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Reddit
reddit.com › r/linuxquestions › [question] set preferred samba protocol version
r/linuxquestions on Reddit: [Question] Set preferred samba protocol version
August 12, 2020 -

There are multiple SMB protocol versions that can be set used, by editing /etc/samba/smb.conf

[global]
    min protocol = SMB2

I can set a minimum, and maximum version for my system. However, this could leave a range of versions that are actually used.

Is it possible to set a preferred version, which is used if both the client and server support this version?
Or is there a way to get SMB to use the latest compatible version, not the minimum (seeing as it defaults to version 1.0)?

Discussions

samba - Available min max values for SMB protocol - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
From the man page for the configuration file for the Samba suite in the "client max protocol" section: ... CORE: Earliest version. More on unix.stackexchange.com
🌐 unix.stackexchange.com
July 24, 2018
Samba & NTLMv1/v2 support
Unless Centos has changed the default smb.conf , Samba 4.10.x should still use SMBv1, SMBv1 was disabled by default at Samba 4.11.0 Does your smb.conf contain these two lines: client min protocol = SMB2_02 server min protocol = SMB2_02 If so, remove them, that will turn SMBv1 back on If they aren't there, please post your smb.conf What I am struggling with is, why would you enforce SMBv1 when everyone else is turning it off ? More on reddit.com
🌐 r/linuxadmin
8
20
April 21, 2021
SMB is SAMBA... According to some. Facepalm!
Depending on the context this may be a bit pendantic. SAMBA is SMB for *nix. From your own linked article : Samba implements the SMB protocol which is what allows Windows clients to transparently access Linux directories. I totally understand why people get it confused who don't live and breath in the fileshare space. Corn Flakes were invented in the 19th century. Now we have Quaker Real Medley Cherry Almond Pecan. You put them both in a bowl with milk, it's all cereal. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/sysadmin
92
90
January 15, 2021
[Question] Set preferred samba protocol version
Current versions of samba should default to smb protcol version 3.11 without any enforced config and smb verson 1 is disabled by default and obsolete with samba. That mentioned there are some desirable settings you can set in smb.conf globally. I've been using the generic standalone config below for several years for a samba server that is not used as a cups print server or with ldap user auth or as an ADC. [global] server string = hostname client NTLMv2 auth = Yes load printers = No printcap name = /dev/null local master = no ldap ssl = no ea support = Yes smb encrypt = desired You can view your samba user connection status by typing smbstatus as the root user and that will display the smb version used as well as encryption algorithm used. Currently my system is using samba 4.11.11 More on reddit.com
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2
6
August 12, 2020
network communication protocol for providing shared access to resources
Server Message Block - Wikipedia
Server Message Block (SMB) is a communication protocol used to share files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. On Windows, the SMB implementation consists of two vaguely … Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Server_Message_Block
Server Message Block - Wikipedia
1 week ago - SMB1 continues in use for connections with older versions of Windows, as well various vendors' NAS solutions. Samba 3.5 also includes experimental support for SMB2. Samba 3.6 fully supports SMB2, except the modification of user quotas using the Windows quota management tools. When SMB2 was introduced it brought a number of benefits over SMB1 for third party implementers of SMB protocols...
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Samba
samba.org › samba › history › samba-4.1.0.html
Samba 4.1.0 Available for Download
Major enhancements in Samba 4.1.0 include: Client tools support SMB2/3 =========================== Samba 4.1.0 contains the first release of our client tools and client library that work over the new protocols SMB2 or SMB3. Note that SMB3 only works either to a Samba server version 4.0.0 or ...
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nixCraft
cyberciti.biz › nixcraft › howto › samba (smb/cifs) › how to configure samba to use smbv2 and disable smbv1 on linux or unix
How to configure Samba to use SMBv2 and disable SMBv1 on Linux or Unix - nixCraft
May 12, 2021 - When using IPA server the smb.conf contains config backend = registry so any changes to smb.conf will be ignored. You can view the current settings with net conf list and remove SMBv1 with net conf setparm global “server min protocol” SMB2 ... I had just performed a Samba server fresh install on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. Samba version is 3.6.25, according to $smbstatus.
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Samba
samba.org › samba › docs › 4.9 › man-html › samba.7.html
samba
The Samba software suite is a collection of programs that implements the Server Message Block (commonly abbreviated as SMB) protocol for UNIX systems and provides Active Directory services. The first version of the SMB protocol is sometimes also referred to as the Common Internet File System (CIFS).
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Samba_(software)
Samba (software) - Wikipedia
1 month ago - Samba is a free software implementation ... protocol, and was originally developed by Andrew Tridgell. Samba provides file and print services for various Microsoft Windows clients and can integrate with a Microsoft Windows Server domain, either as a Domain Controller (DC) or as a domain member. As of version 4, it also ...
Find elsewhere
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Trend Micro
trendmicro.com › trendaivisiononecloudriskmanagement › knowledge-base › azure › StorageAccounts › latest-smb-protocol-version.html
Check for SMB Protocol Version | TrendAI™
March 23, 2026 - Using the latest supported SMB protocol version for your Microsoft Azure File Shares (i.e., SMB 3.1.1) enhances the security of File Shares by preventing the exploitation of known vulnerabilities in outdated Server Message Block (SMB) versions.
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Samba
samba.org › samba › history › samba-3.6.0.html
Samba 3.6.0 Available for Download
(For this reason, this behavior change and parameter was also made in Samba 3.5.9) The impact of 'send spnego principal = no' is to match Windows 2008 and not to send this principal, making existing clients give more consistent behaviour (more likely to fall back to NTLMSSP) between Samba and Windows 2008, and between Windows versions that did and no longer use this insecure hint. SMB2 support ------------ SMB2 support in 3.6.0 is fully functional (with one omission), and can be enabled by setting: max protocol = SMB2 in the [global] section of your smb.conf and re-starting Samba.
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Windows OS Hub
woshub.com › smb-1-0-support-in-windows-server-2012-r2
How to Check, Enable or Disable SMB Protocol Versions on Windows | Windows OS Hub
July 3, 2025 - SMB 3.1.1 (*) – this version of SMB was introduced in Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022. It received support for SMB over QUIC, compression of SMB file traffic, and encryption with AES-256-GCM and AES-256-CCM support.
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Red Hat
docs.redhat.com › en › documentation › red_hat_enterprise_linux › 4 › html › reference_guide › ch-samba
Chapter 14. Samba | Reference Guide | Red Hat Enterprise Linux | 4 | Red Hat Documentation
It allows the networking of Microsoft Windows®, Linux, UNIX, and other operating systems together, enabling access to Windows-based file and printer shares. Samba's use of SMB allows it to appear as a Windows server to Windows clients. The third major release of Samba, version 3.0.0, introduced ...
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Samba
samba.org › samba › docs › current › man-html › samba.7.html
The samba daemon provides the Active Directory services ...
A copy of that license should have come with the package in the file COPYING. You are encouraged to distribute copies of the Samba suite, but please obey the terms of this license. The latest version of the Samba suite can be obtained from https://download.samba.org/pub/samba/.
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2BrightSparks
2brightsparks.com › resources › articles › what-is-smb-protocol.html
What Is SMB Protocol? CIFS, Versions & Uses
April 24, 2025 - Microsoft took over and developed the protocol further and came out with SMB 1.0 in 1996. Subsequent versions have progressively improved performance, security, and feature support on a range of Windows platforms.
Top answer
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From the man page for the configuration file for the Samba suite in the "client max protocol" section:

Possible values are :

  • CORE: Earliest version. No concept of user names.
  • COREPLUS: Slight improvements on CORE for efficiency.
  • LANMAN1: First modern version of the protocol. Long filename support.
  • LANMAN2: Updates to Lanman1 protocol.
  • NT1: Current up to date version of the protocol. Used by Windows NT. Known as CIFS.
  • SMB2: Re-implementation of the SMB protocol. Used by Windows Vista and later versions of Windows. SMB2 has sub protocols available.
  • SMB2_02: The earliest SMB2 version.
  • SMB2_10: Windows 7 SMB2 version.
  • SMB2_22: Early Windows 8 SMB2 version.
  • SMB2_24: Windows 8 beta SMB2 version.

By default SMB2 selects the SMB2_10 variant.

  • SMB3: The same as SMB2. Used by Windows 8. SMB3 has sub protocols available.
  • SMB3_00: Windows 8 SMB3 version. (mostly the same as SMB2_24)
  • SMB3_02: Windows 8.1 SMB3 version.
  • SMB3_10: early Windows 10 technical preview SMB3 version.
  • SMB3_11: Windows 10 technical preview SMB3 version (maybe final).

By default SMB3 selects the SMB3_11 variant.

Normally this option should not be set as the automatic negotiation phase in the SMB protocol takes care of choosing the appropriate protocol.

The value default refers to SMB3_11.

Adding clarification from A.B in the comments:

wiki.samba.org/index.php/Samba3/SMB2 states "Samba 3.6 added basic support for SMB2.0", "Basic support for SMB 2.1 was added in Samba 4.0.0", "Basic support for SMB3 is included in Samba 4.0.0 and later."

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Red Hat
docs.redhat.com › en › documentation › red_hat_enterprise_linux › 5 › html › deployment_guide › ch-samba
Chapter 22. Samba | Deployment Guide | Red Hat Enterprise Linux | 5 | Red Hat Documentation
It allows the networking of Microsoft Windows®, Linux, UNIX, and other operating systems together, enabling access to Windows-based file and printer shares. Samba's use of SMB allows it to appear as a Windows server to Windows clients. The third major release of Samba, version 3.0.0, introduced ...
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TechTarget
techtarget.com › searchnetworking › definition › Server-Message-Block-Protocol
What is the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol? How does it work? | Definition from TechTarget
The dialect to follow, SMB 2.0, improved the protocol's efficiency by drastically reducing its hundreds of commands and subcommands down to just 19. ... Released in 1992, Samba is an open source implementation of the SMB protocol for Unix systems ...