Access ESX network share from Windows

For this demonstration we are working on ESX 3.5 and Windows XP SP2. We will create a user by the name Smith
Since ESX uses linux shell, the linux commands will be used to achieve this.

1. Create a user using the adduser/useradd command and give a password

useradd smith
passwd smith

2. The new user, now needs to be added to smbpasswd file. To do so, type the following command and specify a password for the smb account


smbpasswd -a smith


-a This option specifies that the username following should be added to the local smbpasswd file, with the new password typed (type for the old password). This option
is ignored if the username following already exists in the smbpasswd file and it is treated like a regular change password command.

3. By default user will get access to /home/smith from windows workstation. If you need to give user smith access to /share/data, the smb.conf file needs to be modified. The directory structure /share/data should already exist. Open /etc/samba/smb.conf , browse to the end of the file, enter the following details for data share and save the file.

[data]
comment = Personal Data
path = /share/data
valid users = smith
public = no
writable = yes

4. Restart the samba service

/etc/init.d/smb restart

or

service smb restart


5. Share the ESX share using a drive letter by net use command from Windows XP

net use H: \\IP Address of the ESX Server\data

Specify the username and password at the prompt.

6. Browse to drive H: to access the share.