File servers often need to accommodate a variety of different client systems. Running Samba on Ubuntu 22.04 allows Windows systems to connect and access files, as well as other Linux systems and macOS. An alternative solution would be to run an FTP/SFTP server on Ubuntu 22.04, which can also support connections from many systems.
The objective of this tutorial is to configure a basic Samba server on Ubuntu 22.04 to share user home directories as well as provide anonymous read-write access to the selected directories.
There are myriads of possible other Samba configurations; however, the aim of this guide is to get you started with some basics which can be later expanded to implement more features to suit your needs. You will also learn how to access the Ubuntu 22.04 Samba server from a Windows system.
How to configure Samba Server share on Ubuntu 22.04 step-by-step instructions
Let’s begin with the installation of the Samba server. This is a rather trivial task. First, open a command line terminal and install the tasksel command if it is not available yet on your Ubuntu 22.04 system. Once ready, use tasksel to install the Samba server.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install tasksel
sudo tasksel install samba-serverWe will be starting with a fresh clean configuration file, while we also keep the default config file as a backup for reference purposes. Execute the following Linux commands to make a copy of the existing configuration file and create a new /etc/samba/smb.conf configuration file:
sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf_backup
sudo bash -c 'grep -v -E "^#|^;" /etc/samba/smb.conf_backup | grep . > /etc/samba/smb.conf'Samba has its own user management system. However, any user existing on the samba user list must also exist within the /etc/passwd file. If your system user does not exist yet, and hence cannot be located within /etc/passwd file, first, create a new user using the useradd command before creating any new Samba user. Once your new system user eg. linuxconfig exits, use the smbpasswd command to create a new Samba user:
sudo smbpasswd -a linuxconfig
New SMB password:
Retype new SMB password:
Added user linuxconfig.The next step is to add the home directory share. Use your favorite text editor, ex. Atom, sublime, to edit our new /etc/samba/smb.conf Samba configuration file and add the following lines to the end of the file:
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = yes
read only = no
create mask = 0700
directory mask = 0700
valid users = %SOptionally, add a new publicly available read-write Samba share accessible by anonymous/guest users. First, create a directory you wish to share and change its access permission:
sudo mkdir /var/samba
sudo chmod 777 /var/samba/Once ready, once again open the /etc/samba/smb.conf samba configuration file and add the following lines to the end of the file:
[public]
comment = public anonymous access
path = /var/samba/
browsable =yes
create mask = 0660
directory mask = 0771
writable = yes
guest ok = yes
Check your current configuration. Your /etc/samba/smb.conf samba configuration file should at this stage look similar to the one below:
[global]
workgroup = WORKGROUP
server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu)
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size = 1000
logging = file
panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
server role = standalone server
obey pam restrictions = yes
unix password sync = yes
passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* .
pam password change = yes
map to guest = bad user
usershare allow guests = yes
[printers]
comment = All Printers
browseable = no
path = /var/spool/samba
printable = yes
guest ok = no
read only = yes
create mask = 0700
[print$]
comment = Printer Drivers
path = /var/lib/samba/printers
browseable = yes
read only = yes
guest ok = no
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = yes
read only = no
create mask = 0700
directory mask = 0700
valid users = %S
[public]
comment = public anonymous access
path = /var/samba/
browsable =yes
create mask = 0660
directory mask = 0771
writable = yes
guest ok = yes
Our basic Samba server configuration is done. Remember always to restart your samba server, after any change has been done to /etc/samba/smb.conf configuration file:
sudo systemctl restart smbd(optional) Let’s create some test files. Once we successfully mount our Samba shares, the below files should be available at our disposal:
touch /var/samba/public-share
touch /home/linuxconfig/home-shareAccess Ubuntu 22.04 Samba share from MS Windows
At this stage, we are ready to turn our attention to MS Windows. Mounting network drive directories might be slightly different for each MS Windows version. This guide uses MS Windows 10 in a role of a Samba client. To start, open up your Windows Explorer then right-click on Network and click on the Map network drive tab.
Next, select the drive letter and type Samba share location which is your Samba server IP address or hostname followed by the name of the user’s home directory. Make sure you tick Connect using different credentials if your username and password are different from Samba one created with the smbpasswd command on Ubuntu 22.04.
Enter the Samba user’s password as created earlier on Ubuntu 22.04.
Browse the user’s home directory. You should be able to see the previously created test file. As well as you should be able to create new directories and files.
Repeat the mounting steps also for the publicly anonymous samba directory share.
Confirm that you can access the Public samba share directory.
All done. Now feel free to add more features to your Samba share server configuration.