Installing and configuring Samba

Samba is a free software re-implementation of SMB/CIFS networking protocol providing file and print services for various Microsoft Windows clients and can integrate with a Windows Server domain, either as a Primary Domain Controller (PDC) or as a domain member. It can also be part of an Active Directory domain.

1. Install the base packages

apt-get install samba
> WORKGROUP (Type the workgroup you would like to use here)
> No


2. Create a directory to share (optional)

mkdir /var/sambashare


Replace the directory with the actual one you would like to share or skip this step if it’s already available

3. Create a user, map the new user in the samba password database and grant access to the directory

useradd user1
smbpasswd -a user1
chown user1 /var/sambashare


4. Configure samba (pico /etc/samba/smb.conf)

[sambashare]
path = /var/sambashare
browseable = yes
writeable = yes
valid users = user1


Add these lines to the end of your Samba configuration file

5. Restart the samba daemon

/etc/init.d/samba restart


6. Now you can access your share from Windows by typing: \\ipaddress\sambashare. Use the username and password defined in step 3 when prompted.