuntu machine unless you know you’ve added something to your Lubuntu install that would let Windows do that.

The only thing I can think of right now is maybe you added something like Samba which would let Windows browse the files on your Lubuntu machine. I don’t think that would happen automatically, however.

Please see the following from the Lubuntu manual and you want to be at about 10 paragraphs in to see where it starts talking about connecting to servers:
https://manual.lubuntu.me/lts/2/2.4/2.4.4/pcmanfm-qt.html

If that doesn’t look familiar, please take screenshots of what you’re referring to and please upload those here or upload them somewher else and link them here.

It’s very difficult to provide more without knowing exactly what we’re talking about. For all I know, I’ve provided you the wrong info but the manual is usually a good place to start.

[eeyore]

You are brave That_Random_Guy… It could be a rabbit hole with no bottom; and no data or diagnostics provided by the OP so far.

[Kilsgardet]

I have 5 computers in three different buildings. Two buildings are supplied from the main router as they are quite close. 2 computers are Lubuntu and 3 are Windows. I use the personal network daily.

When i decided to try to leave Windows I first installed Lubuntu 24.04.

With 24.04 there was no network available so I never used that. I deleted it and installed Lubuntu 22 instead.

It has worked ok for a few months but yesterday there was a small update installed and now the network has disappeared.

So the problem is the update of yesterday. It failed my network.

[eeyore]

1. Has your network remained static (hardware, software) since you installed version 22?
2. Firewall settings (e.g. ufw)? 22 isn’t set up as a server out of the box.
3. Since you’re trying to use this -one- system as a server, you must have planned it out and did the work setting it up? So, you’ll have to do this again, especially if other systems (it has to interact with) are newer than version 22.
4. Initial network settings e.g. interface (ethernet, wifi if names - if you’ve changed anything you will need to reconfigure your server), ipv4, gateway, (subnets?) DNS, DHCP, possibly configuring a few static addresses, configuration for internal network, configuration for external network. Misconfiguration in any of these can cause a failure?
5. Samba or nfs, I think you mentioned using samba and you have used the linux box as a server for Windows… Well, this has changed since (v 22). e.g. Do you use fuser mounts or root mounts
6. Container, virtual or cloud platforms - I have tried to avoid these things to some extent as they do add complexity. But, they have to be considered and they certainly have changed since version 22
7. Logging - anything you’d like to share? (e.g. journalctl output?). I find journalctl combined with lnav to be useful. But, both require time and practice to become proficient in/with.

Anyway, yes, things do change over time and non-cooperation is to be expected, between old and new, new and new, etc… e.g. Jammy Jellyfish will fail sooner or later without maintenance and maintenance support will eventually disappear. If you want to maintain it and it is working for you, then fine - don’t switch.

[That_Random_Guy]

Please add or upload screenshots for what you’re referring to.

It’s not too clear what you’re referring to anymore. I’m not sure what you mean by personal network. I’m going to assume that you mean that all of your computers are on the same network.

If you mean something like WiFi, then that is not something that is usually provided by default if you did an offline install. I think you can install the necessary drivers during an online install where the system has Internet access through a wired connection. This would apply to both Lubuntu 22 and Lubuntu 24.

How do you know the network is not working? Is it because you cannot browse to Internet using Firefox or is it because you cannot browse to the Windows PCs like you’ve mentioned?

[Kilsgardet]

Answers:

1. All hardware is many years old, older than the Lubuntu installation. All software exept Lubuntu is also many years old. Lubuntu 22.04 worked ok until the last automatic update a few days ago.
2. I have not done anything to firewall settings. Not before when the network worked and not after the automatic update when the network disappeared.
3. I am not using anything as a server. I have used a funktion in Windows called ”Network” for many years which gives me access to shared folders on all computer in the network. That funktion has been partly available in Lubuntu 22.04 until last automatic update but it was never available in Lubuntu 24.04 that is why I installed 22.04.
4. No I did not change anything. I just accepted an automatic update.
5. I have never mentioned Samba or nfs. I have never used Linux as a server. I just used the ”Network” option. There is a Network icon on the start screen for Lubuntu 22.04.
6. This question i do not understand. Fact: It worked. I accepted an automatic update – it stopped working. How do I remove that update?
7. One more question I do not understand. I just want to get rid of the update that destroyed my computer. Where can I find the list of updates? I just need to find that list and undo the last update.

[Kilsgardet]

If you go to the start screen on 22.04 (and also 24.04 I think) there is an icon named ”Network”.
If You click that You should see an icon for every computer that use the same router. After the last update all icons disappeared and I see only a blank page when I click the Network icon.
I am very surprised that this is new to You.
Haven´t You seen the ”Network” icon? It comes with the installation on the start screen by default and in the list of places when clicking the ”Computer” icon.

[That_Random_Guy]

Based on what you’ve said so far, it seems like the Lubuntu machine could see the Windows shares (i.e. computer icons) until a recent update just for Lubuntu 22.04. It’s not that the networking doesn’t work as you can likely still browse the net (I’m guessing) but what you’re expecting are the icons showing up when you’re clicking around in PCManFM-Qt.

I won’t really get into why the Windows machines can’t see the Lubuntu machine because I’m sure even with a fresh install of Lubuntu 22.04, they probably still wouldn’t see it. You need Samba. Someone correct me here but I don’t think Samba is installed by default on Lubuntu.

Going back to why the Lubuntu machine stopped populating the Windows shares when browsing the network… I don’t know for sure. Perhaps there was a change in however it is PCManFM-Qt initiates client connections to Windows shares. Maybe there’s a bug—hard to tell right now.

What you can do right now is instead of relying on clicking on Network, please take another look at the manual link I shared previously and try to access the Windows shares manually. You might even just be able to type in to the address bar from PCManFM-Qt the address for the particular Windows share you’re trying to access (if you know it).

Based on this older online resource, you can just type in the proper address like how it shows in this format:
smb://machinename/share

You would obviously just need to replace machinename with the IP address for the given Windows computer and share would be replaced with the actual share name. There are different ways to list shares on the Windows computers. A quick Google search will probably help you there.

If testing that fails (and by that I mean it gives you a valid error), then there’s something else going on that would need to be investigated.

If however none of that seems like something you want to try, you could just take a look at pending updates and maybe see if not installing smbclient or anything related to Lubuntu desktop or LXQt gets updated. I’m honestly not too sure if even that would work since I still don’t know where the problem is. I also don’t know what would accidentally pull in what.

I’m looking through different bug reports to see if anything comes up where others had similar issues so at this point I probably can’t help much… I’ll post back if I find anything.

I am curious, however, since you mentioned that all the hardware is old. Old can be relative to some folks… do you know what exact version of Windows those computers are running? Is it Windows 10?

[That_Random_Guy]

Please ignore this post. I’m just dumping this here since I will forget:

Links I found but maybe useless

Samba 4.11 Features added/changed - SambaWiki

Samba shares and pcmanfm-qt and caja

LinuxCIFS utils - SambaWiki

[Kilsgardet]

My other computers are W7 and W11.

When installing Lubuntu there is an icon on the startpage that says NETWORK. It has been available in all Linux distributions I have tried but sometimes with different names like ”other places”.

By klicking that I used to be able to access the shared folder on my other computers.

No other action was required than to click the NETWORK icon.

Am I the only one who have used the NETWORK icon?

[Kilsgardet]

In the 4th screen there used to be icons for the other computers in the network before the automatic update.

[eeyore]

It’s there, it works, but, it’s not so important that I’d dump the whole OS over it if it didn’t work… @@

[Kilsgardet]

Do you mean to say that NETWORK works for you?
If it is not important for you means that you do not use it so your shared folders are empty. Up to you how you use your computer.
I store everything in the shared folders.

[eeyore]

I don’t need the “Network” button to use shared folders… That is not correct. Where did you get this notion that the Network button has critical functionality with regard to the system? It is a part of a GUI, it is simply a convenience but has nothing whatsoever to do with the efficacy of the system. Your statements are so off that I am now suspicious and I’m done with this thread.

[Kilsgardet]

There was a new update today. I installed it and now the NETWORK is funktional again.

Thank you for leaving this thread.

[humpty]

You should get into the habit of making a complete hard disk backup before making changes or accepting updates.