Samba and Vista
Getting these two to talk nicely together (FreeBSD 5.4)
Posted 09.10.2006 | Updated 20.04.2009 | Contributed by Andy Mallett


Please Note: this solution is for Vista Ultimate. For other versions you may need to perform a registry hack - see bottom of page..

The problem: From Windows Vista, you can map to network shares on Windows based systems, but not to Samba shares on 'nix systems. Specifically, Vista keeps prompting you for a different 'correct' password.

Microsoft's security policy on WIndwos Vista is interestingly set by default to exclude mapping to Samba shares. To fix this click START | Run | secpol.msc. Go to Local Policies | Security Options and find Network Security: LAN Manager authentication level (click below for larger image).

Click to enlarge

Change the settings from Send NTLMv2 response only to Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated.

Click the option box

Vista defaults to only send the more secure NTLMv2 protocol, which Samba (and, incidentally, some NAS devices) do not support.

Mwaah! I don't have Vista Ultimate!

No problemo. The following regsitry hack should work for other versions of Windows Vista..
  1. Start - Run - Regedit
  2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
  3. Double click "LmCompatibilityLevel" and change the value from 0 (default) to 1
  4. Restart your computer.