With a Samba server installed and running on Linux, we can access partly or the whole system via LAN.

Install Samba:

apt-get install samba

Follow the install wizard and enter “workgroup” or the group your network uses.

The outside access can be configured for a special directory and for a special user or it’s possible to see the entire system. The latter can be used for administration purposes via LAN, but it’s not recommended for production servers or for paranoiac users.

Set up restricted access

1. (On the server) add a directory for samba shares

   mkdir /samba

   (Change the /samba directory according to your needs)

2. Add a usergroup for samba

   groupadd sambagroup

3. Give the directory to the group

   chgrp sambagroup /samba

4. Change the rights

   chmod 0777 /samba

5. Add a user

   useradd -g sambagroup winuser

6. Give the user a password

   passwd winuser

7. Add samba password. This will be the password to access the server.

   smbpasswd -a winuser

8. Enable user in samba

   smbpasswd -e winuser

9. Add the following to /etc/samba/smb.conf. Change the SambaShareName to a nice one.

   [SambaShareName]
   path = /samba
   writable = yes
   public = no
   valid users = winuser
   force create mode = 0777
   force directory mode = 0777

10. Restart the Samba server (every time you make changes to /etc/samba/smb.conf, the Samba server needs to be restarted).

    /etc/init.d/samba restart

Set up full access

It’s not a problem to give full access to the whole system if the server isn’t accessible from outside the router or the local area network is accessed only by the developer(s).

1. Add samba password

   smbpasswd -a root

2. Enable user in samba

   smbpasswd -e root

3. Add the following to /etc/samba/smb.conf

   [SambaShareName]
   path=/
   writable=yes
   public=no
   valid users=root
   force create mode = 0777
   force directory mode = 0777

4. Restart the Samba server

   /etc/init.d/samba restart

Note: in a Windows system, you will see the server as “SambaShareName”. Change this name accordingly.