Thanks for replying Mary, here's what I've found out.
I went back to check the source of what was needed in the smb.conf file. My source was the Ubuntu forum page at:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1617097There it said to follow the steps below:
1. Add these three lines to the [globals] section of your smb.conf:
lanman auth = Yes
client lanman auth = Yes
client plaintext auth = Yes
2. Restart the Samba server
3. Re input passwords for every Win9x user:
smbpasswd -a username
4. Have every Win9x user log out and then log in again
I found that the first line . . . lanman auth = yes . . . was already in the smb.conf file. I edited the file and added the remaining two lines, then did step 2), step 3), and step 4).
The windows98 machines are then successfully loging into the SME8 server and are able to access the network drives again. Hooray !!! it works.
Next I checked the /etc/samba/smbpasswd file. It had entries like:
guyl:5002:6FABC9D42A9BCCB3C2265B23734E0DAC:1C8AB43BCF66D8109C8B0AF06D972C0F:[UX ]:LCT-4AB7DE35:
which used to look like:
guyl:5002:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX:1C8AB43BCF66D8109C8B0AF06D972C0F:[UX ]:LCT-4AB7DE35:
I don't know how the password incription got changed to X's but the above procedure seems to have fixed it.
Next I tried to make a new custom-template for the smb.conf. Using the tutorial you linked to, I found that the smb.conf template fragments are located at:
/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/smb.conf
I did a grep for anything containing . . . lanman . . . and found the fragment 11lanmanPasswords. I figured this must be the fragment that puts the . . . lanman auth = Yes . . . line in the smb.conf file so I copied 11lanmanPasswords to a new file at /etc/e-smith/custom-templates/etc/smb.conf/11lanmanPasswords. Edited the new file and appending the last two lines so the file now looks like:
{
$OUT .= "lanman auth = $smb{'LanManPasswords'}\n" if $smb{'LanManPasswords'};
client lanman auth = Yes
client plaintext auth = Yes
}
I continued the tutorial example and ran
expand-template /etc/smb.conf
I then checked the /etc/samba/smb.conf file and the last two lines were not included. The custom-template did not work.
I then decided to check the Windows 98 PCs. I logged out on each Windows 98 machine and was successfully able log back in.
Next using the SME8 Server Manager to download a SME update then re-configured and re-booted the server.
After the server re-boot I'm still able to login from the Window 98 PCs
The /etc/samba/smb.conf file contains the line
lanman auth = Yes
but does not contain the lines
client lanman auth = Yes
client plaintext auth = Yes
Since it is all working now I'll stop where I'm at. It appears that the X's in the encrypted password field in the /etc/samba/smbpasswd file was the blocking agent in not allowing the Windows98 PCs to login. The four step procedure above appears to have fixed that so I'm stopping any further action now.
Thanks again for your help.
John.