**Security warning:** older versions of this page shared `/` (the whole file system) writable to guests with `force user = root`. That gives **anyone who can reach the server full root write access** to every file on it, with no password. Samba's smb.conf manual notes that whatever privileges the guest account has are available to any client connecting to a guest share, and `force user = root` makes that account root. A guest-only setup like this is only for an isolated lab network and must **never** be exposed to an untrusted network or the internet. The `[httpd]` and `[html]` shares below also let guests write to the web server configuration and content. This page now shares a dedicated folder as the unprivileged guest account instead.
### Step 1: Install Samba on Linux To get started out with **Samba**, install the **Samba** core packages including the client package: ```bash dnf install -y samba samba-common samba-client ``` The command installs the packages specified along with the dependencies as displayed on the output. After the installation is complete, you will get a summary of all the packages that have been installed. Samba Installation Completes ### Step 2: Create and Configure Samba Shares Once all the **samba** packages have been installed, the next step is to configure the **samba shares**. A samba share is simply a directory that is going to be shared across client systems in the network. Next, we are going to make some configurations in the **smb.conf** configuration file which is Samba’s main configuration file. But before we do so, we will back up the file by renaming it with a different file extension. ```bash mv /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.bak ``` Next, we are going to create a new configuration file. ```bash vim /etc/samba/smb.conf ``` This will define the samba share by adding the lines shown in the configuration file. ```bash [global] unix charset = UTF-8 hosts allow = 192.168.x. map to guest = Bad User log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m log level = 1 server role = standalone server [httpd] path = /etc/httpd/ read only = no guest ok = yes guest only = yes force user = apache force group = apache [html] path = /var/www/html/ read only = no guest ok = yes guest only = yes force user = apache force group = apache [public] # Guest-only share: no password, guests run as the guest account (default: nobody) path = /srv/samba/public read only = no guest ok = yes guest only = yes ``` Save and exit the configuration file. Create the dedicated public folder, make it owned by the guest account (`nobody`) so guests can write to it, and give it the Samba SELinux label: ```bash mkdir -p /srv/samba/public chown -R nobody:nobody /srv/samba/public chmod 0755 /srv/samba/public semanage fcontext -a -t samba_share_t "/srv/samba/public(/.*)?" restorecon -Rv /srv/samba/public ``` There is no `force user` line on this share: with `guest only = yes` every connection already runs as the `guest account` (default `nobody`), so guests can only write where `nobody` can. Never set `force user = root` on a guest share. If semanage is missing, install `policycoreutils-python-utils`. To verify the configurations made, run the command: ```bash testparm ``` This verifies Samba Configuration Next, start and enable Samba daemons as shown. ``` systemctl enable --now smb;systemctl enable --now nmb ``` Be sure to confirm that both the **smb** and **nmb** daemons are running. ``` systemctl status smb;systemctl status nmb ``` This verified Samba Status ### Step 3: Accessing Samba Share from Windows Thus far, we have installed **samba** and configured our **samba share**. We are now ready to access it remotely. To do this on a Windows client, press the Windows logo key + R to launch the **Run** dialog. In the textfield provided, enter the samba server’s IP address as shown: ``` \\server-ip ``` This accesses Samba Share from Windows Some data from here [https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting\_up\_Samba\_as\_a\_Standalone\_Server](https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting_up_Samba_as_a_Standalone_Server) #### Sources - [https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting\_up\_Samba\_as\_a\_Standalone\_Server](https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting_up_Samba_as_a_Standalone_Server) - [https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/current/man-html/smb.conf.5.html](https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/current/man-html/smb.conf.5.html) - [https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red\_hat\_enterprise\_linux/9/html/configuring\_and\_using\_network\_file\_services/assembly\_using-samba-as-a-server\_configuring-and-using-network-file-services](https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/9/html/configuring_and_using_network_file_services/assembly_using-samba-as-a-server_configuring-and-using-network-file-services)