Basic Samba Setup In Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

My most popular post ever is the one I wrote back in May explaining how to do basic Samba filesharing setup in Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. Now Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex has come out, which means it’s time for a post explaining how to do basic Samba setup for 8.10.

First, you’ll need to go to a Terminal window and install Samba:

sudo apt-get install samba

Follow the default prompts to install Samba. Once Samba is installed, you’ll need to create a Samba password for yourself with this command:

sudo smbpasswd -a USERNAME

(USERNAME, of course, is your actual username.)

Type a suitably strong password (make sure it includes uppercase, lowercase, punctuation, and numbers). Once your password is created, the next step is to edit your /etc/samba/smb.conf file, the configuration file for Samba. Begin by creating a folder named ‘test’ on your home folder; we’ll use that for our test shared folder:

mkdir /home/USERNAME/test

Next, make a safe backup copy of the original smb.conf file to your home folder, in case you make an error:

sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf ~

Now use your text editor of choice to edit smb.conf:

sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

(New users will probably find gedit the easiest to use due to its GUI; but you can use emacs or vi just as readily, especially if you’re in an environment that doesn’t use X11.)

Once smb.conf has loaded, add this to the very end of the file:

[test]
path = /home/USERNAME/test
available = yes
valid users = USERNAME
read only = no
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes

(There should be no spaces between the lines, and note also that there should be a single space both before and after each of the equal signs.)

These settings will share the test folder we created earlier, and give your username and your username alone permission to read and write to the folder. Once you have input the changes, save smb.conf, exit the text editor, and restart Samba with  this command:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Once Samba has restarted, use this command to check that your smb.conf doesn’t contain any syntax errors:

testparm

If you pass the testparm command, Samba should be working; try accessing the shared folder from another computer on your LAN.

-JM

UPDATE: Commentator Michael de Silva informs us that Samba will not actually install on an unpatched Ubuntu 8.10 system. Be sure to install the available updates before installing Samba.