Samba sever and window-based client
 

Hi all,

I am about to install Samba server on my CentOS 7.

Do I really need a windows-based machine to check making sure the Samba server is installed correctly and reachable?

My other desktop is also CentOS 7.

Thank you,
Denny

No, you can use Samba without Windows.

Not necessarily. You may use 'smbclient' to emulate a samba client.
Apparently, few versions of windows behave differently, so maybe it's worth to have a windows VM just in case.

that is an interesting question. If you don't have any Windows why do you want samba at all? Use NFS between linux clients.
But obviously you can install and use it without windows.