Debian – Mount CIFS Share with Spaces in fstab

cifsdebianfstabnetwork-share

I'm running a Debian Squeeze system and trying to mount a windows share in /etc/fstab. I've got an existing cifs mount working, but it's a simple //xx.xx.xx.xx/sharename situation. This second one isn't working however.

The issue – the second share has white spaces in the path… multiple ones!

The line in fstab is:

//servername.org.au/ABC/Company Services/Department Services/Area Services/Restricted    /mnt/n-drive    cifs    id=0,credentials=/etc/samba/login.crt,iocharset=utf8,noperm        0       0

So far I've tried:

Double quotes around the path names in fstab

//servername.org.au/ABC/"Company Services/Department Services/Area Services/Restricted"    /mnt/n-drive    cifs    id=0,credentials=/etc/samba/login.crt,iocharset=utf8,noperm        0       0

Replacing the space with \040 (like in Linux)

//servername.org.au/ABC/Company\040Services/Department\040Services/Area\040Services/Restricted     /mnt/n-drive    cifs    id=0,credentials=/etc/samba/login.crt,iocharset=utf8,noperm        0       0

Escape with backslash

//servername.org.au/ABC/Company\ Services/Department\ Services/Area\ Services/Restricted    /mnt/n-drive    cifs    id=0,credentials=/etc/samba/login.crt,iocharset=utf8,noperm        0       0

None of these worked.

I've verified the directory is valid, I've tried replacing the servername.org.au with the IP it resolves to and that didn't help either.

The error I'm getting in kern.log is:

kernel: [1830446.002198] CIFS VFS: cifs_mount failed w/return code = -22

That's it – not a lot of detail to go on…

I'm using the EXACT same syntax and credentials for both mounts. I KNOW the credentials are valid and working because I use them to connect to the same share on my Windows box. I'd change the share name, but unfortunately it's not one of MY servers and they won't do it.

So I'm just gonna strap these two danishes to the side of my head and say:

Help Me Obi-Stack-Exchange!
You're my only hope!

Thanks in advance!

(Edit: removed errant quotation marks in one of the examples)

Best Answer

Replacing the spaces with \040 is actually the right way to do it.

The reason why it’s not working for you is probably because there are (forgotten?) quotes after /Restricted:

//servername.org.au/ABC/Company\040Services/…/Restricted"    /mnt/n-drive    cifs    id=0,credentials=/etc/samba/login.crt,iocharset=utf8,noperm        0       0

Change that to:

//servername.org.au/ABC/Company\040Services/…/Restricted    /mnt/n-drive    cifs    id=0,credentials=/etc/samba/login.crt,iocharset=utf8,noperm        0       0

(Note that I’ve shortened the path a bit for better readability.)

Background: 040 is the ASCII code for space in octal numeral system.

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Ubuntu – How to Repair the fstab File with Current Configuration

You can copy the lines started with /dev/sd** from mtab (/etc/mtab) and paste them in to a new text file and change /dev/sd** with UUID or LABEL. For example from your config:

use

UUID="3fc55e0f-a9b3-4229-9e76-ca95b4825a40" / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 0

instead

/dev/sda1 / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 0

The line above also works, but UUID is the new standart and if your grub configured with UUID, it might can't understand which partition is what.

if partition has Label you can use the LABEL instead UUID, for example:

LABEL="Files_Server_Int" /media/Files_Server ext4 rw 0 0

IMO copy your mtab to a new file and remove the lines started with "none" and change the /dev/sd** part with blkid output equivelants. If UUID exist, use the UUID instead of /dev/sd**. If LABEL exist use the LABEL instead of UUID.

Do not remove anything else except "none" lines. Save the file, change the file name to fstab and copy in to /etc.

Finally add lines for swap if any (if you forget this, your system will boot but you might have zero swap space or swap file will be generated at root (/) depending of OS default configuration.). e.g. in your case note that blkid prints this line:

/dev/sda5: UUID="718e611d-b8a3-4f02-a0cc-b3025d8db54d" TYPE="swap"

so you need this line in fstab:

UUID=718e611d-b8a3-4f02-a0cc-b3025d8db54d none  swap sw   0   0

This might help to restore your fstab.

Linux – How to pass credential file to mount.cifs

Syntax of mount.cifs:

mount.cifs {service} {mount-point} [-o options]

You need to pass the options after the "-o". For example, with your given options, your command should be:

mount.cifs //myserverhere.com/cifs_share /mnt/cifs_share \
    -o user,uid=65001,rw,workgroup=DEV,credentials=/root/.cifs

(I didn't test the options you gave.)

Best Answer

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