Accessing Windows shared folders from Linux involves using the Samba (SMB) protocol, which allows interoperability between Linux/Unix servers and Windows-based clients. Here’s a step-by-step guide to access Windows shared folders from a Linux machine:

Method 1: Using File Manager

Most modern Linux distributions come with file managers that support browsing SMB shares directly.

  1. Open your File Manager:
    • For example, if you are using GNOME, open the Nautilus file manager.
    • In KDE, use Dolphin.
  2. Connect to the Server:
    • In Nautilus, go to Other Locations and enter smb://<windows_ip_address>/<shared_folder_name>.
    • In Dolphin, use the address bar and enter smb://<windows_ip_address>/<shared_folder_name>.
  3. Authentication:
    • If the shared folder requires authentication, you will be prompted to enter your username and password.

Method 2: Using the Command Line

You can use the smbclient tool or mount the share using cifs filesystem.

Using smbclient (for browsing and accessing files)

  1. Install smbclient: 
    sudo apt-get install smbclient    # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo yum install samba-client     # CentOS/RHEL
sudo dnf install samba-client     # Fedora
  2. Access the Shared Folder: 
    smbclient //windows_ip_address/shared_folder -U username
    • Replace windows_ip_address with the IP address of the Windows machine.
    • Replace shared_folder with the name of the shared folder.
    • Replace username with your Windows username.
  3. Browse the Share:
    • After entering your password, you will be in the smbclient interactive shell, where you can use commands like ls, cd, get, and put to interact with files.

Using cifs (for mounting the share)

  1. Install cifs-utils: 
    sudo apt-get install cifs-utils    # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo yum install cifs-utils        # CentOS/RHEL
sudo dnf install cifs-utils        # Fedora
  2. Create a Mount Point: 
    sudo mkdir /mnt/windows_share
  3. Mount the Share: 
    sudo mount -t cifs //windows_ip_address/shared_folder /mnt/windows_share -o username=windows_username,password=windows_password,workgroup=WORKGROUP
    • Replace windows_ip_address with the IP address of the Windows machine.
    • Replace shared_folder with the name of the shared folder.
    • Replace windows_username and windows_password with your Windows credentials.
    • Replace WORKGROUP with your network workgroup name if different.
  4. Access the Mounted Share:
    • Now you can access the shared folder at /mnt/windows_share.
  5. Unmount the Share: 
    sudo umount /mnt/windows_share

Method 3: Permanent Mount via fstab

  1. Edit fstab File: 
    sudo nano /etc/fstab
  2. Add an Entry: 
    //windows_ip_address/shared_folder /mnt/windows_share cifs username=windows_username,password=windows_password,workgroup=WORKGROUP,iocharset=utf8,sec=ntlm 0 0
  3. Mount All Filesystems: 
    sudo mount -a
    • This ensures the shared folder is mounted automatically at boot.

By following these steps, you should be able to access Windows shared folders from your Linux machine easily.