I finally reinstalled Kubuntu from KDE4 RC. It was pretty much broken to all hell and I hated it. KDE3 is working a lot better, but I’m still getting crashes :/

I also realized that I should really start backing my config files, as I had to setup samba all over again at least 3 times, which really sucked. So without further ado, here’s another random how to:

Configuring Samba for Public Access

It’s actually rediculously easy, every single time I’ve done it, I always missed a little line that makes a user/password prompt appear. So here’s the relevant parts:

Change the security permissions:

in a terminal, type sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

hit ctrl+w, then type “security =” and hit enter. This will take you directly to it, the first line it finds will be a blocked comment about using it. Scroll down a little until you see

;security = user

Delete the ; and change user to share. It should look like this:

security = share

Next we need to configure how samba accepts authentication. This is the part I always miss, so even if you setup the share properly, you’ll always get a prompt for a password. hit ctrl+w again, and type “guest account =” and hit enter. This should take you directly to the line we need to edit. It should look like

;   guest account = nobody

Delete the ; so it looks like this:

guest account = nobody

This tells samba that there is a guest account, but there is no user for it. Effectively disabling the password prompt.

Now it’s time to setup a share! Go to the very end of the config file, and enter something along these lines, this is what my share is:

[Share]

path = /home/Share

public = yes

guest ok = yes

guest only = yes

guest account = nobody

browseable = yes

I personally prefer to just create one share, then link folders into it, to simplify things.

Hit Ctrl+O to save the file, then type sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart to reload the config

And that’s how you do it. Warning: Only do this in a private network, anyone can see these files. If you want one with password authentication, read this.

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