Linux: CIFS/Samba mount hangs for several minutes

Solution 1:

Not sure why the problem is happening, but as a workaround, have you tried to put something like touch /mnt/windowsbox/keepalive.txt or echo "I am still alive." >/mnt/windowsbox/keepalive.txt to be run via cron every minute? That way the connection should stay active.

Solution 2:

I too encounter this every few months. sudo umount -l is my workaround. https://stackoverflow.com/a/96288/2097284