Recipe 23.11. Accessing Users' Home Directories in Samba

23.11.1 Problem

You want your users to be able to access their home directories on the Samba server, so they always have access to their personal files, no matter where they log in from.

23.11.2 Solution

Add these lines to smb.conf:

[homes]

   comment = User's Home Directories

   valid users = %S

   browseable = No

   read only = No

Linux users can connect to their home directories with smbclient:

$ smbclient //windbag/homes -U <username> <password>

So, if user Andrew's password is bigsecret, he can access his home directory as follows:

$ smbclient //windbag/homes -U andrew bigsecret

Then use smbmount and smbumount to mount the share and make the files available (see Recipe Recipe 23.18).

smb4k and LinNeighborhood (discussed in Recipe Recipe 23.17) are excellent Linux graphical browsers for accessing homes shares.

Windows users merely need to find the server in Network Neighborhood, then log in in the usual manner.

23.11.3 Discussion

Because the homes shares are not browseable (browseable = No), they will not appear in any LAN browser until you log in. Then, only your home directory is displayed; you won't see the other users' directories. So users only need to know the name of the server, not the names of their shares.

valid users = %S means that all Samba users can get to their home directories. If you wish to restrict users, you may use the usual methods to grant or deny access to specific users and/or groups:

valid users = andrew  dana  helen  helix

valid users = +sambagroup

invalid users = daryl  larry  +badusers

23.11.4 See Also

• smb.conf(5)