1. Introduction This is the SMB HOWTO. This document describes how to use the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, also called the Session Message Block, NetBIOS or LanManager protocol, with Linux using Samba. Although this document is Linux-centric, Samba runs on most Unix-like operating systems. This document is maintained by David Wood ( dwood@plugged.net.au). Additions, modifications or corrections may be mailed there for inclusion in the next release. Much more Samba documentation is available at the Samba Web site, located at http://www.samba.org/. There is a tremendous amount of information there; please have a look before asking for help! You also might try the comp.protocols.smb newsgroup. The SMB protocol is used by Microsoft Windows 3.11, NT and 95/98 to share disks and printers. Using the Samba suite of tools by Andrew Tridgell ( Andrew.Tridgell@anu.edu.au), UNIX (including Linux) machines can share disk and printers with Windows hosts. The smbfs tools by Paal-Kr. Engstad ( engstad@intermetrics.com) and Volker Lendecke ( lendecke@namu01.gwdg.de) enable Unix machines to mount SMB shares from Windows or Samba hosts. There are four basic things that one can do with Samba: Share a Linux drive with Windows machines. Access an SMB share with Linux machines. Share a Linux printer with Windows machines. Share a Windows printer with Linux machines. All of these are covered in this document, plus a few other odds and ends. Disclaimer: The procedures and scripts either work for the author or have been reported to work by the people that provided them. Different configurations may not work with the information given here. If you encounter such a situation, please e-mail the author with suggestions for improvement in this document. Please note that for Windows 3.x machines to access SMB shares, they must have a TCP/IP stack and the Win32s DLLs. Both of these are available on Microsoft's Web site ( http://www.microsoft.com). As of the writing of this version of the HOWTO, Microsoft are reportedly requiring a subscription to the Microsoft Software Developers Network (MSDN) to download the TCP/IP-32 stack for Windows 3.x from their Web site. Since this software used to be free, many older copies are in existance and may be acquired from friends and user group contacts. From SMB-HOWTO

2. SMB is the protocol used by Microsoft for file and print sharing. SMB stands for Server Message Block, though that doesn't really mean anything. SMB runs on top of NetBIOS, though in Win2k it can bypass NetBIOS. History: SMB was originally developed for DOS machines. It was later upgraded so that OS/2 machines could act as servers for DOS machines. The protocol was later upgraded for Windows (Wfw = Windows for Workgroups) and Windows NT. Still later upgrades have been added for Windows 2000. This constant evolution and need for backwards compatibility has led to many security holes within the protocol. The most severe is the need for "LAN Manager" authentication. Key point: SMB is an application layer protocol and can run over many different transports, including TCP/IP. A common problem is that home-users enable SMB over TCP/IP, allowing anybody on the Internet to access their hard-disk. They should instead install a local-only transport such as NetBEUI for SMB, which will allow file access among local machines, but not remote machines across the Internet. Key point: SMB-sniffers can read the encrypted password info off the wire and send them to password crackers. From Hacking-Lexicon