Configure a system to automount a Samba share with /etc/fstab
As explained earlier you can use the mount command to mount a remote windows partition or a windows share under Linux.
/etc/fstab file contains static information about the filesystems. The file fstab contains descriptive information about the various file systems. fstab is only read by programs, and not written; it is the duty of the system administrator to properly create and maintain this file.
To mount a Samba share to be mounted when a Linux system comes up after reboot edit the /etc/fstab file and put entry as follows for your Windows/Samba share:
//ntserver/share /mnt/samba smbfs username=username,password=password 0 0
For example, if you want to mount a share called //ntserver/docs then you need to write following entry in /etc/fstab file://ntserver/docs /mnt/samba smbfs username=docsadm,password=D1Y4x9sw 0 0Where,
- //ntserver/docs: Windows 2003/NT/Samba share name
- /mnt/samba: Local mount point (you may need to create this directory first)
- smbfs: File system type (samba file system)
- username=docsadm,password=D1Y4x9sw: Share username and password
Open file /etc/fstab using vi text editor:# vi /etc/fstabAppend line //ntserver/docs /mnt/samba smbfs username=docsadm,password=D1Y4x9sw 0 0, at the end your file should read as follows:
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/hdb1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1 /dev/hdb2 none swap sw 0 0 /dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0 //ntserver/docs /mnt/samba smbfs username=docsadm,password=D1Y4x9sw 0 0
Replace sharename, username and password with your actual parameters.
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Related Other Helpful FAQs:
- Adding a user to a Samba (SMB) share
- Howto: Adding share in samba server under Linux or UNIX
- Access Windows Shares from Linux
- Samba mount and access large 2GB+ files from share or NAS device
- Configure Samba to use domain accounts for authentication
Discussion on This FAQ
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November 7th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Okay, but the use of the term “automount” here
is misleading. I was looking for how to configure
autofs to work with samba shares.
November 27th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
It disturb me that username and passwd appears clearly in the fstab file. Is there another solution ?
November 27th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Martial,
Try to put password/username in different file and make sure password file is only accessed by root. See url for an example:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/access-windows-shares-from-linux/
February 15th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I have to agree with Scott, “automount” in the title is misleading. I too was looking for info on configuring samba with autofs.
The following link might be useful to Scott and also has details on moving the username/password to a different file.
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Auto_mount_filesystems_(AUTOFS)
February 19th, 2007 at 4:28 am
first create the below in root home directory:
cd
echo username=mywindowsusername > .smbpasswd
echo password=mywindowspassword >> .smbpasswd
chmod 600 .smbpasswd
Then the below line will be changed:
//ntserver/docs /mnt/samba smbfs username=docsadm,password=D1Y4×9sw 0 0
To :
//servername/sharename /mountdirectory smbfs credentials=/home/myhomedirectory/.smbpasswd 0 0
April 26th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
I’ve put the entry in fstab and put the credentials in another file. It works fine, thank you, but although I can write to the share as root, I can’t as a normal user. I’ve tried chmod on the mount point, but that didn’t work, any ideas?
April 27th, 2007 at 10:05 am
try this:
//servername/sharename /mountdirectory smbfs credentials=/home/myhomedirectory/.smbpasswd,uid=user,gid=user 0 0
April 28th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Thanks for the feedback. This actually prompted me to do a little more research on the options and as this share is just a dumping ground I decided to use
//servername/sharename /mountdirectory smbfs credentials=/home/myhomedirectory/.smbpasswd,fmask=666,dmask=777 0 0
so that it’s writeable by everyone.
July 26th, 2007 at 6:47 am
Thank you for information
March 4th, 2008 at 6:46 am
I’d like to ask a question and I don’t think the solution is out there….I have a samba share setup that will only allow connections from my LAN IP addresses…therefore, I don’t need user/pass security setup on it.
I have configured it as an open share writeable and readable by anyone connecting from MY LAN. This works through browsing local network in KDE/Gnome or even in Windows. This is nice for my friends who come by and want to connect to my music/movie/game share.
However, I cannot configure a Linux /etc/fstab to mount the share because it keeps asking for a username and password. There IS NO USERNAME nor PASSWORD. So, how does one enter the information so that it can be processed and mounted by fstab?
I think this would be a great ‘how-to’ for you to feature like this article…because there is NOTHING out there on how to do this.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
yeah, i am also looking for a solution to the no username/password access to a windows share…
March 24th, 2008 at 2:21 am
@John and curious mounter
the “guest”-option will do.
-> man mount.cifs (line 85)