Does the keychain work with Windows file servers?

shetlineshetline
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Every time I mount a shared volume from a Windows system, I get a dialog like this:







(The user name has been changed to protect the innocent.)



Many times I've filled in this dialog, and in hope of not having to retype my username and password every time, I've occasionally, as so far futilely, clicked on the "Add to Keychain" checkbox.



I was hoping that 10.2.4 would fix this problem. It has not. Is there something I'm missing here? Shouldn't I expect that "Add to Keychain" would result in my username and password being saved somewhere?



[ 02-13-2003: Message edited by: shetline ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    brian paulsenbrian paulsen Posts: 79member
    [quote]Originally posted by shetline:

    <strong>Every time I mount a shared volume from a Windows system, I get a dialog like this:







    (The user name has been changed to protect the innocent.)



    Many times I've filled in this dialog, and in hope of not having to retype my username and password every time, I've occasionally, as so far futilely, clicked on the "Add to Keychain" checkbox.



    I was hoping that 10.2.4 would fix this problem. It has not. Is there something I'm missing here? Shouldn't I expect that "Add to Keychain" would result in my username and password being saved somewhere?



    [ 02-13-2003: Message edited by: shetline ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I forget the exact syntax, but there is a way to put in your username and password when you connect via SMB. I think it's something like this



    smb://username%password@hostname



    Make sure that stays in your recent servers. You might be able to make that a favorite - the last time I tried (back in 10.1.x) it wouldn't work as a favorite.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    [quote]Originally posted by Brian Paulsen:

    <strong>I forget the exact syntax, but there is a way to put in your username and password when you connect via SMB. I think it's something like this



    smb://username%password@hostname</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Thanks, I'll give it a try.



    Even if there is a workaround like this, does it seem to you that there's something broken here and that the keychain checkbox isn't fuctioning?
  • Reply 3 of 5
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    This feature does work for me. Try adding the server to your favorites list, then try connecting and see if that works.



    Either with my Powerbook that I take into work or with our edit machine that is at work, I can connect and not have to retype my username and password once I have checked the Add to Keychain checkbox.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    I finally made some progress when I tried using this kind of URI in the "Connect to Server..." dialog:



    &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;smb://username : [email protected]/



    (Spaces added are not part of the syntax. See below.)



    This time, when the authentication dialog came up, I checked the keychain checkbox again.



    Then the dialog that asks for which share I wish to use came up. Once I'd selected the share, and the share mounted, I immediately ejected it to see if my username and password had been saved.



    When I went back to the "Connect to Server...", what I saw was this:



    &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;smb://[email protected]/



    Although no password was showing, as soon as I clicked "Connect" I went straight to the share-selection dialog. Yay!



    Later I tried this:



    &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;smb://[email protected]/sharename



    Even better! Immediate mounting of the share on my desktop, with no other dialogs to fuss with.



    I'm not sure what changed, but in the past, I've tried to add mounted file shares to my Favorites, and it never worked. Now, it works great -- I don't even have to mess with "Connect to Server..." any more.



    I'm glad I've got this working better, but I think it's fair to say that Apple still needs to do some more work on the whole "Connect to Server..." UI.



    EDIT: Cute. "username : password", without the safety spaces added around the colon, turns into username assword



    [ 02-15-2003: Message edited by: shetline ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 5
    i-bent-my-wookiei-bent-my-wookie Posts: 326member
    I have had similar problems in the past. I have a host of winPCs on my network that I access with my ibook. Here is something to check.



    1. Run keychain (in Utilities) and look for any entries that relate to the server you are trying to access.



    2. Delete all these entries and then try logging into your windows box and choose to save your password (as you have been doing).



    This works for me, what was happening was keychain was holding an INCORRECT password from an earlier login attempt when I failed to connect. So whenever I try to log into the server it checks the first keychain entry that matches (with the incorrect password) and therefore always prompts me for a password. Took a day or two to figure out but has worked flawlessly for me whenever I run into this problem now.



    Hope this helps
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