Linux as a Client to Windows SMB Shares
This article briefly explains how to access Windows SMB shares in Linux. Linux is a client here.
If you want to read about using Linux as a Samba server to serve files to Windows clients, see Samba Quickstart.
© 2005 Tero Karvinen http://www.iki.fi/karvinen
Quick Mini-HOWTO
This chapter contains just the required commands without any additional testing.
Here, we want to connect to smb://windowsuser:windowspassword@windowsserver/share (workgroup WINDOWSGANG), so we have:
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Windows Server: “windowsserver”
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Windows Share: “share”
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Windows Username: “windowsuser”
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Windows Password: “windowspassword”
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Windows Workgroup: “WINDOWSGANG”
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Linux User: “linuxboy”
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Linux Group (for user linuxboy): “linuxboy”
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Mount Point (an empty directory): “mymountpoint”
Edit $HOME/sambapass (here: /home/linuxboy/sambapass)
# $HOME/sambapass username = windowsuser password = windowspassword domain = WINDOWSGANG
Create an empty directory (a mount point):
$ mkdir $HOME/mymountpoint/
As root, edit /etc/fstab, add this line in the end:
//windowsserver/share /home/tee/mymountpoint smbfs credentials=/home/tee/sambapass,uid=linuxboy,gid=linuxboy,dmask=700,fmask=700 0 0
Put the above in a single line, I’ve splitted it only for readability. In options (credentials…fmask=700) there are no spaces. Numbers are zeros.
Then, as root, mount all mounts mentioned in fstab:
# mount -a
Mount often warns you a couple of times about “session request to windowsserver failed (Called name not present)”, but with ls you can see that the directory was mounted.
Test is as normal user (here: linuxboy)
$ touch $HOME/mymountpoint/tero.txt $ ls $HOME/mymountpoint/ tero.txt
Well done, you have mounted a windows share to Linux using just command line. If you ever have to reboot, it will be automatically mounted again.
Step-by-Step Process for Troubleshooting
If the above worked for you, good. No need to read more, unless you want to learn troubleshooting.
$ smbclient -L 172.28.1.133 session request to 172.28.1.133 failed (Called name not present) session request to 172 failed (Called name not present) Password: Anonymous login successful Domain=[WORKGROUP] OS=[Windows 5.0] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager] Sharename Type Comment Error returning browse list: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED === $ smbclient -L 172.28.1.133 -U kaapo%alofoiyl2890xb session request to 172.28.1.133 failed (Called name not present) session request to 172 failed (Called name not present) Domain=[GHETTOYO] OS=[Windows 5.0] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager] Sharename Type Comment --------- ---- ------- IPC$ IPC Remote IPC D$ Disk Default share ADMIN$ Disk Remote Admin C$ Disk Default share tero Disk Teron testijako http://www.iki.fi/karvinen jako Disk session request to 172.28.1.133 failed (Called name not present) session request to 172 failed (Called name not present) Domain=[GHETTOYO] OS=[Windows 5.0] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager] Server Comment --------- ------- Workgroup Master --------- ------- $ smbclient //172.28.1.133/tero -U kaapo%alofoiyl2890xb $ smbclient //172.28.1.133/tero -U kaapo%alofoiyl2890xb -c dir session request to 172.28.1.133 failed (Called name not present) session request to 172 failed (Called name not present) Domain=[GHETTOYO] OS=[Windows 5.0] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager] . D 0 Thu Dec 1 13:44:57 2005 .. D 0 Thu Dec 1 13:44:57 2005 37032 blocks of size 2097152. 36219 blocks available === $ cat sambapass username = kaapo password = alofoiyl2890xb domain = WORKGROUP $ smbclient -L 172.28.1.133 -A sambapass session request to 172.28.1.133 failed (Called name not present) session request to 172 failed (Called name not present) Domain=[GHETTOYO] OS=[Windows 5.0] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager] Sharename Type Comment --------- ---- ------- IPC$ IPC Remote IPC D$ Disk Default share ADMIN$ Disk Remote Admin C$ Disk Default share tero Disk Teron testijako http://www.iki.fi/karvinen jako Disk === $ sudo mount -t smbfs -o credentials=/home/tee/sambapass //172.28.1.133/tero/ /home/tee/teroghettoy/ mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on //172.28.1.133/tero/, missing codepage or other error In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try dmesg | tail or so (=> smbfs not installed) $ sudo apt-get install smbfs $ sudo mount -t smbfs -o credentials=/home/tee/sambapass //172.28.1.133/tero /home/tee/teroghettoy/ 30872: session request to 172.28.1.133 failed (Called name not present) 30872: session request to 172 failed (Called name not present) (but it still mounted) tee@ubuntu:~$ mount |grep teroghettoy //172.28.1.133/tero on /home/tee/teroghettoy type smbfs (rw) $ sudo umount teroghettoy/ $ sudo umount teroghettoy/ umount: teroghettoy/: not mounted $ sudo mount -t smbfs -o credentials=/home/tee/sambapass,uid=tee,gid=tee,dmask=700,fmask=700 //172.28.1.133/tero /home/tee/teroghettoy/ $ sudo mount -t smbfs -o credentials=/home/tee/sambapass,uid=tee,gid=tee,dmask=700,fmask=700 //172.28.1.133/tero /home/tee/teroghettoy/ Now writing works. $ touch teroghettoy/foobar $ ls teroghettoy/ foobar $ grep teroghettoy /etc/fstab //172.28.1.133/tero /home/tee/teroghettoy smbfs credentials=/home/tee/sambapass,uid=tee,gid=tee,dmask=700,fmask=700 0 0 $ sudo mount -a $ mount |grep teroghettoy //172.28.1.133/tero on /home/tee/teroghettoy type smbfs (rw)