ok i have a ubuntu server that uses samba to share all three hard drives with my network at the moment if you access any one of the shares you are asked a username and password, if i log in as my ubuntu user name password in this screen then im in to the share and have access to all three shares with no further prompting needed. this is not how i want it, how i want it is like this;

share1 (accessable by anyone on my network providing they have the username and password (or just one password)

share2 same as share1

share3 additional password required and/or only accessable by two lan ips

i have found that the smb.conf is in /etc/samba
but the shares are in /var/lib/ssamba in seperate files

i managed to add the samba documentation and tried reading the difference between user and share level authentication but that doc is not written for mortals! please any help greatfully recieved

On my Ubuntu server, I've set all my shares up in /etc/samba/smb.conf, so I'm not sure why they're in a different location..

I used the VALID USERS = parameter, per share, in the smb.conf in order to limit who can access what share...

That way, only my user, and root can access my unorganized "Stuff" share.

[Stuff]
path = /media/Storage1TB/STUFF/
available = yes
valid users = billinja, root
read only = no
browseable = yes
public = no
writable = yes

and in this example, my wife has access to our photo collection.

[Photos]
path = /media/Storage1TB/Photos
available = yes
valid users = billinja, root, april
read only = yes
browseable = yes
public = no
writable = no

These users need to be added as samba users, with samba passwords on the system, however they don't have to be personal accounts. I could just as easily set up a STUFF user or PHOTOS user, and given it a password that I would share with others. That just isn't as secure.

I'm sure there is also ways to do this with groups, but I haven't had the need to look into that yet.

Hopefully this helps - if not, I'm sure someone will correct me

sounds like a good method, how do i add samba users and passwords?


found an alternitve fix (i have reinstalled samba 3 times today and really screwed up my pc once,)
it was actualy scarierly simple just add "host allow = 192.168.1.112 192.168.1.113 to the share and set security to share and added guest ok = yes and force user = my username

all shares that are available to any of my friends connect to my network will have there ip added to the allow ip list of each share they are aloud to access

1st set in your /etc/samba/smb.conf
Then create the users in linux 1st (if they do not already exist).

Then add the user to sambaMake sure the folder you would like to share has it's right set to allow the user to access in the way you would like.

If you have many users using the same share you can add the into 1 common group and the just refer to the group under valid users using @ and the group name.

Here is an example:
So in this case whoever is member of the family group gets access to the Music share.