How to configure Samba on Ubuntu

This article introduces how to install and configure Samba on Ubuntu16.04.
Also, we introduce how to mount the shared folder on Ubuntu and Windows.

1. Install and configure Samba

Installation

• Samba needs to be installed only for the server:

  $ sudo apt-get install samba samba-common-bin
  

  Tip. We can check the status of the server with: $ sudo smbstatus.

• For client, we need to install cifs-utils package:

  $ sudo apt-get install cifs-utils
  

Configuration (example)

• Modify /etc/samba/smb.conf:

  [workspace]
  comment = workspace
  path = /home/junyonglee/workspace
  writable = yes
  browseable = yes
  valid users = junyonglee
  create mask = 0777
  directory mask = 0777
  

  Note: We are setting the mask with 0777, because we are sharing files not only in Windows but also in ubuntu.

• Add Samba user:

  $ sudo smbpasswd -a ${USER}
  

  • Note:
    • The user name for Samba should be the same as user name of Ubuntu.
    • For each modification, Samba server needs to be restarted: $ sudo service smbd restart

2. Mounting

• Ubuntu

  $ sudo mount -t cifs //DOMAIN OR IP/workspace ./ -o username=junyonglee,password=PASSWORD,uid=uid,gid=gid
  

• Windows
  • Type \\DOMAIN OR IP on file browser.