Below are tips for setting up a Samba 3.x server as a domain controller for a small network

Adding Machine accounts:

Each Windows computer needs to have a name, and that name must have a domain account on the Samba server. The domain account needs to be set up in two places, first, the /etc/passwd file, as a new user, with no home directory, and in the /etc/samba/smbpasswd file, which allows the machine to access the samba share.

You may also want to create a 'smbusers' group, so each of the domain computers are in the same group with the command:

groupadd smbusers

The command to add a machine user is:
useradd -g smbuser -d /dev/null -s /bin/false machinename$ [Don't forget the '$'.]

Once the computer name has been added to the default password database, it also needs to be added to the smbpassword database with this command:

smbpasswd -a -m machinename [You don't need the '$' here]

A 'root' account needs to be created that will have the permissions to join the computers to the domain. You only need to use the 'smbpasswd -a root' command to add this new root user. Use a different password than the password you use for the system root user.

Once you have created the 'root' and 'computer' domain account on the samba server, the computer can be joined to the domain, by following the directions in this document:

http://yellowbugcomputers.com/techdocs/joindomain.html

Samba can now accept logons from a XP client.

Common Errors:

'The network path was not found'.
'Login failure: unknown user name or bad password'

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