<sect1 id="windows-shares">
<sect1info>

<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Mike</firstname>
<surname>McBride</surname>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Jost</firstname>
<surname>Schenck</surname>
</author>
</authorgroup>

<date>04/08/2000</date>
<releaseinfo>1.00.00</releaseinfo>

<keywordset>
<keyword>KDE</keyword>
<keyword>KControl</keyword>
<keyword>Windows shares</keyword>
</keywordset>
</sect1info>
<title>Windows Shares</title>

<sect2 id="windows-shares-intro">
<title>Introduction</title>

<para>In many small local area networks the <abbrev>SMB</abbrev> protocol is
used to offer network services. Names like "Windows Network" or "Windows for
Workgroups Network" or "LanManager" are often used as well. Using
<abbrev>SMB</abbrev> you can access so-called "shares" (<abbrev>i.e.</abbrev>
directories made available by the server) as well as printers.  </para>

<para>KDE comes with builtin support for the <abbrev>SMB</abbrev> protocol. As
KDE is network-transparent that means you can access <abbrev>SMB</abbrev> shares
from everywhere you can access your local files, for example in the
<application>Konqueror</application> file manager and in the file dialog. To
make use of this you should provide KDE with some information on your
<abbrev>SMB</abbrev> network. But don't worry, this is normally pretty simple as
for example all the Windows clients in your network need and have the same
information.</para>

<!-- TODO: link to some place which explains USING SMB, i.e. konqueror or file
dialog manual -->

</sect2>

<sect2 id="windows-shares-use">
<title>Use</title>

<para>In the windows shares control module you will find three sections:</para>
<itemizedlist> <listitem><para>In the <guilabel>Network Settings</guilabel>
section you provide basic information about your network. This will mainly be
used to offer comfortable browsing of the network</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>In the <guilabel>User Settings</guilabel> section you can store
information on how to access specific servers or shares</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>In the <guilabel>Password Policy</guilabel> section you can
configure KDE to remember <abbrev>SMB</abbrev> passwords</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<sect3 id="windows-shares-use-nwsettings">
<title>Network Settings</title>

<para>In this section you have to provide some basic information KDE needs to
offer browsing of your <abbrev>SMB</abbrev> network. If you don't know what all
this is about, you can ask the administrator of your network about these
addresses or maybe you can just copy them from your neighbour's machine.</para>

<para>The <guilabel>Browse Server</guilabel> is the host you want to browse when
using KDE's Network Neighbourhood. Unless you have an <abbrev>SMB</abbrev>
server running on your own system, you will have to provide a server here if you
want to use the Network Neighbourhood.</para>

<para>The <guilabel>Broadcast Address</guilabel> is a special reserved network
address which always ends in 255. For example: if your local area network is a
private class C network with IP numbers beginning with 192.168.0 (which is quite
common in small companies), the broadcast address is 192.168.0.255. In many
cases, this address will be guessed correctly. However, you have to provide it
here if KDE fails to detect it or if your computer belongs to more than one
network.</para>

<para>Optionally, you can provide a <guilabel>WINS Address</guilabel>,
<abbrev>i.e.</abbrev> the address of a <abbrev>WINS</abbrev> server in your
network. You don't really need a <abbrev>WINS</abbrev> server and many networks
don't have one. However, using a <abbrev>WINS</abbrev> server may significantly
improve your network performance.</para> </sect3>

<sect3 id="windows-shares-use-usersettings">
<title>User Settings</title>

<para>Although there are a lot of insecure <abbrev>SMB</abbrev> networks out
there which allow access to anyone, in principle you have to authentificate
yourself to access the services of an <abbrev>SMB</abbrev>
server. <abbrev>SMB</abbrev> offers two ways of authentification: share and user
level security.</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Share level security means that a certain share
(<abbrev>i.e.</abbrev> a directory offered by an <abbrev>SMB</abbrev> server)
has a password assigned to it. You have to provide the password to access the
share</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>User level security means that there is a number of users,
everyone of which has a password.  You have to provide your user name and
password to access shares</para></listitem> 
</itemizedlist>

<para>As you may use different shares and different <abbrev>SMB</abbrev>
servers, which may use different authentification methods, you can store
authentification information for them. The combination of a server with a
certain authentification method is called a "binding". If you access a share for
which a corresponding binding exists, KDE will automatically use the right
authentification method. If you supply a password, you will then not be prompted
for it anymore.</para>

<important><para>While it makes things more comfortable if KDE stores your
<abbrev>SMB</abbrev> passwords, this may be a security problem. If you are using
<abbrev>SMB</abbrev> in a security conscious environment, you should not store
your passwords.</para></important>

<para>To add a binding just enter the server's name, either a share or a user
name (called "Login") and optionally a password into the appropriate
fields. Then click the <guibutton>Add</guibutton> button and the binding appears
in the list of bindings. To remove a binding, select it in the list of bindings
and press the <guibutton>Delete</guibutton> button.</para>

</sect3>

<sect3 id="windows-shares-use-pwpolicy">
<title>Password Policy (while browsing)</title>

<para>If you try to access a share for which KDE has not stored a password yet
you will be prompted for a password. You can tell KDE to generate a new binding
every time you have to enter a password for a share, so you only have to enter a
password once and KDE will remember it afterwards. Just select the <guilabel>Add
new bindings</guilabel> option. However, you might consider this to be a
security risk, so in a security conscious environment selecting <guilabel>Don't
store new bindings</guilabel> is recommended.</para> </sect3>

</sect2>
<sect2 id="windows-shares-author">

<title>Section Author</title>
<para>This section written by: Jost Schenck <email>jost@schenck.de</email></para>

</sect2>
</sect1>
