Comment 3 for bug 964681

As of Xubuntu 12.04, the problem is in /usr/share/system-config-samba/sambaUserData.py 53-78
The script should have returned the actual status, stderr, stdout from /usr/bin/pdbedit, which would be helpful in debugging, instead of generalizing unknown cases to a specific error message.

Running the command manually for me returns:
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+ sudo /usr/bin/pdbedit -L -w ; echo $?
Can't load /etc/samba/smb.conf - run testparm to debug it
1
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+ testparm
Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
rlimit_max: increasing rlimit_max (1024) to minimum Windows limit (16384)
params.c:OpenConfFile() - Unable to open configuration file "/etc/samba/smb.conf":
        No such file or directory
Error loading services.
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...which brings up the next question: why reinstalling "samba" did not recreate the "/etc/samba/" , but at least it is clear what's the next problem to deal with.