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Level 1

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Finder slow at listing directory content from SMB shares

I'm connecting to SMB shares on an Windows 2003 Server from a MBP running 10.6.1 and face two issues doing that.

1) Finder is slow at listing the directory content of the shares
The problem only occurs in Apple Finder. When I do "ls" from Terminal the directory listing displays in the same moment I hit enter.
The problem also does not occur when using PathFinder from Cocoatech.

2) Reconnecting to the SMB Server fails (sometimes)
It almost always fails when I unplug the ethernet cable and plug it back in. Finder then complains it couldn't find the server by name or the IP address would be wrong.
Both options are not true. DNS is present and working. Connecting by IP only also fails with the same error message.

Anybody seing this also?

I've tried to "optimize" by changing smb.conf but without success.

MBP, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Sep 22, 2009 12:20 PM

75 replies

Jola@edyn Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 27, 2010 5:36 AM in response to nolamike

the problem is still there. Updated to 10.6.3 without any difference.
We are using a Windows based file server with no option to move this server to a different OS.

The only real interim solution for me is PathFinder (from Cocoatech).

I just hope that Apple fixes the issue someday....

Reusje

Level 1

0 points

Jun 16, 2010 5:12 AM in response to Jola@edyn

The fresh update to 10.6.4 didn't fix this problem. We have the same issues with Windows 2008 SBS server. Very annoying

Aug 9, 2010 6:06 AM in response to JanniKeogh

same problem here - makes doing actual work kinda hard when it takes up to 15-20s to display a 3 file directory.

FFS apple - fix it.

Sheep71

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2010 7:02 AM in response to Azathoth101

I had the same problem.

I am connected to our company LAN via a network cable.

After enabling Internet Sharing (System Preferences/Sharing/Internet Sharing/AirPort) the problem was solved. For security reasons (after enabling Internet Sharing) I did turn Airport:Off (via the menubar item).

Aug 22, 2010 10:06 PM in response to Jola@edyn

Ok, that is miraculous!

Turning on internet sharing totally fixes the problem, even with Airport off. So the question is, what exactly are we changing when we turn that on? WHY is that ending this problem? And how did you figure that out?

Aug 28, 2010 4:02 AM in response to Dewdman42

didn't work here ...

Jola@edyn Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 9, 2010 2:40 PM in response to Sheep71

Solved it for me as well!
At least on the LAN connection (gigabit ethernet).
Just didn't figure out yet how to adopt to a VPN connection. Can't get a working network setup for my VPN connection with Internet Sharing on.

Nov 24, 2010 9:39 AM in response to Jola@edyn

turning internet sharing on worked for me here in the office! THANKS!

Nov 24, 2010 3:03 PM in response to Arron Bullock

That appears to have worked for me too. Very odd.

Mintyish

Level 1

0 points

Jan 5, 2011 11:44 AM in response to MikeKulls

This is tremendous! I'm the only Mac user in a Windows office, and the Finder delays to look at the SMB windows file server used to drive me to distraction! One click in internet sharing and it works!

Jan 17, 2011 1:49 PM in response to Jola@edyn

The various "hacks" mentioned in this thread (enabling Internet sharing, etc.) don't work for me. I've tried AirPort and Ethernet.

Also, another way to show that the SMB directory is being listed very slowly is to type "ls" in a terminal (after "cd /Volumes/<smbshare>", of course). The files/directories can be listed as slowly as 1-2 per second.

arnoz

Level 1

49 points

Jan 20, 2011 3:58 AM in response to Jola@edyn

DOesn't work for me neither 😟

Jola@edyn Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2011 1:26 PM in response to Jola@edyn

the following solved the problem for me:
created a simple configuration file for SMB requests "nsmb.conf" in /etc
content:
[default]
minauth=none
streams=no
soft=yes
notify_off=yes
domain=<your windows domain>
port445=no_netbios
[<your smb server1>]
addr=<ip address of the "your smb server"

From the settings "minauth=none" seems to have the most impact.
For more details on nsmb.conf use your favorite search engine or go to "Terminal" > man nsmb.conf

arnoz

Level 1

49 points

Jan 21, 2011 1:32 AM in response to Jola@edyn

Brilliant, this worked for me. Thanks!

Jan 28, 2011 5:13 PM in response to Jola@edyn

Hello from Portugal!

This is my first post here, and is because i'm with the same problem... Slow access to smb...

I'm also a "new user" so, please can You explain the solution with new user "language"...

Best regards!

Finder slow at listing directory content from SMB shares