Sharing Windows Drives Using a Linux Samba Client

Up to this point I have focused on your Linux server being a Samba server, but it can also mimic a Windows client using Samba's client software.

For example, you can also access a CD-ROM, DVD, Zip, floppy, or hard drive installed on a Windows machine from your Linux box. In this section I'll show you how to share a CD-ROM drive.

Windows Setup

The Windows client box should be set up first as a member of a Samba domain or workgroup. The next step is to make the CD-ROM drive shared. The steps you use depend on which version of Windows you have.

For Windows 98/ME:

For Windows 2000:

Finally, for Windows XP:

After you have completed this task, you'll have to go to the next step of testing your configuration.

Test Your Windows Client Configuration

Use the smbclient command to test your share. You should substitute the name of your Windows client PC for "WinClient," and in place of "username" provide a valid workgroup/domain username that normally has access to the Windows client. You should get output like this when using the username's corresponding password:

     [root@bigboy tmp]# smbclient -L WinClient -U username
     added interface ip=192.168.1.100 bcast=192.168.1.255
     nmask=255.255.255.0
     added interface ip=127.0.0.1 bcast=127.255.255.255 nmask=255.0.0.0
     Got a positive name query response from 192.168.1.253 ( 192.168.1.253
     )
     Password:
     Domain=[HOMENET] OS=[Windows 5.1] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]

     Sharename Type Comment
     --------- ---- -------
     IPC$ IPC Remote IPC
     D$ Disk Default share
     print$ Disk Printer Drivers
     SharedDocs Disk
     cdrom Disk
     Printer2 Printer Acrobat PDFWriter
     ADMIN$ Disk Remote Admin
     C$ Disk Default share

     Server Comment
     --------- -------

     Workgroup Master
     --------- -------

You can get the same result with

     [root@bigboy tmp]# smbclient -L WinClient -U username%password

but this method is less secure as your password is echoed on the screen.

Create a CD-ROM Drive Mount Point on Your Samba Server

You'll now need to create the mount point on the Linux server to mount and access the CD-ROM drive. In this case, I've named it /mnt/winclient-cdrom, and you'll use the mount command to get access to this device from the Linux server.

Password Prompt Method

The Linux mount command will try to access the CD-ROM device as user username by using the username[eq] option. You will be prompted for a password:

     [root@bigboy tmp]# mkdir /mnt/winclient-cdrom
     [root@bigboy tmp]# mount -t smbfs -o username=username \
      //winclient/cdrom /mnt/winclient-cdrom

No Prompt Method

Linux won't prompt you for a password if you embed the access password into the mount command string along with username:

     [root@bigboy tmp]# mkdir /mnt/winclient-cdrom
     [root@bigboy tmp]# mount -t smbfs -o \
      username=username,password=password \
      //winclient/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

The smbmount Command Method

Some versions of Linux support the smbmount command to mount the remote drive. Incompatible versions will give errors like this:

     [root@bigboy tmp]# smbmount //winclient/cdrom \
      /mnt/winclient-cdrom -o username=username
     Password:
     27875: session setup failed: ERRDOS - ERRnoaccess (Access denied.)
     SMB connection failed

To be safe, stick with using the Linux mount command.