Invalid credentials error when trying to open network samba drive on Windows 11

[J_2024]

Hi!

I have been struggling a few evenings with something I thought would be an easy task. In short, I want to create a samba drive with an external hard drive connected to an old router (Inteno DG301A). Everything seems fine on the router, however, when I try to map the drive in Windows I keep getting an incorrect network password error.

I have already tried:

1. Clearing Windows Credentials,
2. Doubled-checked that SMB 1.0 features are turned on in Windows Features,
3. Tried whether it makes any difference to turn off Windows Firewall,
4. and a few other things that were less likely to cause the issue, but were worth a try anyway.

If anyone can suggest what else I could try, that would be awesome.

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @J_2024.

Is your main router also using 192.168.1.1?

 

[J_2024]

Hi, thanks!

No, the main router uses 192.168.0.1 and I have also tried to connect the samba drive while disconnected from the main router.

 

[L&LD]

That is why it's not working. They need to be on the same subnet.

Put the DG301A in the 192.168.0.2 address, and test again.

 

[J_2024]

You mean like this?

 

[L&LD]

So, you're using a USB to Ethernet adaptor too?

 

[J_2024]

Yes, I tested with an Ethernet to USB C adapter as I don't have Ethernet port on my laptop.

I have tried to connect samba on DG301A both through WiFi and LAN cable, but there seems to be no difference. I usually turn off connection with my main router. When I am connected to DG301A via WiFi, the default gateway is 192.168.1.1 and laptop's IP is 192.168.1.221 so that looked OK as well. I have also noticed that the samba drive shows up in Windows file explorer pretty inconsistently. Sometimes it is visible, sometimes it won't show up at all.

I have also tried factory resetting router several times and formatted the external hard drive just to be sure.

 

[J_2024]

Just tested connecting a tablet and it worked fine so I assume the issue I have on laptop is something to do with Windows.

 

[sfx2000]

Doesn't this have anything to do with the SMB version running on the router?

Win11 doesn't enable SMB1 by default...

 

[RMerlin]

Win11 doesn't enable SMB1 by default...

As he mentioned in his first post, he already tried enabling SMB 1.0 support in Windows.

 

[sfx2000]

As he mentioned in his first post, he already tried enabling SMB 1.0 support in Windows.

Missed that - my bad...

One thing OP might try is to create a new Samba user, and grant perms on that share...

 

[RMerlin]

Missed that - my bad...

One thing OP might try is to create a new Samba user, and grant perms on that share...

Didn't Microsoft recently retire an older authentication mechanism, or is it just marked as deprecated and will be removed only at some latter point in the future?

 

[sfx2000]

Didn't Microsoft recently retire an older authentication mechanism, or is it just marked as deprecated and will be removed only at some latter point in the future?

Could very well be - but then I got to thinking - SMB user/Pass can be split from the *nix account - hence my suggestion to create a new SMB user/password account and do the share from there (with appropriate perms on the share)

OP's router is old and unknown - but Samba behavior is a bit more known...

 

[glens]

Why use late-to-the-game Samba anyway? Oh, I forgot, they're using Microsoft Windows. Apologies...

 

[J_2024]

Thanks for the comments and sorry for the long delay. I tested it with Ubuntu today. Creating a matching username and password on Ubuntu and the router did not work. Connection works only if router allows guest access and user account on the router is removed.

So the results are as follows:

a) Windows - no access regardless what I tried;
b) Ubuntu - works only if router does not ask for credentials to access the drive;
c) Android - works fine also with a user account created on router.

At this point, I have given up trying to fix it on Windows. If anyone has some dvice what to double-check on Ubuntu, that would be helpful. Since it works on Android, I might have missed / done something wrong on Ubuntu.

Also if it helps - router runs on OpenWRT LuCI, but has a slightly different UI that does not allow software package downloads.