Linux Samba Server on Windows 11

Install Samba server

Check what is the IP address of the server.

ip addr

Update Server

sudo apt update

Install required package for Samba server.

sudo apt install samba samba-common-bin

Enable samba service on reboot.

sudo systemctl enable smbd

sudo systemctl start smbd

sudo systemctl status smbd

Open the following ports on the firewall.

sudo ufw allow 139

sudo ufw allow 445

sudo sudo ufw allow Samba

Now, restart the smbd service

systemctl restart smbd

Check running status of service.

systemctl status smbd

Homelab Projects

Mount drive in Linux

https://www.lefkowitz.me/setup-a-network-share-via-samba-on-your-raspberry-pi/

sudo fdisk -l

Look towards bottom and assuming this is the only additional drive you have plugged in, you should see something like this:

Device     Boot Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *        2 975400959 975400958 465.1G 83 Linu

/dev/sda1 is the name of the partition on our external drive.

Create a directory within our /media/ folder to mount drive into

sudo mkdir /media/USBHDD

Ensure full access to the directory.

sudo chmod -R 777 /media/USBHDD/

Mount external drive into that new directory.

sudo mount -t auto /dev/sda1 /media/USBHDD

Edit fstab configuration so that drive will properly mount whenever Raspberry Pi reboots.

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add the following line to the bottom of the config file

/dev/sda1 /media/USBHDD auto noatime 0 0

Define a folder that will be shared across the network. In our example, the scenario folder name will be smbshare.

Create a folder first.

mkdir /media/USBHDD

Before editing, copy the samba configuration file for the safe side.

cp /etc/samba/smb.conf smb.conf.orig

Edit the conf file and amend the following line at the bottom.

[[smb.conf]]

[sambashare]
comment = Samba share
path = /media/USBHDD
read-only = no
browsable = yes
writeable=yes
guest ok = yes
create mask = 0777
directory mask = 0777

Add a samba user to provide access over the internet.

sudo useradd smbuser

Provide smb authentication to the newly created user i.e. smbuser.

sudo smbpasswd -a smbuser

Make smbuser owner for samba share.

sudo chown smbuser:smbuser /smbshare/

if errors:

sudo systemctl enable smbd.service 
sudo systemctl start smbd.service

Restart the samba service once again.just saw

systemctl restart smbd

Error fix: https://www.blackmoreops.com/2023/04/26/how-to-fix-you-cant-access-this-shared-folder-because-your-organizations-security-policies-block-unauthenticated-guest-access-error-on-windows-11/

Open an MS window client. Map drive

Reference:
Share external drive with Samba on Raspberry Pi
https://fernandezvictor.medium.com/raspberry-pi-as-samba-server-to-create-shared-folder-between-computers-cdea979092b8
Upgrade Debian 12 From Debian 11
https://www.webnots.com/how-to-enable-smb-server-in-windows-pc/
https://orcacore.com/install-samba-file-sharing-debian-12/?trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block
https://www.lefkowitz.me/setup-a-network-share-via-samba-on-your-raspberry-pi/
UFW firewall allow Samba inbound from Windows

Configure Samba Server with Debian

Install Samba server

Mount drive in Linux

How to setup samba share.