The following pages list each of the Samba configuration options. If an option is applicable only to the global section, "[global]" will appear before its name. Any lists mentioned are space separated, except where noted. A glossary of terms follows the options. user list NULL admin users = user list List of users who will be granted root permissions on the share by Samba. any NULL allow hosts = host list Synonym for hosts allow. List of machines that may connect to a share. YES, NO NO alternate permissions = boolean Obsolete. Has no effect in Samba 2. Files will be shown as read-only if the owner can't write them. In Samba 1.9 and earlier, setting this option would set the DOS filesystem read-only attribute on any file the user couldn't read. This in turn required the delete readonly option. NT, Win95, WfW NT [global] announce as = system type Have Samba announce itself as something other than an NT server. Discouraged because it interferes with serving browse lists. any 4.2 [global] announce version = number.number Instructs Samba to announce itself as an older version SMB server. Discouraged. any shares NULL [global] auto services = share list List of shares that will always appear in browse lists. A synonym is preload. YES, NO YES available = boolean If set to NO, denies access to a share. Doesn't affect browsing. YES, NO NO [global] bind interfaces only = boolean If set to YES, shares and browsing will be provided only on interfaces in an interfaces list (see interfaces). New in Samba 1.9.18. If you set this option to YES, be sure to add 127.0.0.1 to the interfaces list to allow smbpasswd to connect to the local machine to change passwords. This is a convienence option; it does not improve security. YES, NO YES browsable = boolean Allows a share to be announced in browse lists. YES, NO YES blocking locks = boolean If YES, honors byte range lock requests with time limits for queuing the request and retrying it until the time period expires. New in Samba 2.0. YES, NO YES [global] browse list = boolean Turns on/off browse list from this server. Avoid changing. YES, NO NO [global] case sensitive = boolean If YES, uses exactly the case the client supplied when trying to resolve a filename. If NO, matches either upper- or lowercase name. Avoid changing. YES, NO NO [global] case sig names = boolean Synonym for case sensitive. positive number 60 [global] change notify timeout = number Sets the number of seconds between checks when a client asks for notification of changes in a directory. Introduced in Samba 2.0 to limit the performance cost of the checks. Avoid lowering. ISO8859-1, ISO8859-2, ISO8859-5, KOI8-R NULL character set = name If set, translates from DOS code pages to the Western European (ISO8859-1), Eastern European (ISO8859-2), Russian Cyrillic (ISO8859-5), or Alternate Russian (KOI8-R) character set. The client code page must be set to 850. See Table 8.4 437 (US MS-DOS) client code page = name Sets the DOS code page explicitly, overriding any previous valid chars settings. Examples of values are 850 for European, 437 is the US standard, and 932 for Japanese Shift-JIS. Introduced in Samba 1.9.19. euc, cap, hex, hexN, sjis, j8bb, j8bj, jis8, j8bh, j8@b, j8@j, j8@h, j7bb, j7bj, jis7, j7bh, j7@b, j7@j, j7@h, jubb, jubj, junet, jubh, ju@b, ju@j, ju@h NULL coding system = code Sets the coding system used, notably for Kanji. This is employed for filenames and should correspond to the code page in use. The client code page option must be set to 932 (Japanese Shift-JIS). Introduced in Samba 2.0. a text string or NULL NULL comment = text Sets the comment that appears beside a share in a NET VIEW or the details list of a Microsoft directory window. See also the server string configuration option. Unix pathname NULL [global] config file = pathname Selects an additional Samba configuration file to read instead of the current one. Used to relocate the configuration file, or used with %-variables to select custom configuration files for some users or machines. existing section's name NULL copy = section name Copies the configuration of a previously seen share into the share where it appears. Used with %-variables to select custom configurations for machines, architectures and users. The copied section must be earlier in the configuration file. Copied options are of lesser priority than those explicitly listed in the section. octal permission bits, 0-0777 0744 create mask = octal value Also called create mode. Sets the maximum allowable permissions for new files (e.g., 0755). See also directory mask. To require certain permissions to be set, see force create mask/force directory mask. This option stopped affecting directories in Samba 1.9.17, and the default value changed in Samba 2.0. octal permission bits, 0-0777 0744 create mode = octal permission bits Synonym for create mask. minutes 0 [global] deadtime = minutes The time in minutes before an unused connection will be terminated. Zero means forever. Used to keep clients from tying up server resources forever. If used, clients will have to auto-reconnect after minutes of inactivity. See also keepalive. number 0 [global] debug level = number Sets the logging level used. Values of 3 or more slow Samba noticeably. A synonym is log level. Recommended value: 1. YES, NO YES [global] debug timestamp = boolean Timestamps all log messages. Can be turned off when it's not useful (e.g., in debugging). New in Samba 2.0. share name NULL [global] default = name Also called default service. The name of a service (share) to provide if someone requests a service they don't have permission to use or which doesn't exist. As of Samba 1.9.14, the path will be set from the name the client specified, with any "_" characters changed to "/" characters, allowing access to any directory on the Samba server. Use is strongly discouraged. LOWER, UPPER LOWER default case = case Sets the case in which to store new filenames. LOWER indicates mixed case, UPPER indicates uppercase letters. share name NULL [global] default service = share name Synonym for default. NO, YES NO delete readonly = boolean Allow delete requests to remove read-only files. This is not allowed in DOS/Windows, but is normal in Unix, which has separate directory permissions. Used with programs like RCS, or with the older alternate permissions option. NO, YES NO delete veto files = boolean Allow delete requests for a directory containing files or subdirectories the user can't see due to the veto files option. If set to NO, the directory will not be deleted and will still contain invisible files. host list NULL deny hosts = host list A synonym is hosts deny. Specifies a list of machines from which to refuse connections or shares. shell command varies [global] dfree command = command A command to run on the server to return disk free space. Not needed unless the OS command does not work properly. pathname NULL directory = pathname Synonym for path. A directory provided by a file share, or used by a printer share. Set automatically in the [homes] share to user's home directory, otherwise defaults to /tmp. octal value from 0 to 0777 0755 directory mask = octal permission bits Also called directory mode. Sets the maximum allowable permissions for newly created directories. To require certain permissions be set, see the force create mask and force directory mask options. octal value from 0 to 0777 0755 directory mode = octal permission bits Synonym for directory mask. YES, NO YES [global] dns proxy = boolean If set to YES, and if wins server = YES, look up hostnames in DNS if they are not found using WINS. YES, NO NO [global] domain logons = boolean Allow Windows 95/98 or NT clients to log on to an NT-like domain. YES, NO NO [global] domain master = boolean Become a domain master browser list collector if possible for the entire workgroup/domain. comma-separated list of paths NULL dont descend = comma-list Does not allow a change directory or search in the directories specified. This is a browsing convenience option; it doesn't provide any extra security. YES, NO NO dos filetimes = boolean Allow non-owners to change file times if they can write to the file. See also dos filetime resolution. YES, NO NO dos filetime resolution = boolean Set file times on Unix to match DOS standards (round to next even second). Recommended if using Visual C++ or a PC make program to avoid remaking the programs unnecesarily. Use with the dos filetimes option. YES, NO NO [global] encrypt passwords = boolean Uses Windows NT-style password encryption. Requires an smbpasswd on the Samba server. shell command NULL exec = command Synonym of preexec, a command to run as the user just before connecting to the share. YES, NO NO fake directory create times = boolean Bug fix for users of Microsoft nmake. If set, Samba will set directory create times such that nmake won't remake all files every time. YES, NO NO fake oplocks = boolean Return YES whenever a client asks if it can lock a file and cache it locally, but does not enforce lock on the server. Use only for read-only disks, as Samba now supports real oplocks and has per-file overrides. See also oplocks and veto oplock files. YES, NO YES follow symlinks = boolean If YES, Samba will follow symlinks in a file share or shares. See the wide links option if you want to restrict symlinks to just the current share. octal value from 0 to 0777 0 force create mask = octal permission bits Provides bits that will be ORed into the permissions of newly created files. Used with the create mode configuration option. octal value from 0 to 0777 0 force create mode = octal permission bits Synonym for force create mask. octal value from 0 to 0777 0 force directory mask = octal permission bits Provides bits that will be ORed into the permissions of newly created directories, forcing those bits to be set. Used with directory mode. octal value from 0 to 0777 0 force directory mode = octal permission bits Synonym for force directory mask. group NULL force group = unix group Sets the effective group name assigned to all users accessing a share. Used to override user's normal groups. username NULL force user = name Sets the effective username assigned to all users accessing a share. Discouraged. NTFS, FAT, Samba NTFS fstype = string Sets the filesystem type reported to the client. YES, NO NO [global] getwd cache = boolean Cache current directory for performance. Recommended with the wide links option. unix group NULL group = group An obsolete form of force group. username NULL guest account = user Sets the name of the unprivileged Unix account to use for tasks like printing and for accessing shares marked with guest ok. YES, NO NO guest ok = boolean If YES, passwords are not needed for this share. Synonym of public. YES, NO NO guest only = boolean Forces user of a share to do so as the guest account. Requires guest ok or public to be yes. YES, NO YES hide dot files = boolean Treats files beginning with a dot in a share as if they had the DOS/Windows hidden attribute set. list of patterns, separated by / characters NULL hide files = slash-separated list List of file or directory names to set the DOS hidden attribute on. Names may contain ? or * pattern-characters and %-variables. See also hide dot files and veto files. NIS map name auto.home [global] homedir map = NIS map name Used with nis homedir to locate user's Unix home directory from Sun NIS (not NIS+). list of hostnames NULL hosts allow = host list Synonym of allow hosts, a list of machines that can access a share or shares. If NULL (the default) any machine can access the share unless there is a hosts deny option. list of hostnames NULL hosts deny = host list Synonym of deny hosts, a list of machines that cannot connect to a share or shares. pathname NULL [global] hosts equiv = pathname Path to a file of trusted machines from which password-less logins are allowed. Strongly discouraged, because Windows/NT users can always override the user name, the only security in this scheme. pathname NULL include = pathname Include the named file in smb.conf at the line where it appears. This option does not understand the variables %u (user), %P (current share's root directory), or %S (current share name), because they are not set at the time the file is read. IP addresses separated by spaces NULL [global] interfaces = interface list Sets the interfaces to which Samba will respond. The default is the machine's primary interface only. Recommended on multihomed machines or to override erroneous addresses and netmasks. list of users NULL invalid users = user list List of users that will not be permitted access to a share or shares. number of seconds 0 [global] keepalive = number Number of seconds between checks for a crashed client. The default of 0 causes no checks to be performed. Recommended if you want checks more often than every four hours. 3600 (10 minutes) is reasonable. See also socket options for another approach. YES, NO automatic [global] kernel oplocks = boolean Break oplock when a Unix process accesses an oplocked file, preventing corruption. Set to YES on operating systems supporting this, otherwise set to NO. New in Samba 2.0; supported on SGI, and hopefully soon on Linux and BSD. Avoid changing. various varies [global] ldap filter = various Options beginning with ldap are part of an experimental (circa Samba 2.0) use of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) general directory/distributed database for user, name, and host information. This option is reserved for future use. various various [global] ldap port = various Options beginning with ldap are part of an experimental (circa Samba 2.0) use of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) general directory/distributed database for user, name, and host information. This option is reserved for future use. various various [global] ldap root = various Options beginning with ldap are part of an experimental (circa Samba 2.0) use of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) general directory/distributed database for user, name, and host information. This option is reserved for future use. various various [global] ldap server = various Options beginning with ldap are part of an experimental (circa Samba 2.0) use of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) general directory/distributed database for user, name, and host information. This option is reserved for future use. various various [global] ldap suffix = various Options beginning with ldap are part of an experimental (circa Samba 2.0) use of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) general directory/distributed database for user, name, and host information. This option is reserved for future use. YES, NO YES [global] load printers = boolean Load all printer names from the system printer capabilities into browse list. Uses configuration options from the [printers] section. YES, NO YES [global] local master = boolean Stands for election as the local master browser. See also domain master and os level. AUTO, YES, NO AUTO [global] lm announce = value Produce OS/2 SMB broadcasts at an interval specified by the lm interval option. YES/NO turns them on/off unconditionally. AUTO causes the Samba server to wait for a LAN Manager announcement from another client before sending one out. Required for OS/2 client browsing. number 60 [global] lm interval = seconds Sets the time period, in seconds, between OS/2 SMB broadcast announcements. pathname /usr/local/samba/var/locks [global] lock directory = pathname Set a directory to keep lock files in. The directory must be writable by Samba, readable by everyone. YES, NO YES locking = boolean Perform file locking. If set to NO, Samba will accept lock requests but will not actually lock resources. Recommended only for read-only file systems. pathname varies [global] log file = pathname Set name and location of the log file. Allows all %-variables. number 0 [global] log level = number A synonym of debug level. Sets the logging level used. Values of 3 or more slow the system noticeably. DOS drive name None [global] logon drive = drive Sets the drive on Windows NT (only) of the logon path. Unix pathname \\%N \%U [global] logon home = path Sets the home directory of a Windows 95/98 or NT Workstation user. Allows NET USE H:/HOME from the command prompt. Windows pathname \\%N \%U \profile [global] logon path = pathname Sets path to Windows profile directory. This contains USER.MAN and/or USER.DAT profile files and the Windows 95 Desktop, Start Menu, Network Neighborhood, and programs folders. pathname NULL [global] logon script = pathname Sets pathname relative to [netlogin] share of a DOS/NT script to run on the client at login time. Allows all %-variables. fully-qualfied Unix shell command varies lppause command = /absolute_ path/command Sets the command to pause a print job. Honors the %p (printer name) and %j (job number) variables. fully-qualified Unix shell command varies lpresume command = /absolute_ path/command Sets the command to resume a paused print job. Honors the %p (printer name) and %j ( job number) variables. number of seconds 10 [global] lpq cache time = seconds Sets how long to keep print queue (lpq ) status is cached, in seconds. fully-qualfied Unix shell command varies lpq command = /absolute_ path/command Sets the command used to get printer status. Usually initialized to a default value by the printing option. Honors the %p (printer name) variable. fully-qualified Unix shell command varies lprm command = /absolute_ path/command Sets the command to delete a print job. Usually initialized to a default value by the printing option. Honors the %p (printer name) and %j (job number) variables. number of seconds 604,800 machine password timeout = seconds Sets the period between (NT domain) machine password changes. Default is 1 week, or 604,800 seconds. Unix pathname script.out magic output = pathname Sets the output file for the discouraged magic scripts option. Default is the script name, followed by the extension .out. Unix pathname NULL magic script = pathname Sets a filename for execution via a shell whenever the file is closed from the client, to allow clients to run commands on the server. allowable values: YES, NO NO mangle case = boolean Mangle a name if it is in mixed case. list of to-from pairs NULL mangled map = map list Set up a table of names to remap (e.g., .html to .htm). YES, NO YES mangled names = boolean Sets Samba to abbreviate names that are too long or have unsupported characters to the DOS 8.3 style. character ~ mangling char = character Sets the unique mangling character used in all mangled names. number 50 [global] mangled stack = number Sets the size of a cache of recently-mangled filenames. Unix pathname NULL map aliasname = pathname Points to a file of Unix group/NT group pairs, one per line. This is used to map NT aliases to Unix group names. See also the configuration options username map and map groupname. Introduced in Samba 2.0. YES, NO YES map archive = boolean If YES, Samba sets the executable-by-user (0100) bit on Unix files if the DOS archive attribute is set. Recommended: if used, the create mask must contain the 0100 bit. YES, NO NO map hidden = boolean If YES, sets executable-by-other (0001) bit on Unix files if the DOS hidden attribute is set. If used, the create mask option must contain the 0001 bit. pathname NULL map groupname = pathname Points to a file of Unix group/NT group, one per line. This is used to map NT group names to Unix group names. See also the configuration options username map and map aliasname. Introduced in Samba 2.0. YES, NO NO map system = boolean If YES, Samba sets the executable-by-group (0010) bit on Unix files if the DOS system attribute is set. If used, the create mask must contain the 0010 bit. number 0 (infinity) max connections = number Set maximum number of connections allowed to a share from each individual client machine. size in MB 0 (unchanged) [global] max disk size = number Sets maximum disk size/free-space size (in megabytes) to return to client. Some clients or applications can't understand large maximum disk sizes. size in KB 5000 [global] max log size = number Sets the size (in kilobytes) at which Samba will start a new log file. The current log file will be renamed with an .old extension, replacing any previous file with that name. number 50 [global] max mux = number Sets the number of simultaneous operations that Samba clients may make. Avoid changing. number N/A [global] max packet = number Synonym for packet size. Obsolete as of Samba 1.7. Use max xmit instead. number 10,000 [global] max open files = number Limits the number of files a Samba process will try to keep open at one time. Samba allows you to set this to less than the Unix maximum. This option is a workaround for a separate problem. Avoid changing. This option was introduced in Samba 2.0. time in seconds 14400 (4 hrs) [global] max ttl = seconds Sets the time to keep NetBIOS names in nmbd cache while trying to perform a lookup on it. Avoid changing. time in seconds 259200 (3 days) [global] max wins ttl = seconds Limits time-to-live of a NetBIOS name in nmbd WINS cache, in seconds. Avoid changing. size in bytes 65535 [global] max xmit = bytes Sets maximum packet size that will be negotiated by Samba. Tuning parameter for slow links and older client bugs. Values less than 2048 are discouraged. shell command NULL [global] message command = /absolute_ path/command Sets the command on the server to run when a WinPopup message arrives from a client. The command must end in "&" to allow immediate return. Honors all %-variables except %u (user), and supports the extra variables %s (filename the message is in), %t (destination machine), and %f (from). space in KB 0 (unlimited) min print space = kilobytes Sets minimum spool space required before accepting a print request. time in seconds 21600 (6 hrs) [global] min wins ttl = seconds Sets minimum time-to-live of a NetBIOS name in nmbd WINS cache, in seconds. Avoid changing. list of lmhosts, wins, hosts and bcast lmhosts wins hosts bcast name resolve order = list Sets order of lookup when trying to get IP address from names. The hosts parameter carrries out a regular name look up using the server's normal sources: /etc/hosts, DNS, NIS, or a combination of them. Introduced in Samba 1.9.18p4. list of netbios names NULL [global] netbios aliases = list Adds additional NetBIOS names by which a Samba server will advertise itself. host name varies netbios name = hostname Sets the NetBIOS name by which a Samba server is known, or primary name if NetBIOS aliases exist. YES, NO YES [global] networkstation user login = boolean If set to NO, clients will not do a full login when security = server. Avoid changing. Turning it off is a temporary workaround (introduced in Samba 1.9.18p3) for NT trusted domains bug. Automatic correction was introduced in Samba 1.9.18p10; the parameter may eventually be removed. YES, NO NO [global] nis homedir = boolean If YES, the homedir map will be used to look up the user's home-directory server name and return it to the client. The client will contact that machine to connect to the share. This avoids mounting from a machine that doesn't actually have the disk. The machine with the home directories must be an SMB server. YES, NO YES [global] nt pipe support = boolean Allows turning off NT-specific pipe calls. This is a developer/benchmarking option and may be removed in the future. Avoid changing. YES, NO YES [global] nt smb support = boolean If YES, allow NT-specific SMBs to be used. This is a developer/benchmarking option and may be removed in the future. Avoid changing. YES, NO NO [global] null passwords = boolean If YES, allows access to accounts that have null passwords. Strongly discouraged. YES, NO YES ole locking compatibility = boolean If YES, locking ranges will be mapped to avoid Unix locks crashing when Windows uses locks above 32KB. You should avoid changing this option. Introduced in Samba 1.9.18p10. YES, NO NO only guest = boolean A synonym for guest only. Forces user of a share to login as the guest account. YES, NO NO only user = boolean Requires that users of the share be on a username = list. YES, NO YES oplocks = boolean If YES, support local caching of opportunistic locked files on client. This option is recommended because it improves performance by about 30%. See also fake oplocks and veto oplock files. number 0 [global] os level = number Sets the candidacy of the server when electing a browse master. Used with the domain master or local master options. You can set a higher value than a competing operating system if you want Samba to win. Windows for Workgroups and Windows 95 use 1, Windows NT client uses 17, and Windows NT Server uses 33. number in bytes 65535 [global] packet size = bytes Obsolete. Discouraged synonym of max packet. See max xmit. YES, NO NO [global] passwd chat debug = boolean Logs an entire password chat, including passwords passed, with a log level of 100. For debugging only. Introduced in Samba 1.9.18p5. Unix server commands compiled-in value [global] passwd chat = command sequence Sets the command used to change passwords on the server. Supports the variables %o (old password) and %n (new password) and allows \r \n \t and \s (space) escapes in the sequence. Unix server program NULL [global] passwd program = program Sets the command used to change user's password. Will be run as root. Supports %u (user). number 0 [global] password level = number Specifies the number of uppercase letter permutations used to match passwords. Workaround for clients that change passwords to a single case before sending them to the Samba server. Causes repeated login attempts with passwords in different cases, which can trigger account lockouts. list of NetBIOS names NULL [global] password server = netbios names A list of SMB servers that will validate passwords for you. Used with an NT password server (PDC or BDC) and the security = server or security = domain configuration options. Caution: an NT password server must allow logins from the Samba server. fully-qualfied Unix shell command NULL panic action = /absolute_ path/command Sets the command to run when Samba panics. For Samba developers and testers, /usr/bin/X11/xterm -display :0 -e gdb /samba/bin/smbd %d is a possible value. pathname varies path = pathname Sets the path to the directory provided by a file share or used by a printer share. Set automatically in [homes] share to user's home directory, otherwise defaults to /tmp. Honors the %u (user) and %m (machine) variables. fully-qualified Unix shell command NULL postexec = /absolute_ path/command Sets a command to run as the user after disconnecting from the share. See also the options preexec, root preexec, and root postexec. YES, NO NO postscript = boolean Flags a printer as PostScript to avoid a Windows bug by inserting %! as the first line. Works only if printer actually is PostScript compatible. fully-qualified Unix shell command NULL preexec = /absolute_ path/command Sets a command to run as the user before connecting to the share. See also the options postexec, root preexec, and root postexec. YES, NO NO [global] preferred master = boolean If YES, Samba is preferred to become the master browser. Causes Samba to call a browsing election when it comes online. list of services NULL preload = share list Synonym of auto services. Specifies a list of shares that will always appear in browse lists. YES, NO NO preserve case = boolean If set to YES, this option leaves filenames in the case sent by client. If no, it forces filenames to the case specified by the default case option. See also short preserve case. fully-qualified Unix shell command varies print command = /absolute_ path/command Sets the command used to send a spooled file to the printer. Usually initialized to a default value by the printing option. This option honors the %p (printer name), %s (spool file) and %f (spool file as a relative path) variables. Note that the command in the value of the option must include file deletion of the spool file. YES, NO NO print ok = boolean Synonym of printable. YES, NO NO printable = boolean Sets a share to be a print share. Required for all printers. pathname /etc/printcap [global] printcap name = pathname Sets the path to the printer capabilities file used by the [printers] share. The default value changes to /etc/qconfig under AIX and lpstat on System V. printer name lp printer = name Sets the name of the Unix printer. exact printer driver string used by Windows NULL printer driver = printer driver name Sets the string to pass to Windows when asked what driver to use to prepare files for a printer share. Note that the value is case sensitive. Unix pathname samba-lib/printers.def [global] printer driver file = path Sets the location of a msprint.def file, usable by Windows 95/98. Windows network path \\server\PRINTER$ printer driver location = path Sets the location of the driver for a particular printer. The value is a pathname for a share that stores the printer driver files. name NULL printer name = name Synonym of printer. bsd, sysv, hpux, aix, qnx, plp, lprng bsd printing = style Sets printing style to one of the above, instead of the compiled-in value. This sets initial values of at least the print command , print command , lpq command , and lprm command. NT1, LANMAN2, LANMAN1, COREPLUS, CORE NT1 [global] protocol = protocol Sets SMB protocol version to one of the allowable values. Resetting is highly discouraged. Only for backwards compatibility with older-client bugs. YES, NO NO public = boolean If YES, passwords are not needed for this share. A synonym is guest ok. valid Unix command varies queuepause command = /absolute_ path/command Sets the command used to pause a print queue. Usually initialized to a default value by the printing option. Introduced in Samba 1.9.18p10. valid Unix command varies queueresume command = /absolute_ path/command Sets the command used to resume a print queue. Usually initialized to a default value by the printing option. Introduced in Samba 1.9.18p10. YES, NO NO read bmpx = boolean Obsolete. Do not change. comma-separated list of users NULL read list = comma-separated list Specifies a list of users given read-only access to a writeable share. YES, NO NO read only = boolean Sets a share to read-only. Antonym of writable and write ok. YES, NO NO [global] read prediction = boolean Reads ahead data for read-only files. Obsolete; removed in Samba 2.0. YES, NO YES [global] read raw = boolean Allows fast streaming reads over TCP using 64K buffers. Recommended. size in bytes 2048 [global] read size = bytes Sets a buffering option for servers with mismatched disk and network speeds. Requires experimentation. Avoid changing. Should not exceed 65536. list of remote addresses NULL [global] remote announce = remote list Adds workgroups to the list on which the Samba server will announce itself. Specified as IP address/workgroup (for instance, 192.168.220.215/SIMPLE) with multiple groups separated by spaces. Allows directed broadcasts. The server will appear on those workgroup's browse lists. Does not require WINS. IP-address list NULL [global] remote browse sync = address list Enables Samba-only browse list synchronization with other Samba local master browsers. Addresses can be specific addresses or directed broadcasts (i.e., ###.###.###.255). The latter will cause Samba to hunt down the local master. YES, NO NO revalidate = boolean If set to YES, requires users to re-enter passwords even after a successful initial logon to a share with a password. Unix pathname NULL [global] root = pathname Synonym for root directory. Unix pathname NULL [global] root dir = pathname Synonym for root directory. Unix pathname NULL [global] root directory = pathname Specifies a directory to chroot() to before starting daemons. Prevents any access below that directory tree. See also the wide links configuration option. fully-qualified Unix shell command NULL root postexec = /absolute_ path/command Sets a command to run as root after disconnecting from the share. See also preexec, postexec, and root preexec configuration options. Runs after the user's postexec command. Use with caution. fully-qualified Unix shell command NULL root preexec = /absolute_ path/command Sets a command to run as root before connecting to the share. See also preexec, postexec, and root postexec configuration options. Runs before the user's preexec command. Use with caution. share, user, server, domain share in Samba 1.0, user in 2.0 [global] security = value Sets password-security policy. If security = share, services have a shared password, available to everyone. If security = user, users have (Unix) accounts and passwords. If security = server, users have accounts and passwords and a separate machine authenticates them for Samba. If security = domain, full NT-domain authentication is done. See also the password server and encrypted passwords configuration options. string Samba %v in 2.0 [global] server string = text Sets the name that appears beside a server in browse lists. Honors the %v (Samba version number) and %h (hostname) variables. YES, NO NO set directory = boolean Allows DEC Pathworks client to use the set dir command. number 113 [global] shared file entries = number Obsolete; do not use. size in bytes 102400 shared mem size = bytes If compiled with FAST_SHARE_MODES (mmap), sets the shared memory size in bytes. Avoid changing. Unix pathname /usr/local/samba/private/smbpasswd [global] smb passwd file = path Overrides compiled-in path to password file if encrypted passwords = yes. smbrun command compiled-in value [global] smbrun = /absolute_ path/command Overrides compiled-in path to smbrun binary. Avoid changing. YES, NO YES share modes = boolean If set to YES, this option supports Windows-style whole-file (deny mode) locks. YES, NO NO short preserve case = boolean If set to YES, leaves mangled 8.3-style filenames in the case sent by client. If no, it forces the case to that specified by the default case option. See also preserve case. IP address NULL [global] socket address = IP address Sets address on which to listen for connections. Default is to listen to all addresses. Used to support multiple virtual interfaces on one server. Highly discouraged. list NULL [global] socket options = socket option list Sets OS-specific socket options. SO_KEEPALIVE has TCP check clients every 4 hours to see if they are still accessible. TCP_NODELAY sends even tiny packets to keep delay low. Recommended wherever the operating system supports them. See Appendix B, for more information. YES, NO YES [global] status = boolean If YES, logs connections to a file (or shared memory) accessible to smbstatus. YES, NO NO strict sync = boolean If set to YES, Samba will synchronize to disk whenever the client sets the sync bit in a packet. If set to NO, Samba flushes data to disk whenever buffers fill. Defaults to NO because Windows 98 Explorer sets the bit (incorrectly) in all packets. Introduced in Samba 1.9.18p10. YES, NO NO strict locking = boolean If set to YES, Samba checks locks on every access, not just on demand and at open time. Not recommended. YES, NO NO [global] strip dot = boolean Removes trailing dots from filenames. Use mangled map instead. number 1 [global] syslog = number Sets number of Samba log messages to send to syslog. Higher is more verbose. The syslog.conf file must have suitable logging enabled. YES, NO NO [global] syslog only = boolean If set to YES, log only to syslog, not standard Samba log files. YES, NO NO sync always = boolean If set to YES, Samba calls fsync(3) after every write. Avoid except for debugging crashing servers. minutes 0 [global] time offset = minutes Sets number of minutes to add to system time zone calculation. Provided to fix a client daylight-savings bug; not recommended. YES, NO NO [global] time server = boolean If YES, nmbd will provide time service to its clients. YES, NO NO unix password sync = boolean If set, will attempt to change the user's Unix password whenever the user changes his or her SMB password. Used to ease synchronization of Unix and Microsoft password databases. Added in Samba 1.9.18p4. See also passwd chat. YES, NO NO unix realname = boolean If set, will provide the GCOS field of /etc/passwd to the client as the user's full name. comma-separated list of user names NULL user = comma-separated list Synonym for username. comma-separated list of user names NULL username = comma-separated list Sets a list of users to try to log in as for a share or shares with share-level security. Synonyms are user and users. Discouraged. Use NET USE \\server\share %user from the client instead. number 0 username level = number Number of uppercase letter permutations allowed to match Unix usernames. Workaround for Windows feature (single-case usernames). Use is discouraged. pathname NULL [global] username map = pathname Names a file of Unix-to-Windows name pairs; used to map different spellings of account names and those Windows usernames longer than eight characters. list of numeric values NULL valid chars = list Semi-obsolete. Adds national characters to a character set map. Overridden by client code page. list of users NULL (everyone) valid users = user list List of users that can log in to a share. slash-separated list of filenames NULL veto files = slash-list List of files not to allow the client to see when listing a directory's contents. See also delete veto files. slash-separated list of filenames NULL veto oplock files = slash-list List of files not to oplock (and cache on clients). See also oplocks and fake oplocks. string NULL volume = share name Sets the volume label of a disk share, notably a CD-ROM. YES, NO YES wide links = boolean If set to YES, Samba will follow symlinks out of the current disk share(s). See also the root dir and follow symlinks options. YES, NO NO [global] wins proxy = boolean If set to YES, nmbd will proxy resolution requests to WINS servers on behalf of old clients, which use broadcasts. WINS server is typically on another subnet. hostname NULL [global] wins server = host Sets the DNS name or IP address of the WINS server. YES, NO NO [global] wins support = boolean If set to YES, Samba activates WINS service. The wins server option must not be set if wins support = yes. workgroup name compiled-in [global] workgroup = name Sets the workgroup to which things will be served. Overrides compiled-in value. Choosing a name other than WORKGROUP is strongly recommended. YES, NO YES writable = boolean Antonym for read only; synonym of write ok. comma-separated list of users NULL (everyone) write list = comma-separated list List of users that are given read-write access to a read-only share. See also read list. YES, NO YES write ok = boolean Synonym of the writable configuration option. YES, NO YES [global] write raw = boolean Allows fast streaming writes over TCP, using 64KB buffers. Recommended. glossaryAddress list A space-separated list of IP addresses in ###.###.###.### format. Comma-separated list A list of items separated by commas. Command A Unix command, with full path and parameters. Host list A space-separated list of hosts. Allows IP addresses, address masks, domain names, ALL, and EXCEPT Interface list A space-separated list of interfaces, in either address/netmask or address/n-bits format. For example, 192.168.2.10/24 or 192.168.2.10/255.255.255.0 Map list A space-separated list of file-remapping strings such as (*.html *.htm). Remote list A space-separated list of subnet-broadcast-address/workgroup pairs. For example, 192.168.2.255/SERVERS 192.168.4.255/STAFF. Service (share) list A space-separated list of share names, without the enclosing square brackets. Slash-list A list of filenames, separated by "/" characters to allow embedded spaces. For example, /.*/fred flintstone/*.frk/. Text One line of text. User list A space-separated list of usernames. In Samba 1.9, @group-name will include everyone in Unix group group-name. In Samba 2.0, @group-name includes whomever is in the NIS netgroup group_name if one exists, otherwise whomever is in the Unix group group_name. In addition, +group_name is a Unix group, &group_name is an NIS netgroup, and &+ and +& cause an ordered search of both Unix and NIS groups. Table 3.1 lists of Samba configuration file variables. Name Meaning %a Client's architecture (one of Samba, WfWg, WinNT, Win95, or UNKNOWN) %d Current server process's processID %f Print-spool file as a relative path (printing only) %f User from which a message was sent (messages only) %G Primary group name of %U (requested username) %g Primary group name of %u (actual username) %H Home directory of %u (actual username) %h Samba server's (Internet) hostname %I Client's IP address %j Print job number (printing only) %L Samba server's NetBIOS name (virtual servers have multiple names) %M Client's (Internet) hostname %m Client's NetBIOS name %n New password (password change only) %N Name of the NIS home directory server (without NIS, same as %L) %o Old password (password change only) %P Current share's root directory (actual) %p Current share's root directory (in an NIS homedir map) %p Print filename (printing only) %R Protocol level in use (one of CORE, COREPLUS, LANMAN1, LANMAN2, or NT1) %S Current share's name %s Filename the message is in (messages only) %s Print-spool file name (printing only) %T Current date and time %t Destination machine (messages only) %u Current share's username %U Requested username for current share %v Samba version