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.