6. Sharing A Linux Drive With Windows Machines

As shown in the simple smb.conf above, sharing linux drives with Windows users is easy. However, like everything else with Samba, you can control things to a large degree. Here are some examples:

To share a directory with the public, create a clone of the tmp section above by adding something like this to smb.conf:

---

[public]
   comment = Public Stuff
   path = /home/public
   public = yes
   writable = yes
   printable = yes

---

To make the above directory readable by the public, but only writable by people in group staff, modify the entry like this:

---

[public]
   comment = Public Stuff
   path = /home/public
   public = yes
   writable = yes
   printable = no
   write list = @staff

---

For other tricks to play with drive shares, see the Samba documentation or man pages.