Ubuntu Manpage: smbclient - ftp-like client to access SMB/CIFS resources on servers

Provided by: smbclient_4.3.11+dfsg-0ubuntu0.16.04.34_amd64

NAME

       smbclient - ftp-like client to access SMB/CIFS resources on servers

SYNOPSIS

       smbclient [-b <buffer size>] [-d debuglevel] [-e] [-L <netbios name>] [-U username] [-I destinationIP]
        [-M <netbios name>] [-m maxprotocol] [-A authfile] [-N] [-C] [-g] [-i scope] [-O <socket options>]
        [-p port] [-R <name resolve order>] [-s <smb config file>] [-t <per-operation timeout in seconds>] [-k]
        [-P] [-c <command>]

       smbclient {servicename} [password] [-b <buffer size>] [-d debuglevel] [-e] [-D Directory] [-U username]
        [-W workgroup] [-M <netbios name>] [-m maxprotocol] [-A authfile] [-N] [-C] [-g] [-l log-basename]
        [-I destinationIP] [-E] [-c <command string>] [-i scope] [-O <socket options>] [-p port]
        [-R <name resolve order>] [-s <smb config file>] [-t <per-operation timeout in seconds>]
        [-T<c|x>IXFqgbNan] [-k]

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 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.

-R|--name-resolve <name resolve order>
This option is used by the programs in the Samba suite 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 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 smb.conf(5) file parameter (name
resolve order) will be used.

The default order is lmhosts, host, wins, bcast and without this parameter or any entry in the name
resolve order parameter of the smb.conf(5) file the name resolution methods will be attempted in this
order.

-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 NT1, which is the highest available SMB1 protocol. To connect
using SMB2 or SMB3 protocol, use the strings SMB2 or SMB3 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.

-d|--debuglevel=level
level is an integer from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified is 1.

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 smb.conf file.

-V|--version
Prints the program version number.

-s|--configfile=<configuration file>
The file specified contains the configuration details required by the server. The information in this
file includes server-specific information such as what printcap file to use, as well as descriptions
of all the services that the server is to provide. See smb.conf for more information. The default
configuration file name is determined at compile time.

-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.

--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.

-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 ingnored and no password will be used.

-k|--kerberos
Try to authenticate with kerberos. Only useful in an Active Directory environment.

-C|--use-ccache
Try to use the credentials cached by winbind.

-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.

-U|--user=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, then the LOGNAME variable and if either exists, the string is uppercased. If
these environmental variables are not found, the username GUEST is 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. Also, on many systems the command line of a running
process may be seen via the ps command. To be safe always allow rpcclient to prompt for a password
and type it in directly.

-S|--signing on|off|required
Set the client signing state.

-P|--machine-pass
Use stored machine account password.

-e|--encrypt
This command line parameter requires the remote server support the UNIX extensions or that the SMB3
protocol has been selected. Requests that the connection be encrypted. Negotiates SMB encryption
using either SMB3 or POSIX extensions via GSSAPI. Uses the given credentials for the encryption
negotiation (either kerberos or NTLMv1/v2 if given domain/username/password triple. Fails the
connection if encryption cannot be negotiated.

--pw-nt-hash
The supplied password is the NT hash.

-n|--netbiosname <primary NetBIOS name>
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 smb.conf file. However, a command line setting will take
precedence over settings in smb.conf.

-i|--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=domain
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).

-O|--socket-options socket options
TCP socket options to set on the client socket. See the socket options parameter in the smb.conf
manual page for the list of valid options.

-?|--help
Print a summary of command line options.

--usage
Display brief usage message.

-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.

• 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.

• q - Quiet. Keeps tar from printing diagnostics as it works. This is the same as tarmode quiet.

• 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 -'.

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.

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.

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.

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>
Rename files in the current working directory on the server from old filename to new filename.

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.

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.

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

       The variable USER may contain the username of the person using the client. This information is used only
       if the protocol level is high enough to support session-level passwords.

       The variable PASSWD may contain the password of the person using the client. This information is used
       only if the protocol level is high enough to support session-level passwords.

       The variable LIBSMB_PROG may contain the path, executed with system(), which the client should connect to
       instead of connecting to a server. This functionality is primarily intended as a development aid, and
       works best when using a LMHOSTS file

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 correct for version 3.2 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.

       The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer. The man page sources were converted to YODL
       format (another excellent piece of Open Source software, available at ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/)
       and updated for the Samba 2.0 release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for Samba 2.2 was done
       by Gerald Carter. The conversion to DocBook XML 4.2 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.