Provided by: smbclient_4.20.4+dfsg-1ubuntu1_amd64 
NAME
smbclient - ftp-like client to access SMB/CIFS resources on servers
SYNOPSIS
smbclient [-M|--message=HOST] [-I|--ip-address=IP] [-E|--stderr] [-L|--list=HOST]
[-T|--tar=<c|x>IXFvgbNan] [-D|--directory=DIR] [-b|--send-buffer=BYTES]
[-t|--timeout=SECONDS] [-p|--port=PORT] [-g|--grepable] [-q|--quiet] [-B|--browse]
[-?|--help] [--usage] [-d|--debuglevel=DEBUGLEVEL] [--debug-stdout]
[-s|--configfile=CONFIGFILE] [--option=name=value] [-l|--log-basename=LOGFILEBASE]
[--leak-report] [--leak-report-full] [-R|--name-resolve=NAME-RESOLVE-ORDER]
[-O|--socket-options=SOCKETOPTIONS] [-m|--max-protocol=MAXPROTOCOL]
[-n|--netbiosname=NETBIOSNAME] [--netbios-scope=SCOPE] [-W|--workgroup=WORKGROUP]
[--realm=REALM] [-U|--user=[DOMAIN/]USERNAME%[PASSWORD]] [-N|--no-pass]
[--password=STRING] [--pw-nt-hash] [-A|--authentication-file=FILE] [-P|--machine-pass]
[--simple-bind-dn=DN] [--use-kerberos=desired|required|off] [--use-krb5-ccache=CCACHE]
[--use-winbind-ccache] [--client-protection=sign|encrypt|off] [-V|--version]
[-c|--command=STRING]
DESCRIPTION
This tool is part of the samba(7) suite.
smbclient is a client that can 'talk' to an SMB/CIFS server. It offers an interface
similar to that of the ftp program (see ftp(1)). Operations include things like getting
files from the server to the local machine, putting files from the local machine to the
server, retrieving directory information from the server and so on.
OPTIONS
servicename
servicename is the name of the service you want to use on the server. A service name
takes the form //server/service where server is the NetBIOS name of the SMB/CIFS
server offering the desired service and service is the name of the service offered.
Thus to connect to the service "printer" on the SMB/CIFS server "smbserver", you would
use the servicename //smbserver/printer
Note that the server name required is NOT necessarily the IP (DNS) host name of the
server ! The name required is a NetBIOS server name, which may or may not be the same
as the IP hostname of the machine running the server.
The server name is looked up according to either the -R|--name-resolve parameter to
smbclient or using the name resolve order parameter in the smb.conf(5) file, allowing
an administrator to change the order and methods by which server names are looked up.
password
The password required to access the specified service on the specified server. If this
parameter is supplied, the -N option (suppress password prompt) is assumed.
There is no default password. If no password is supplied on the command line (either
by using this parameter or adding a password to the -U option (see below)) and the -N
option is not specified, the client will prompt for a password, even if the desired
service does not require one. (If no password is required, simply press ENTER to
provide a null password.)
Note: Some servers (including OS/2 and Windows for Workgroups) insist on an uppercase
password. Lowercase or mixed case passwords may be rejected by these servers.
Be cautious about including passwords in scripts.
-M|--message NetBIOS name
This options allows you to send messages, using the "WinPopup" protocol, to another
computer. Once a connection is established you then type your message, pressing ^D
(control-D) to end.
If the receiving computer is running WinPopup the user will receive the message and
probably a beep. If they are not running WinPopup the message will be lost, and no
error message will occur.
The message is also automatically truncated if the message is over 1600 bytes, as this
is the limit of the protocol.
One useful trick is to pipe the message through smbclient. For example: smbclient -M
FRED < mymessage.txt will send the message in the file mymessage.txt to the machine
FRED.
You may also find the -U and -I options useful, as they allow you to control the FROM
and TO parts of the message.
See the message command parameter in the smb.conf(5) for a description of how to
handle incoming WinPopup messages in Samba.
Note: Copy WinPopup into the startup group on your WfWg PCs if you want them to always
be able to receive messages.
-p|--port port
This number is the TCP port number that will be used when making connections to the
server. The standard (well-known) TCP port number for an SMB/CIFS server is 139, which
is the default.
-g|--grepable
This parameter provides combined with -L easy parseable output that allows processing
with utilities such as grep and cut.
-m|--max-protocol protocol
This allows the user to select the highest SMB protocol level that smbclient will use
to connect to the server. By default this is set to highest available SMB3 protocol
version. To connect using SMB2 or SMB1 protocol, use the strings SMB2 or NT1
respectively. Note that to connect to a Windows 2012 server with encrypted transport
selecting a max-protocol of SMB3 is required.
-P|--machine-pass
Make queries to the external server using the machine account of the local server.
-I|--ip-address IP-address
IP address is the address of the server to connect to. It should be specified in
standard "a.b.c.d" notation.
Normally the client would attempt to locate a named SMB/CIFS server by looking it up
via the NetBIOS name resolution mechanism described above in the name resolve order
parameter above. Using this parameter will force the client to assume that the server
is on the machine with the specified IP address and the NetBIOS name component of the
resource being connected to will be ignored.
There is no default for this parameter. If not supplied, it will be determined
automatically by the client as described above.
-E|--stderr
This parameter causes the client to write messages to the standard error stream
(stderr) rather than to the standard output stream.
By default, the client writes messages to standard output - typically the user's tty.
-L|--list
This option allows you to look at what services are available on a server. You use it
as smbclient -L host and a list should appear. The -I option may be useful if your
NetBIOS names don't match your TCP/IP DNS host names or if you are trying to reach a
host on another network.
-b|--send-buffer buffersize
When sending or receiving files, smbclient uses an internal buffer sized by the
maximum number of allowed requests to the connected server. This command allows this
size to be set to any range between 0 (which means use the default server controlled
size) bytes and 16776960 (0xFFFF00) bytes. Using the server controlled size is the
most efficient as smbclient will pipeline as many simultaneous reads or writes needed
to keep the server as busy as possible. Setting this to any other size will slow down
the transfer. This can also be set using the iosize command inside smbclient.
-B|--browse
Browse SMB servers using DNS.
-t|--timeout <timeout-seconds>
This allows the user to tune the default timeout used for each SMB request. The
default setting is 20 seconds. Increase it if requests to the server sometimes time
out. This can happen when SMB3 encryption is selected and smbclient is overwhelming
the server with requests. This can also be set using the timeout command inside
smbclient.
-T|--tar tar options
smbclient may be used to create tar(1) compatible backups of all the files on an
SMB/CIFS share. The secondary tar flags that can be given to this option are:
• c - Create a tar backup archive on the local system. Must be followed by
the name of a tar file, tape device or "-" for standard output. If using
standard output you must turn the log level to its lowest value -d0 to
avoid corrupting your tar file. This flag is mutually exclusive with the x
flag.
• n - In combination with the c flag, do not actually create the archive,
instead perform a dry run that attempts everything that involved in
creation other than writing the file.
• x - Extract (restore) a local tar file back to a share. Unless the -D
option is given, the tar files will be restored from the top level of the
share. Must be followed by the name of the tar file, device or "-" for
standard input. Mutually exclusive with the c flag. Restored files have
their creation times (mtime) set to the date saved in the tar file.
Directories currently do not get their creation dates restored properly.
• I - Include files and directories. Is the default behavior when filenames
are specified above. Causes files to be included in an extract or create
(and therefore everything else to be excluded). See example below. Filename
globbing works in one of two ways. See r below.
• X - Exclude files and directories. Causes files to be excluded from an
extract or create. See example below. Filename globbing works in one of two
ways. See r below.
• F - File containing a list of files and directories. The F causes the name
following the tarfile to create to be read as a filename that contains a
list of files and directories to be included in an extract or create (and
therefore everything else to be excluded). See example below. Filename
globbing works in one of two ways. See r below.
• b - Blocksize. Must be followed by a valid (greater than zero) blocksize.
Causes tar file to be written out in blocksize*TBLOCK (512 byte) blocks.
• g - Incremental. Only back up files that have the archive bit set. Useful
only with the c flag.
• v - Verbose. Makes tar print out the files being processed. By default tar
is not verbose. This is the same as tarmode verbose.
• r - Use wildcard matching to include or exclude. Deprecated.
• N - Newer than. Must be followed by the name of a file whose date is
compared against files found on the share during a create. Only files newer
than the file specified are backed up to the tar file. Useful only with the
c flag.
• a - Set archive bit. Causes the archive bit to be reset when a file is
backed up. Useful with the g and c flags.
Tar Long File Names
smbclient's tar option now supports long file names both on backup and restore.
However, the full path name of the file must be less than 1024 bytes. Also, when a tar
archive is created, smbclient's tar option places all files in the archive with
relative names, not absolute names.
Tar Filenames
All file names can be given as DOS path names (with '\\' as the component separator)
or as UNIX path names (with '/' as the component separator).
Examples
Restore from tar file backup.tar into myshare on mypc (no password on share).
smbclient //mypc/myshare "" -N -Tx backup.tar
Restore everything except users/docs
smbclient //mypc/myshare "" -N -TXx backup.tar users/docs
Create a tar file of the files beneath users/docs.
smbclient //mypc/myshare "" -N -Tc backup.tar users/docs
Create the same tar file as above, but now use a DOS path name.
smbclient //mypc/myshare "" -N -Tc backup.tar users\edocs
Create a tar file of the files listed in the file tarlist.
smbclient //mypc/myshare "" -N -TcF backup.tar tarlist
Create a tar file of all the files and directories in the share.
smbclient //mypc/myshare "" -N -Tc backup.tar *
-D|--directory initial directory
Change to initial directory before starting. Probably only of any use with the tar -T
option.
-c|--command command string
command string is a semicolon-separated list of commands to be executed instead of
prompting from stdin.
-N is implied by -c.
This is particularly useful in scripts and for printing stdin to the server, e.g. -c
'print -'.
-?|--help
Print a summary of command line options.
--usage
Display brief usage message.
-d|--debuglevel=DEBUGLEVEL
level is an integer from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified
is 1 for client applications.
The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the log files about the
activities of the server. At level 0, only critical errors and serious warnings will
be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable level for day-to-day running - it generates a small
amount of information about operations carried out.
Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log data, and should only be used
when investigating a problem. Levels above 3 are designed for use only by developers
and generate HUGE amounts of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.
Note that specifying this parameter here will override the log level parameter in the
/etc/samba/smb.conf file.
--debug-stdout
This will redirect debug output to STDOUT. By default all clients are logging to
STDERR.
--configfile=<configuration file>
The file specified contains the configuration details required by the client. The
information in this file can be general for client and server or only provide client
specific like options such as client smb encrypt. See /etc/samba/smb.conf for more
information. The default configuration file name is determined at compile time.
--option=<name>=<value>
Set the smb.conf(5) option "<name>" to value "<value>" from the command line. This
overrides compiled-in defaults and options read from the configuration file. If a name
or a value includes a space, wrap whole --option=name=value into quotes.
-l|--log-basename=logdirectory
Base directory name for log/debug files. The extension ".progname" will be appended
(e.g. log.smbclient, log.smbd, etc...). The log file is never removed by the client.
--leak-report
Enable talloc leak reporting on exit.
--leak-report-full
Enable full talloc leak reporting on exit.
-V|--version
Prints the program version number.
-R|--name-resolve=NAME-RESOLVE-ORDER
This option is used to determine what naming services and in what order to resolve
host names to IP addresses. The option takes a space-separated string of different
name resolution options. The best is to wrap the whole
--name-resolve=NAME-RESOLVE-ORDER into quotes.
The options are: "lmhosts", "host", "wins" and "bcast". They cause names to be
resolved as follows:
• lmhosts: Lookup an IP address in the Samba lmhosts file. If the line in
lmhosts has no name type attached to the NetBIOS name (see the lmhosts(5)
for details) then any name type matches for lookup.
• host: Do a standard host name to IP address resolution, using the system
/etc/hosts, NIS, or DNS lookups. This method of name resolution is
operating system dependent, for instance on IRIX or Solaris this may be
controlled by the /etc/nsswitch.conf file). Note that this method is only
used if the NetBIOS name type being queried is the 0x20 (server) name type,
otherwise it is ignored.
• wins: Query a name with the IP address listed in the wins server parameter.
If no WINS server has been specified this method will be ignored.
• bcast: Do a broadcast on each of the known local interfaces listed in the
interfaces parameter. This is the least reliable of the name resolution
methods as it depends on the target host being on a locally connected
subnet.
If this parameter is not set then the name resolve order defined in the
/etc/samba/smb.conf file parameter (name resolve order) will be used.
The default order is lmhosts, host, wins, bcast. Without this parameter or any entry
in the name resolve order parameter of the /etc/samba/smb.conf file, the name
resolution methods will be attempted in this order.
-O|--socket-options=SOCKETOPTIONS
TCP socket options to set on the client socket. See the socket options parameter in
the /etc/samba/smb.conf manual page for the list of valid options.
-m|--max-protocol=MAXPROTOCOL
The value of the parameter (a string) is the highest protocol level that will be
supported by the client.
Note that specifying this parameter here will override the client max protocol
parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.
-n|--netbiosname=NETBIOSNAME
This option allows you to override the NetBIOS name that Samba uses for itself. This
is identical to setting the netbios name parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.
However, a command line setting will take precedence over settings in
/etc/samba/smb.conf.
--netbios-scope=SCOPE
This specifies a NetBIOS scope that nmblookup will use to communicate with when
generating NetBIOS names. For details on the use of NetBIOS scopes, see rfc1001.txt
and rfc1002.txt. NetBIOS scopes are very rarely used, only set this parameter if you
are the system administrator in charge of all the NetBIOS systems you communicate
with.
-W|--workgroup=WORKGROUP
Set the SMB domain of the username. This overrides the default domain which is the
domain defined in smb.conf. If the domain specified is the same as the servers NetBIOS
name, it causes the client to log on using the servers local SAM (as opposed to the
Domain SAM).
Note that specifying this parameter here will override the workgroup parameter in the
/etc/samba/smb.conf file.
-r|--realm=REALM
Set the realm for the domain.
Note that specifying this parameter here will override the realm parameter in the
/etc/samba/smb.conf file.
-U|--user=[DOMAIN\]USERNAME[%PASSWORD]
Sets the SMB username or username and password.
If %PASSWORD is not specified, the user will be prompted. The client will first check
the USER environment variable (which is also permitted to also contain the password
separated by a %), then the LOGNAME variable (which is not permitted to contain a
password) and if either exists, the value is used. If these environmental variables
are not found, the username found in a Kerberos Credentials cache may be used.
A third option is to use a credentials file which contains the plaintext of the
username and password. This option is mainly provided for scripts where the admin does
not wish to pass the credentials on the command line or via environment variables. If
this method is used, make certain that the permissions on the file restrict access
from unwanted users. See the -A for more details.
Be cautious about including passwords in scripts or passing user-supplied values onto
the command line. For security it is better to let the Samba client tool ask for the
password if needed, or obtain the password once with kinit.
While Samba will attempt to scrub the password from the process title (as seen in ps),
this is after startup and so is subject to a race.
-N|--no-pass
If specified, this parameter suppresses the normal password prompt from the client to
the user. This is useful when accessing a service that does not require a password.
Unless a password is specified on the command line or this parameter is specified, the
client will request a password.
If a password is specified on the command line and this option is also defined the
password on the command line will be silently ignored and no password will be used.
--password
Specify the password on the commandline.
Be cautious about including passwords in scripts or passing user-supplied values onto
the command line. For security it is better to let the Samba client tool ask for the
password if needed, or obtain the password once with kinit.
If --password is not specified, the tool will check the PASSWD environment variable,
followed by PASSWD_FD which is expected to contain an open file descriptor (FD)
number.
Finally it will check PASSWD_FILE (containing a file path to be opened). The file
should only contain the password. Make certain that the permissions on the file
restrict access from unwanted users!
While Samba will attempt to scrub the password from the process title (as seen in ps),
this is after startup and so is subject to a race.
--pw-nt-hash
The supplied password is the NT hash.
-A|--authentication-file=filename
This option allows you to specify a file from which to read the username and password
used in the connection. The format of the file is:
username = <value>
password = <value>
domain = <value>
Make certain that the permissions on the file restrict access from unwanted users!
-P|--machine-pass
Use stored machine account password.
--simple-bind-dn=DN
DN to use for a simple bind.
--use-kerberos=desired|required|off
This parameter determines whether Samba client tools will try to authenticate using
Kerberos. For Kerberos authentication you need to use dns names instead of IP
addresses when connecting to a service.
Note that specifying this parameter here will override the client use kerberos
parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.
--use-krb5-ccache=CCACHE
Specifies the credential cache location for Kerberos authentication.
This will set --use-kerberos=required too.
--use-winbind-ccache
Try to use the credential cache by winbind.
--client-protection=sign|encrypt|off
Sets the connection protection the client tool should use.
Note that specifying this parameter here will override the client protection parameter
in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.
In case you need more fine grained control you can use:
--option=clientsmbencrypt=OPTION, --option=clientipcsigning=OPTION,
--option=clientsigning=OPTION.
OPERATIONS
Once the client is running, the user is presented with a prompt :
smb:\>
The backslash ("\\") indicates the current working directory on the server, and will
change if the current working directory is changed.
The prompt indicates that the client is ready and waiting to carry out a user command.
Each command is a single word, optionally followed by parameters specific to that command.
Command and parameters are space-delimited unless these notes specifically state
otherwise. All commands are case-insensitive. Parameters to commands may or may not be
case sensitive, depending on the command.
You can specify file names which have spaces in them by quoting the name with double
quotes, for example "a long file name".
Parameters shown in square brackets (e.g., "[parameter]") are optional. If not given, the
command will use suitable defaults. Parameters shown in angle brackets (e.g.,
"<parameter>") are required.
Note that all commands operating on the server are actually performed by issuing a request
to the server. Thus the behavior may vary from server to server, depending on how the
server was implemented.
The commands available are given here in alphabetical order.
? [command]
If command is specified, the ? command will display a brief informative message about
the specified command. If no command is specified, a list of available commands will
be displayed.
! [shell command]
If shell command is specified, the ! command will execute a shell locally and run the
specified shell command. If no command is specified, a local shell will be run.
allinfo file
The client will request that the server return all known information about a file or
directory (including streams).
altname file
The client will request that the server return the "alternate" name (the 8.3 name) for
a file or directory.
archive <number>
Sets the archive level when operating on files. 0 means ignore the archive bit, 1
means only operate on files with this bit set, 2 means only operate on files with this
bit set and reset it after operation, 3 means operate on all files and reset it after
operation. The default is 0.
backup
Toggle the state of the "backup intent" flag sent to the server on directory listings
and file opens. If the "backup intent" flag is true, the server will try and bypass
some file system checks if the user has been granted SE_BACKUP or SE_RESTORE
privileges. This state is useful when performing a backup or restore operation.
blocksize <number>
Sets the blocksize parameter for a tar operation. The default is 20. Causes tar file
to be written out in blocksize*TBLOCK (normally 512 byte) units.
cancel jobid0 [jobid1] ... [jobidN]
The client will request that the server cancel the printjobs identified by the given
numeric print job ids.
case_sensitive
Toggles the setting of the flag in SMB packets that tells the server to treat
filenames as case sensitive. Set to OFF by default (tells file server to treat
filenames as case insensitive). Only currently affects Samba 3.0.5 and above file
servers with the case sensitive parameter set to auto in the smb.conf.
cd <directory name>
If "directory name" is specified, the current working directory on the server will be
changed to the directory specified. This operation will fail if for any reason the
specified directory is inaccessible.
If no directory name is specified, the current working directory on the server will be
reported.
chmod file mode in octal
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. The client requests that the server change the UNIX
permissions to the given octal mode, in standard UNIX format.
chown file uid gid
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. The client requests that the server change the UNIX user and
group ownership to the given decimal values. Note there is currently no way to
remotely look up the UNIX uid and gid values for a given name. This may be addressed
in future versions of the CIFS UNIX extensions.
close <fileid>
Closes a file explicitly opened by the open command. Used for internal Samba testing
purposes.
del <mask>
The client will request that the server attempt to delete all files matching mask from
the current working directory on the server.
deltree <mask>
The client will request that the server attempt to delete all files and directories
matching mask from the current working directory on the server. Note this will
recursively delete files and directories within the directories selected even without
the recurse command being set. If any of the delete requests fail the command will
stop processing at that point, leaving files and directories not yet processed
untouched. This is by design.
dir <mask>
A list of the files matching mask in the current working directory on the server will
be retrieved from the server and displayed.
du <filename>
Does a directory listing and then prints out the current disk usage and free space on
a share.
echo <number> <data>
Does an SMBecho request to ping the server. Used for internal Samba testing purposes.
exit
Terminate the connection with the server and exit from the program.
get <remote file name> [local file name]
Copy the file called remote file name from the server to the machine running the
client. If specified, name the local copy local file name. Note that all transfers in
smbclient are binary. See also the lowercase command.
getfacl <filename>
Requires the server support the UNIX extensions. Requests and prints the POSIX ACL on
a file.
hardlink <src> <dest>
Creates a hardlink on the server using Windows CIFS semantics.
help [command]
See the ? command above.
history
Displays the command history.
iosize <bytes>
When sending or receiving files, smbclient uses an internal buffer sized by the
maximum number of allowed requests to the connected server. This command allows this
size to be set to any range between 0 (which means use the default server controlled
size) bytes and 16776960 (0xFFFF00) bytes. Using the server controlled size is the
most efficient as smbclient will pipeline as many simultaneous reads or writes needed
to keep the server as busy as possible. Setting this to any other size will slow down
the transfer.
lcd [directory name]
If directory name is specified, the current working directory on the local machine
will be changed to the directory specified. This operation will fail if for any reason
the specified directory is inaccessible.
If no directory name is specified, the name of the current working directory on the
local machine will be reported.
link target linkname
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. The client requests that the server create a hard link between
the linkname and target files. The linkname file must not exist.
listconnect
Show the current connections held for DFS purposes.
lock <filenum> <r|w> <hex-start> <hex-len>
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. Tries to set a POSIX fcntl lock of the given type on the given
range. Used for internal Samba testing purposes.
logon <username> <password>
Establishes a new vuid for this session by logging on again. Replaces the current
vuid. Prints out the new vuid. Used for internal Samba testing purposes.
logoff
Logs the user off the server, closing the session. Used for internal Samba testing
purposes.
lowercase
Toggle lowercasing of filenames for the get and mget commands.
When lowercasing is toggled ON, local filenames are converted to lowercase when using
the get and mget commands. This is often useful when copying (say) MSDOS files from a
server, because lowercase filenames are the norm on UNIX systems.
ls <mask>
See the dir command above.
mask <mask>
This command allows the user to set up a mask which will be used during recursive
operation of the mget and mput commands.
The masks specified to the mget and mput commands act as filters for directories
rather than files when recursion is toggled ON.
The mask specified with the mask command is necessary to filter files within those
directories. For example, if the mask specified in an mget command is "source*" and
the mask specified with the mask command is "*.c" and recursion is toggled ON, the
mget command will retrieve all files matching "*.c" in all directories below and
including all directories matching "source*" in the current working directory.
Note that the value for mask defaults to blank (equivalent to "*") and remains so
until the mask command is used to change it. It retains the most recently specified
value indefinitely. To avoid unexpected results it would be wise to change the value
of mask back to "*" after using the mget or mput commands.
md <directory name>
See the mkdir command.
mget <mask>
Copy all files matching mask from the server to the machine running the client.
Note that mask is interpreted differently during recursive operation and non-recursive
operation - refer to the recurse and mask commands for more information. Note that all
transfers in smbclient are binary. See also the lowercase command.
mkdir <directory name>
Create a new directory on the server (user access privileges permitting) with the
specified name.
more <file name>
Fetch a remote file and view it with the contents of your PAGER environment variable.
mput <mask>
Copy all files matching mask in the current working directory on the local machine to
the current working directory on the server.
Note that mask is interpreted differently during recursive operation and non-recursive
operation - refer to the recurse and mask commands for more information. Note that all
transfers in smbclient are binary.
notify <dir name>
Query a directory for change notifications. This command issues a recursive
filechangenotify call for all possible changes. As changes come in will print one line
per change. See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn392331.aspx for a
description of the action numbers that this command prints.
This command never ends, it waits for event indefinitely.
posix
Query the remote server to see if it supports the CIFS UNIX extensions and prints out
the list of capabilities supported. If so, turn on POSIX pathname processing and large
file read/writes (if available),.
posix_encrypt <domain> <username> <password>
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. Attempt to negotiate SMB encryption on this connection. If
smbclient connected with kerberos credentials (-k) the arguments to this command are
ignored and the kerberos credentials are used to negotiate GSSAPI signing and sealing
instead. See also the -e option to smbclient to force encryption on initial
connection. This command is new with Samba 3.2.
posix_open <filename> <octal mode>
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. Opens a remote file using the CIFS UNIX extensions and prints
a fileid. Used for internal Samba testing purposes.
posix_mkdir <directoryname> <octal mode>
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. Creates a remote directory using the CIFS UNIX extensions with
the given mode.
posix_rmdir <directoryname>
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. Deletes a remote directory using the CIFS UNIX extensions.
posix_unlink <filename>
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. Deletes a remote file using the CIFS UNIX extensions.
posix_whoami
Query the remote server for the user token using the CIFS UNIX extensions WHOAMI call.
Prints out the guest status, user, group, group list and sid list that the remote
server is using on behalf of the logged on user.
print <file name>
Print the specified file from the local machine through a printable service on the
server.
prompt
Toggle prompting for filenames during operation of the mget and mput commands.
When toggled ON, the user will be prompted to confirm the transfer of each file during
these commands. When toggled OFF, all specified files will be transferred without
prompting.
put <local file name> [remote file name]
Copy the file called local file name from the machine running the client to the
server. If specified, name the remote copy remote file name. Note that all transfers
in smbclient are binary. See also the lowercase command.
queue
Displays the print queue, showing the job id, name, size and current status.
quit
See the exit command.
readlink symlinkname
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. Print the value of the symlink "symlinkname".
rd <directory name>
See the rmdir command.
recurse
Toggle directory recursion for the commands mget and mput.
When toggled ON, these commands will process all directories in the source directory
(i.e., the directory they are copying from ) and will recurse into any that match the
mask specified to the command. Only files that match the mask specified using the mask
command will be retrieved. See also the mask command.
When recursion is toggled OFF, only files from the current working directory on the
source machine that match the mask specified to the mget or mput commands will be
copied, and any mask specified using the mask command will be ignored.
rename <old filename> <new filename> [-f]
Rename files in the current working directory on the server from old filename to new
filename. The optional -f switch allows for superseding the destination file, if it
exists. This is supported by NT1 protocol dialect and SMB2 protocol family.
rm <mask>
Remove all files matching mask from the current working directory on the server.
rmdir <directory name>
Remove the specified directory (user access privileges permitting) from the server.
scopy <source filename> <destination filename>
Attempt to copy a file on the server using the most efficient server-side copy calls.
Falls back to using read then write if server doesn't support server-side copy.
setmode <filename> <perm=[+|\-]rsha>
A version of the DOS attrib command to set file permissions. For example:
setmode myfile +r
would make myfile read only.
showconnect
Show the currently active connection held for DFS purposes.
stat file
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. The client requests the UNIX basic info level and prints out
the same info that the Linux stat command would about the file. This includes the
size, blocks used on disk, file type, permissions, inode number, number of links and
finally the three timestamps (access, modify and change). If the file is a special
file (symlink, character or block device, fifo or socket) then extra information may
also be printed.
symlink target linkname
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. The client requests that the server create a symbolic hard
link between the target and linkname files. The linkname file must not exist. Note
that the server will not create a link to any path that lies outside the currently
connected share. This is enforced by the Samba server.
tar <c|x>[IXbgNa]
Performs a tar operation - see the -T command line option above. Behavior may be
affected by the tarmode command (see below). Using g (incremental) and N (newer) will
affect tarmode settings. Note that using the "-" option with tar x may not work - use
the command line option instead.
blocksize <blocksize>
Blocksize. Must be followed by a valid (greater than zero) blocksize. Causes tar file
to be written out in blocksize*TBLOCK (512 byte) blocks.
tarmode <full|inc|reset|noreset|system|nosystem|hidden|nohidden|verbose|noverbose>
Changes tar's behavior with regard to DOS attributes. There are 4 modes which can be
turned on or off.
Incremental mode (default off). When off (using full) tar will back up everything
regardless of the archive bit setting. When on (using inc), tar will only back up
files with the archive bit set.
Reset mode (default off). When on (using reset), tar will remove the archive bit on
all files it backs up (implies read/write share). Use noreset to turn off.
System mode (default on). When off, tar will not backup system files. Use nosystem to
turn off.
Hidden mode (default on). When off, tar will not backup hidden files. Use nohidden to
turn off.
timeout <per-operation timeout in seconds>
This allows the user to tune the default timeout used for each SMB request. The
default setting is 20 seconds. Increase it if requests to the server sometimes time
out. This can happen when SMB3 encryption is selected and smbclient is overwhelming
the server with requests.
unlock <filenum> <hex-start> <hex-len>
This command depends on the server supporting the CIFS UNIX extensions and will fail
if the server does not. Tries to unlock a POSIX fcntl lock on the given range. Used
for internal Samba testing purposes.
volume
Prints the current volume name of the share.
vuid <number>
Changes the currently used vuid in the protocol to the given arbitrary number. Without
an argument prints out the current vuid being used. Used for internal Samba testing
purposes.
tcon <sharename>
Establishes a new tree connect (connection to a share). Replaces the current tree
connect. Prints the new tid (tree id). Used for internal Samba testing purposes.
tdis
Close the current share connection (tree disconnect). Used for internal Samba testing
purposes.
tid <number>
Changes the current tree id (tid) in the protocol to a new arbitrary number. Without
an argument, it prints out the tid currently used. Used for internal Samba testing
purposes.
utimes <filename> <create time> <access time> <write time> < change time>
Changes the timestamps on a file by name. Times should be specified in the format
[YY]YY:MM:DD-HH:MM:SS or -1 for no change.
NOTES
Some servers are fussy about the case of supplied usernames, passwords, share names (AKA
service names) and machine names. If you fail to connect try giving all parameters in
uppercase.
It is often necessary to use the -n option when connecting to some types of servers. For
example OS/2 LanManager insists on a valid NetBIOS name being used, so you need to supply
a valid name that would be known to the server.
smbclient supports long file names where the server supports the LANMAN2 protocol or
above.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See the --user and --password options for details on ways to specify a username and
password via an environment variable.
INSTALLATION
The location of the client program is a matter for individual system administrators. The
following are thus suggestions only.
It is recommended that the smbclient software be installed in the /usr/local/samba/bin/ or
/usr/samba/bin/ directory, this directory readable by all, writeable only by root. The
client program itself should be executable by all. The client should NOT be setuid or
setgid!
The client log files should be put in a directory readable and writeable only by the user.
To test the client, you will need to know the name of a running SMB/CIFS server. It is
possible to run smbd(8) as an ordinary user - running that server as a daemon on a
user-accessible port (typically any port number over 1024) would provide a suitable test
server.
DIAGNOSTICS
Most diagnostics issued by the client are logged in a specified log file. The log file
name is specified at compile time, but may be overridden on the command line.
The number and nature of diagnostics available depends on the debug level used by the
client. If you have problems, set the debug level to 3 and peruse the log files.
VERSION
This man page is part of version 4.20.4-Ubuntu-4.20.4+dfsg-1ubuntu1 of the Samba suite.
AUTHOR
The original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba
is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux
kernel is developed.