Now as I was experimenting on this in my home, I installed Windows XP SP2 in VirtualBox(Guest OS) on my Ubuntu 9.04 (Host OS). [ If you have more than one PC for testing you can do it without installing Windows in Virtual Machine. ]

This is for who is using Windows in VirtualBox:

Configure network of the virtual machine as in the following screenshot.

network configuration

Set proper IP in both your Host & Guest OS. Done! We are ready to setup our Ubuntu as a PDC.

We are going to use the following shell script to install samba & configure it.  You can download the script from link below.

Please change the bold text as your need. I mean you can use server name, directory you wanna share & the username through which you wanna login form Windows clients as you wish.

domainname=”mydomain“
fileshare=”/home/mypdc/data“
# \\machinename\fileshare
homeshare=”\\\\pdcserver\data“

apt-get -y install samba
mv /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/smb.conf.orig
echo “[global]
workgroup = $domainname
passwd chat = *New*Password* %n\n*Re-enter*new*password* %n\n *Password*changed*
username map = /etc/samba/smbusers

passdb backend = tdbsam

add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd -m -G users ‘%u’
delete user script = /usr/sbin/userdel -r ‘%u’
add group script = /usr/sbin/groupadd ‘%g’
delete group script = /usr/sbin/groupdel ‘%g’
add user to group script = /usr/sbin/usermod -A ‘%g’ ‘%u’
add machine script = /usr/sbin/useradd -s /bin/false -d /var/lib/nobody ‘%u’

logon script = logon.bat
logon path =
logon drive = H:
logon home = \\%n\%u

domain logons = Yes
preferred master = Yes
wins support = Yes

[homes]
comment = Home Directories
valid users = %S
read only = No
browseable = No

[netlogon]
comment = Network Logon Service
path = /var/lib/samba/netlogon
guest ok = Yes
valid users = %S
read only = Yes

[data]
path = $fileshare
valid users = %G
read only = No” > /etc/samba/smb.conf

echo “myuser = Administrator”> /etc/samba/smbusers

mkdir /var/lib/samba/netlogon
echo “net use H: $homeshare”>/var/lib/samba/netlogon/logon.bat

echo “Enter samba’s root password:”
smbpasswd -a myuser

addgroup domadm
adduser myuser domadm
net groupmap add ntgroup=”Domain Admins”  unixgroup=domadm rid=512 type=d
net groupmap add ntgroup=”Domain Users”   unixgroup=users type=d
net groupmap add ntgroup=”Domain Guests”  unixgroup=nobody type=d

/etc/init.d/samba restart

Download the file here.

After you done all changes save it with name sambapdc.sh (you can use any name). Now open terminal. Navigate to the directory where you had kept the file. Run the following command.

sudo chmod +x ./sambapdc.sh

sudo ./sambapdc.sh

Now if you want to add more user to login from different Windows client just do the follwing.

• Create the user from System ->Administration -> User and Groups.
• After that un these commands for each user.

adduser username domadm

smbpasswd -a username

Replace username with your usernames. Now server side configuration is done!

Login to your client (In my case its Windows XP SP2). Do the following:

• Right click on my computer. Select Properties.
• Select Computer Name tab.
• Click Change to rename you computer.

set domain name

• Set your domain name as you have given in Ubuntu.
• Click OK.
• Done! You will have to restart your Windows PC. And After you login you will see your login like this

domain login

Choose your given domain name. And you will be able to login to the domain.

Hope that helps!! Happy computing…..

I was sitting in a small room when a showcase full of art work,models caught my attention. Then my elder sister’s (we call her ‘didi’ in Bengali) maternal uncle(‘chotomama’ in Bengali) told me that he had made these. I was amazed to see that he has a truly different eye to see things. He collects roots of many trees and try to make models from that. After seeing that I was interested he started to show those works to me. He also told me how he had made that, what kind of root it was, how he managed to get that shape…. Among the artworks he showed me a model in which 10 characters can be seen from different angle. I insisted him to organize an exhibition but he told me, “I can’t create these again exactly that’s why I don’t wanna sell these.” When I asked how he had done such wonderful works he replied, “My family is very helpful. That’s the main reason I have build these!”

In evening my uncle took me to one of his friend’s home. In the way he told me that his friend had won ‘National Teacher’ award from the president of India. I was eager to talk with his friend. At their home I also got a hearty welcome. His name was Satyajit Sarkar. After little chatting he took me to a room where he kept all his awards. I asked him for what he was awarded. He told me that he is a primary school teacher. His aim is to provide his school children a better school (with electricity, toilet….) He had worked in his school for 30 years. And he had done a terrific job for which he was awarded, to make his school better in those years. He told me that he loves teaching and he wants to do more work for villages in India. I was amazed to see his enthusiasm. He also showed me the medal he got from president. He told me that there is huge work that has to be done for villages of India.

At about 8 pm we were ready to come back. I was truly amazed to see such talents in a small village. I wondered thousands of such treasures of India,we hardly know, are trying hard to make India better. When our car was near Dumdum Airport I saw a plane was taking off from runway… It was going high, high and high…….

“The codename Windows 7 has turned out to be more than just a codename this time around for Microsoft, as the company has agreed to keep things simple and keep the name Windows 7 for the final release of the operating system as well.”

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