Today, Gress writes:

I’m not sure whether this should be in this form or the Linux edition. I just put Ubuntu 7.04 as a dual-boot on an old PC. Everything went well – no problems. I have a wired network of Windows PCs which Ubuntu sees without problem. However, the Windows PCs do NOT see the Ubuntu PC. How can I get them to see it?

Otherwise, everything is OK. I can transfer files from Windows to Ubuntu if I originate the transfer from Ubuntu.

As you can imagine, this is not a great problem for me, but I am interested in finding out how to solve it, so any information would be appreciated.

Hi Gress, no asking here is just fine, because you knew to email me at the provided link and this involves Windows as well.

Now if I was you, I would install a software program for Windows called: Ext2 Installable File System for Windows. Then on the Ubuntu side, install from the software to access your NTFS partitions in Ubuntu so you can actually write to them. Just remember to test the write ability on a dummy partitions just in case something goes wrong, hate to hose a Windows install over this.

And yes, the NTFS writing how-to is fairly involved, but it does work and is all cut and paste into the terminal – just remember that keyboard cut and pasting won’t work in a terminal window, just use your mouse instead.

Now for the ten thousand dollar question – will Windows, using Ext IFS, see your Ubuntu files over the Samba network? To be honest, I have not tried it, but I suspect it will see the networked partitions. I guess you will need to test this for all of us and then report back to the comments area. As always, thanks for the great questions.

Do you have an IT-related question? Perhaps you are just burnt out on writing on the walls with crayons? Whatever the comments may be, drop me a line, and you too can “Just Ask Matt!”

Also, don’t forget to check out “Just Ask Matt,” Linux Edition!

[tags]Windows partitions, networking[/tags]