SMB Shares Can't be Accessed. "The share does not exist on the server. Please check the share name, and then try again."

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Level 1

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SMB Shares Can't be Accessed. "The share does not exist on the server. Please check the share name, and then try again."

Hello everyone!

OS: Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.6

MacBook Pro 15'

I'm currently trying to set up an (smb) external hard drive / share folders to my router (ASUS RT A68CU). I have successfully set up my SAMBA / shares folders on my router via my external hard drive (I hope).

When attempting to connect to server (Command K), I input server address (smb:// etc) and then I sign in via registered user. Once completed, I can see my folders. I click on one, then get the following:

"There was a problem connecting to the server "_____". The share does not exist on the server. Please check the share name and then try again."

I also have tried (cifs:// etc) with no success. I then try connecting via "Shared" folder labeled "dd-wrt". I also see my shared folders there. I connect as "registered user". Once complete, after a few seconds of being inside one of my folders, the folder quickly closes out and I get the following:

" The operation can't be completed because the original item for "___" can't be found."

I feel like I'm missing a step somewhere. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you in advance!

MacBook Pro, null

Posted on Aug 30, 2018 12:36 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

148,345 points

Aug 30, 2018 2:29 PM in response to kwash703

This is correct when you don't have any SMB shares mounted.

Here is an example with my Synology NAS mounted as an SMB share. Notice the values for the lines, starting with SMB_NEGOTIATE & SMB_VERSION. These represent the version of SMB protocol that was confirmed to exist and the one actually used for the connection between my Mac mini (running High Sierra) and the NAS respectively.

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Answer 2

kwash703 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 30, 2018 2:36 PM in response to Tesserax

Hmmmmm makes sense. I wonder what I'm doing wrong. I see my folders (here below) via the router.

after a few seconds of being inside one of my folders, the folder quickly closes out and I get the following:

" The operation can't be completed because the original item for "___" can't be found."

I wonder where is my missing link or why don't I see them via the terminal query. Am I setting this up the wrong way? Any ideas for me to check? Thanks for the breakdown.

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

148,345 points

Aug 30, 2018 2:14 PM in response to kwash703

The File Sharing Protocol is not something that you download, but is 'built-in' the operating system that you use. Like I mentioned, macOS supports both the AFP and SMB protocols.

IBM developed SMB and Microsoft embellished it. SMB was basically reverse-engineered to create Samba as an open source to support UNIX-based computers. SMB uses TCP as it transport protocol; prior to Windows NT Microsoft used NetBIOS for that. They subsequently use TCP since then. Interestingly, Microsoft renamed SMB to CIFS when they introduced Windows NT, but that naming convention never really took hold.

Microsoft SMB Protocol and CIFS Protocol Overview - MSDN
Apple Shifts from AFP File Sharing to SMB2 in OS X 10.9 Mavericks - Apple Insider

You can find out which version of SMB is being used in macOS by using the following Terminal command:

smbutil statshares -a <return>

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Answer 4

Tesserax

Level 10

148,345 points

Aug 30, 2018 12:45 PM in response to kwash703

Apple shifted from using the AFP file sharing protocol to SMB 2 in OS X 10.9 Mavericks and SMB3 with newer versions of macOS. SMB 1, due to security reasons, is no longer supported and, may or may not, work as expected. If you are working with Samba, be sure to use version 3.6+ for SMB 2 compatibility or 4.1+ for SMB 3.

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

148,345 points

Aug 30, 2018 2:40 PM in response to kwash703

Ok, I'm assuming that your Asus router is running DD-WRT firmware. Is what originally came with the router or something that you upgraded to later? Regardless, my guess is that it would be a setting for this firmware to enable the proper version(s)/dialects of SMB to use. That would be something you would need to check either with Asus or DD-WRT support as I wouldn't know off-hand.

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