For those with Linux Servers I am sure that you have an SSH server setup. So when you transfer files you can use SCP or SFTP. But what about doing Samba over SSH? And especially if you are using a Windows environment. Port forwarding in SSH works for many applications but what about Samba? Forwarding port 139 for 127.0.0.1 some how or rather does not seem to work. Read on....

SSH is fantastic, it is probably the most fantastic piece of software running in Linux. Of course the rest is good. But SSH takes the cake.  You can practically forward any of your local ports to remote hosts or servers from your ssh server or even to the ssh server machine itself.

Lets forward Samba traffic with a few tricks in Vista

The first problem we have to deal with is forwarding port 139 on the localhost. Windows is always using port 139 on the local windows computer so forwarding port 139 will not work. What you have to do is you need to create a windows loopback adapter and then give an ip address let say 10.0.0.1

Ok First up lets install the loop back adapter

1. Go to your device manager and add legacy hardware

2. Choose to manually install the driver

3. Select Microsoft and the Microsoft loop back adapter

4. Later select the loop back adapter and change the ipaddress, In this case I use 10.0.0.1

Next you have to configure putty to forward port 139 to your server. If you try connecting now you will notice that you will not be able to connect to your Samba server.  Well the trick is you have to also forward port 445, doing this will do the trick. Take a look at my putty configuration:

In your source port key the address of your loopback adapter with the port you want to forward (e.g. 10.0.0.1:139) dont worry about the size of the field. Then next add the target server you want to forward to (My samba server is 192.168.1.2:139). Do the same for port 445.

After you do this Viola everything works... just access the Samba share like a regular windows share.

To be able to have the convenience of accessing Samba share in windows, five cool smilies...

Hope this tip helps!!

Comments (18)

	1. 06-07-2009 11:55
	Nice tutorial It's a very good short tutorial related to SSH on windows and Vista.I have searching for this article for a long time.I have to present about SSH in my class of 70-528 exam.I really happy to find this comprehensive post. Guest Report

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	2. 31-12-2008 08:55
	Nice tutorial To get it to work with a fully updated Vista see this:  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itprovistanetworking/thread/d30d3c98-58c5-47f6-b5a5-f5620882020d/#page:2 Guest Report

Kalmi

	3. 02-12-2008 15:47
	Problem VISTA This solution works great with my XP client. But I can't make it work with a VISTA Client. I don't understand where I'm wrong.  PS. 445-tunnel is configured.    An idea ? Guest Report

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	4. 03-11-2008 23:16
	Problem VISTA Please help me get this issue noticed and something done about it on the MS forums,  http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=4082092&SiteID=17&mode=1 http://forums.microsoft.com/technet/showpost.aspx?postid=4082092&siteid=17&mode=1 Guest Report

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	5. 14-10-2008 20:31
	Great article Worked like a charm. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! http://www.liverpoolforever.net Guest Report

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	6. 18-07-2008 17:23
	Developer @ Sri  RTFM Dude! Or at least read the entire post.    @ Dennis Allard  From what I've divined thus far Vista Sucks badly enough that you CANNOT port forward 445 (AT THIS TIME) http://www.davem.com Guest Report

DaveM

	7. 07-07-2008 14:19
	How to access ssh using putty over samba I have setup samba server and putty on client machine . Can anybody tell how to securely access samba using ssh Guest Report

sri

	8. 27-06-2008 18:20
	Willing to pay someone to get this worki Who wrote this article?    I would like to contact the original  author of this article or any reader  who can successfully create a tunnel  from my Vista laptop to my Linux  Samba server.    Please contact me at the above email  address.    Thanks,  Dennis http://oceanpark.com Guest Report

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	9. 09-06-2008 02:04
	Vista, so safe it won't let me use it t Wow, Window's Vista is so SAFE, I can't even use it!    Even after removing both:  WinVista SP1  AND KB942624    I AM able to forward port 80 no problem!    I have no success forwarding port 445!    I'd love to get this resolved, any help would be appreciated, you can email me at nospam (aht) davem (daut) (CoM) http://www.davem.com Guest Report

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	10. 04-06-2008 09:41
	Reason behind the whole wham bang So many questions on this... ok firstly to do this you must have a linux server running ssh in order to do this.. so it will look like this   yourpc->linuxsshserver->pcwithwindowshare    So the windows sharing passes through an encrypted ssh tunnel this is achieved by forwarding the traffic going to 127.0.0.1 to putty which passes it to the ssh server which then sends the traffic to the pc with windows share.    So the idea of it all is to create a sort of VPN using ssh port forwarding to access your windows shares securely from say a remote location. Guest Report

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	11. 03-06-2008 20:52
	Port forwarding? I don't really understand the reasoning behind port forwarding. http://www.google.com/ Guest Report

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	12. 03-06-2008 17:26
	Port forwarding? Don't work with Vista SP1, i Vista patch KB942624 already installed on SP1? Guest Report

januarius

	13. 26-02-2008 16:41
	Ports For the record, it appears that both ports (139 and 445) work equally well for this in Vista, so try both.    Vista has broken so many OSS apps it's not even funny. http://shootingstarbbs.kicks-ass.net Guest Report

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	14. 26-02-2008 08:05
	Excellent but more detail please Thank you for taking the time explainng how to make things work. Unlike a lot of success stories about Linux you take the time to use pictures. One thing to make things clearer is where are all the components mentioned operating? Is the windows system the samba server?, where is putty running and how is it or ssh part of the traffic? What part of your system is finally accessing the samba share. Not clear what indicated success. Guest Report

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	15. 06-02-2008 17:44
	Problem with KB942624 This guide didn't work for me, first. But then I found out that the Vista patch KB942624 breaks port 445 forwarding which caused my problems. So after uninstalling this patch everything worked fine. http://www.lordb.de Guest Report

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	16. 30-12-2007 12:43
	smb4pma So what about the reverse?  I have a PMA430 and using one of your other tips I can see the PMA fine from Vista. BUT, I can not see the Vista shares from the PMA.  Actually, I can see the shares, but I can not access the folders, they're just questions marks in the File Browser of the PMA. Suggestions? Guest Report

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	17. 14-12-2007 15:47
	SMB FYI, newer versions of Windows only use port 445. You don't need to worry about port 139 anymore. http://shootingstarbbs.kicks-ass.net Guest Report

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	18. 24-11-2007 17:51
	how is this done in Linux? This is great. Now how do I do this in Linux without having to disable the Samba server on the localhost? Even if I do disable the Samba server on the localhost, I have to be root to forward port 139. Guest Report

Pollywog

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