samba - Oct 2006 - Shares Work, Browsing Doesn't

I have a small LAN that is mostly Linux.  I use Windows for testing my 
software and a few other limited uses.  I recently had a server crash 
and could not reconstruct my smb.conf file.  I don't want to act as a 
domain controller or have the Windows systems log on to the net.

All I want the Windows systems to do is to see the Samba servers and 
browse them to find the Samba shares and to use the Samba shared 
printers.

I've worked with a few HOWTO guides and used another Samba server on my 
LAN as a guide, but I'm having trouble, and strangely enough, it seems 
one server is now behaving differently.  That could be due to my 
editing it's conf file without realizing it.

I've pasted in my smb.conf file below.  I do have the domain and local 
master parms set, but I don't think I need them.  Again, I don't need a 
PDC.  I won't want the Windows systems to log on to the network, I just 
want Windows users to see each Samba server and be able to click 
through to find the shares and click on the shares to open them.  It's 
weird that, since I knew where the shares were, I could access them but 
not see the systems they're on.

The Windows computers are running 2000 and XP.

Thanks for any help!

Hal
---------
Conf file:
---------------------
        netbios name = server
        server string = Samba %v on %L
        workgroup = localnet.lan

#        socket options = TCP_NODELAY IPTOS_LOWDELAY SO_SNDBUF=8192 
SO_RCVBUF=8192
        socket options = TCP_NODELAY IPTOS_LOWDELAY

        encrypt passwords = true

        ; logging (max log size is in kB)
        log level = 2
        log file = /var/log/samba/log.%L
        max log size = 1000
        debug timestamp = yes
        syslog = 1

        create mask = 0777
        directory mask = 0777

        printcap name = cups
        printing = cups

        browseable = yes
        security = share
        guest ok = true

        domain master = Yes
        local master = Yes
        preferred master = Yes
        os level = 65

[printers]
        browseable = yes
        printable = yes
        public = yes
        create mode = 0700
        guest ok = true
#       use client driver = yes
#       guest account = smbprint
#       path = /home/smbprint
        path = /var/spool/public

[WinStuff]
        comment = Windows shares and programs just for Windows
        browseable = yes
        guest ok = true
        path = /data/Data/WinStuff/

> I just want Windows users to see each Samba server and be able to
> click through to find the shares and click on the shares to open
> them.
Having servers disappear from the browse list is normally related to
the nameserver daemon.  Are you running nmbd as well as smbd?  smbd
provides the files, nmbd provides the list of computers.

Given that nmbd also uses broadcasts, you might want to make sure that
broadcasts are definitely reaching all the PCs.
>         browseable = yes
>         guest ok = true
These two are only supposed to go into a share definition, I'd remove
them from the main config file just in case.
>         domain master = Yes
I'd also disable this if you don't want domain logons - I wouldn't
be
surprised if this does funny things with WINS and affects browsing on
client PCs.

The rest of your config looks fine.  I'd make sure nmbd is running, and
then look at network issues to make sure broadcasts are reaching the
clients.

If your network is at 192.168.0.0/24 you can "ping 192.168.0.255" to
send a broadcast packet.  In theory you should get replies from many
PCs, but you may only get responses from Linux PCs, I don't think
Windows replies to a broadcast ping.  Either way at least one response
from a different PC should indicate broadcasts are working.

If you have another Linux PC you can also try using "nmblookup" to see
if Linux can get a list of names too.

Cheers,
Adam.