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Irony and Confusion:Samba is a result of reverse engineering the proprietary SMB protocol created at IBM and adopted by Microsoft. CIFS (Common Internet File Share or System) is an offspring rebranded version of SMB protocol created by Microsoft and although Microsoft proposed it and marketed it as a standard it never made it. Today, truthfully CIFS is not the network storage protocol used by Microsoft Windows, and many other clients. The protocol used to share files over a LAN by the majority of personal computers is called SMB.Then there is SMB2 which is not CIFS. Microsoft has released details about implementation that enables third party servers and clients. Now in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 there is the SMB3 (3.1) protocol.CIFS is OUT:The CIFS implementation of SMB is rarely used these days. Most modern storage systems no longer use CIFS, they use SMB 2 or SMB 3. In the Windows world, SMB 2 has been the standard as of Windows Vista (2006) and SMB 3 is part of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. Like CIFS, Samba implements the SMB protocol which is what allows Windows clients to transparently access Linux directories. Samba allows for a Linux server to act as a Domain Controller. By doing so, user credentials on the Windows domain can be used instead of needing to be recreated and then manually kept in sync on the Linux server.This documentation is largely Linux centric and cifs-utils is a package for Linux systems. Under distributions such as Debian and Ubuntu you can check to see if you have cifs-utils installed and what version it is by typing the command:This documentation is largely Linux centric and cifs-utils is a package for Linux systems. Under distributions such as Debian and Ubuntu you can check to see if you have cifs-utils installed and what version it is by typing the command: ''(as root or sudo)''Another example for a modern NAS sudo mount -t cifs -o user=nicolep,uid=1001 //apollo/documents /mnt/documents''She will be prompted for a password when she executes this command for sudo, and again for the SMB account password for her account nicolep. Also, the uid is set matching her local account in /etc/passwd so that the mounted share does not appear with all files and directories as owner root, thus they would have not been writable to her.''error: mount.cifs: bad UNC (/apollo/documents) <- if you are getting this error make sure you have two forward slashes on the path //apolloUnmount when done sudo umount //apollo/nicolepQuick basic example of a cfis mount entry in fstab to connect to shares on a Windows file server or NAS device.Quick basic example of a cfis mount entry in fstab to connect to shares on a Windows file server or NAS device. A discussion of [[ windows network share integration for linux]] points out the flaws in this approach.To quickly unmount all your cifs mounts (if the network file server goes down or NAS is offline your system can hang unless you release the mounts) sudo umount -a -t cifs -l=== Slightly improved security with credentials=filename ===You can now Substitute your Windows username and password in the fstab command by specifying "credentials." Then file permissions can be used to restrict read access to the still plain text passwords in the credentials file. using credentials=filename specifies a file that contains a username and/or password. This is preferred over having passwords in plaintext in a shared file, such as /etc/fstab. Be sure to protect any credentials by saving the file (as root) to /root/, and chmod 600. cd echo username=mywindowsusername > /root/.smbpasswd echo password=mywindowspassword >> /root/.smbpasswd chmod 600 /root/.smbpasswdThen in fstab credentials=/root/.smbpasswdAn example of the fstab entry: //apollo/video/ /mnt/video cifs defaults,vers=1.0,domain=workgroup,credentials=/root/.smbpasswd,iocharset=utf8,sec=ntlm 0 0This is only the basic level of security that standard file ownership and permissions provide. It is not possible to encrypt the username or password. smbclient needs access to the plaintext password in order to mount the share. Although the SMB/CIFS session is typically negotiated without sending the unencrypted password across the network, the client still needs access to the plaintext password in order to properly encrypt it during the authentication phase.=== SMB protocol versions ===* ''updated info for 2019''According to the [https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/LinuxCIFSKernel Samba Official Wiki] the Linux cifs kernel client has been included in the kernel since kernel version 2.5.42. SMB3 is the now the default dialect (SMB3.02/SMB3/SMB2.1 dialects are requested by default). CIFS protocol (and other old dialects) can be selected (by specifying "vers=1.0" or "vers=2.02" in the mount options. The newest, most secure dialect, SMB3.11 can also be requested (vers=3.1.1). If you want to try current SMB3 support on an older kernel, full backports of all SMB3/CIFS fixes to earlier kernel versions.SMB versions:* 1.0 - The classic CIFS/SMBv1 protocol.* 2.0 - The SMBv2.002 protocol. This was initially introduced in Windows Vista Service Pack 1, and Windows Server 2008. Note that the initial release version of Windows Vista spoke a slightly different dialect (2.000) that is not supported.* 2.1 - The SMBv2.1 protocol that was introduced in Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008R2.* 3.0 - The SMBv3.0 protocol that was introduced in Microsoft Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.* 3.11 - ''latest''Specify with "vers=" and consider that the Linux kernel does not fully support all of the features in these new SMB versions.=== No dialect specified on mount ===When attempting to 'mount -a' against your /etc/fstab you see a system generated error mount error(22): Invalid argument Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs)Further analysis by looking at kern.log tail -f /var/log/kern.logReveals the following error message kernel: [86079.045389] No dialect specified on mount. Default has changed to a more secure dialect, SMB2.1 or later (e.g. SMB3), from CIFS (SMB1). To use the less secure SMB1 dialect to access old servers which do not support SMB3 (or SMB2.1) specify vers=1.0 on mount. kernel: [86079.065167] CIFS VFS: Unable to select appropriate authentication method! kernel: [86079.065176] CIFS VFS: Send error in SessSetup = -22 kernel: [86079.065219] CIFS VFS: cifs_mount failed w/return code = -22You can always specify a version of SMB //apollo/video/ /mnt/video cifs defaults,vers=1.0,domain=workgroup,username=nicolep,password=mythtv,iocharset=utf8,sec=ntlm 0 0In this example it is specified that the oldest version, SMB 1.0, is specified because the file server is old and runs 1.0.Most NAS devices as of 2020 support SMB 1 through SMB 3.* SMB 1, SMB 2, SMB 2.1, SMB 3We can use a more simplified format that avoids certain parameters being incompatible with the kernel's preferred SMB version. //apollo/home /mnt/nicolep cifs defaults,domain=workgroup,username=nicolep,password=mythtv,uid=1002Note that we specified the uid of the user, which is the uid in /etc/passwd. Without specification of the uid the file system will seem "read only" to the user as owner and group on the mount point will be root when the uid is not specified.Another note: we put the username and password in fstab in an insecure way. An evolution offering slightly better security is available using a so-called credentials file.=== all mounted files and directories owned by root ===Yes by default all the files and directories will be owned by the uid of the process or by root. You can force it otherwise. sudo id user_nameIf, for example, the user id is 1000 then you can use the following... uid=1000(user_name) gid=1000(user_name) groups=...Make the following entry in your /etc/fstab file : //server_name/share_name /mount_path cifs defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0Now when the share is mounted all files and folders will appear as the user with uid 1000. This is fine if you are the only user of the system. On a multiuser system this is problematic as other users will still be denied. Another option is to use dir_mode / file_mode to give everyone access: dir_mode=0777,file_mode=0666which will look like: //server_name/share_name /mount_path cifs defaults,dir_mode=0777,file_mode=0666 0 0=== gvfs ===GVFS is discussed in [[Windows network share integration for linux]] as well as being compared to creating static mounts in fstab.Gigolo is a popular front-end to easily manage connections to local and remote filesystems using GIO/GVfs. GVfs is a Virtual File System. GVFS is the virtual filesystem for the GNOME desktop, which allows users easy access to remote data such as accessing windows network shares on demand from your linux workstation. A cause of confusion is the fact that the file system abstraction used by the Linux kernel is also called the virtual file system (VFS) layer. The GVfs model differs from GnomeVFS, which it replaces, in that file systems must be mounted before they are used. There is a master daemon (gvfsd) that handles coordinating mounts, and then each mount is (typically) in its own daemon process (although mounts can share daemon process). GVfs comes with a set of back-ends, including trash support, SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, SMB, and local data via Udev integration, OBEX, MTP and others.GVfs also contains modules for GIO that implement volume monitors and the GNOME URI scheme handler configuration.=== resources ===If an error indicates smbd does not exist then you may need to install samba, even though a config file exists ( /etc/samba/smb.conf ) the samba package can be absent on Ubuntu / Mint. apt install sambaUbuntu users may wish to read [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MountWindowsSharesPermanently == Samba Command Line Utilities ==MountWindowsSharesPermanently] on the Ubuntu Wiki. It is a guide to how to mount CIFS shares permanently.Command that returns IP addresses of all Samba servers in one's own broadcast domain: nmblookup __SAMBA__Command that returns a list of all NetBIOS names and their aliases of all Samba servers in the neighbourhood (it does a 'node status query'): nmblookup -S __SAMBA__List of all IP adresses of SMB servers (that is, Linux+Unix/Samba or Windows) in the neighbourhood: nmblookup '*'List all NetBIOS names and their aliases of all SMB servers (Linux+Unix/Samba or Windows): nmblookup -S '*'For a specific workgroup, get a list of Netbios names nmblookup -S WORKGROUP === smbclient ===To connect to a Windows computer from Unix smbclient //nicolep/C$ -U username -W workgroup or smbclient //nicolep/C -U Administrator -W workgroup Windows Instant Messaging Pop-Up (like net send in windows) smbclient -I ip-address -M netbios-name-of-recipient== Accessing Windows Shares: Discussion ==What are the various methods you can access these kinds of network shares? As of 2019: most people use the nemo file manager or something like it that can make temporary mounts to network shares. There are disadvantages. Not all file managers do this. Not all software is compatible. The mapping is not persistent. Lets look at the three ways we can gain access to a shared folder or NAS resource.#Using the Nemo File Manager a network resource is browsed and a share temporarily mounted: nemo /run/user/$USER/gvfs#Using the traditional (old fashioned) persistent network mount with mount and fstab#Using Gigolo to Mount Remote shares. #Using the mount command in a script (which prompts user for password when executed)=== '''Gigolo''' === RECOMMENDED - As a means to mount NAS and network shares without having to edit fstab or hard coding passwords. More reliable than file manager tools like the one in Nautilus.Gigolo is a facilitator to access and mount remote shares. It uses the same base samba client packages as other methods. “It mounts what it is told to." sudo apt-get install gigolo sudo apt-get install gvfs-fuseWhen you open up gigolo click on the Network tab on the side panel and it will eventually show you all your workgroups and all the hosts.The remote share should be displayed in the right panel of gigolo and double clicking the share will open a file manager.You can Set gigolo to start at login mkdir /home/user-name/.config/autostart* Menu > System Tools > System Settings > Startup Programs > Add > Command = gigoloSee more info at: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=52144Gigolo is a graphical frontend for the userspace virtual filesystem GIO/GVfs, which handles remote files. Gnome is not required however it requires GTK2 (2.12 or newer), DBus, and GLib (2.16 or newer). Gigolo doesn't just handle cifs sharing between a windows network and your linux desktop, it also facilitates other protocol connections or transfers from computer to computer including ssh / scp file copy without having to use the command terminal such as described [[Remote File Copy from the Linux Command Prompt]], imagine doing it all from the GUI?PROBLEMS - The problem with Gigolo is that it mounts shares using smb paths. Linux application support for smb paths is mostly broken. For this reason we are left with the problem of either exposing our password in the fstab file or using gigolo aka smb paths to access network shares and find a lot of applications can't reach the files. Gigolo uses gvfs-mount as in ( gvfs-mount smb:// ) which results in unwieldy mount points. You will get a mount point that looks like ) /run/user/your-user-name/gvfs/smb-share:server=host_name,share=share_name ) and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.=== GVFS / SMB Paths ===A gigolo mounted path uses the GVFS based SMB share format, like: * smb://workgroup;username@192.168.100.110/share on 92.168.100.110Boy is that ugly with spaces and special characters. An ugly path like that is just asking for trouble! Programs, such as USB Image Writer (a common utility available with Linux Mint / Ubuntu) will not work with smb paths. Try to read an ISO image from a network share, even after making a symlink to de-ugly the path, and the USB Image Writer application fails.As explained elsewhere on this page, the traditional way to mount Windows (or Samba) shares involves hardcoding the credentials in fstab as plain text.=== AutoFS can be used to replace Gigolo ===AutoFS is a utility that allows a user to automatically connect to, mount, and use a samba share when the desired mount point is accessed and disconnects when not in use. It offers some distinct advantages over other methods. Unlike the standard fstab method there is no delay in booting the machine if the target server is not present and because of the way it designed there is no delay if the server goes down before you logoff the client.See [https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=144997 HowTo: Auto Mounting Samba Shares Using AutoFS] for details.The autofs filesystem module is only one part of an autofs system. There also needs to be a user-space program which looks up names and mounts filesystems. This will often be the "automount" program, though other tools including systemd can make use of autofs. Then autofs is a Linux kernel module with provides the autofs ilesystem type. Auto-mounts are mounted only as they are accessed, and are unmounted after a period of inactivity. Because of this, automounting NFS/Samba shares conserves bandwidth and offers better overall performance compared to static mounts via fstab.#automount is the program used to configure a mount point for autofs. When autofs is started, an automount daemon is spawned for each map.#Auto-mount or auto-mounting refers to the process of automatically mounting filesystems.#autofs is the program that controls the operation of the automount daemons. Install the autofs package either by clicking here or entering the following in a terminal window: sudo apt install autofsTo configure autofs you will need to edit configuration files. The master configuration file for autofs is /etc/auto.master by default. When specifying a CIFS share in a map file, specify -fstype=cifs and precede the share location with a colon (:). mntpoint -fstype=cifs ://example.com/shrnameExample: Mount read-write, specifying a user and group to own the files: mntpoint -fstype=cifs,rw,uid=myuserid,gid=mygrpid ://example.com/shrnameExample: Mount read-write, specifying a username and password to use to connect to the share: mntpoint -fstype=cifs,rw,username=myuser,password=mypass ://example.com/shrname=== mount via a shell script ===A method of using the mount command in a shell script which will prompt the user for passwords. Doing this in a startup script will require some method of timeout as it could hold up system loading final.Better to have a command to launch script when shares are neededBased on executing the mount command in this fashion sudo mount -t cifs -o username=nicolep //servername/public /mnt/public== resources ==Ubuntu users may wish to read [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MountWindowsSharesPermanently MountWindowsSharesPermanently] on the Ubuntu Wiki. It is a guide to how to mount CIFS shares permanently.* [[Smbclient notes]]* [[Example of cfis fstab]]