For installation instructions see Samba How To

The UCI configuration file is located at /etc/config/samba

The config section type samba determines values and options relevant to the overall operation of samba. The following table lists some (not all) available options, their default value and respectively a short characterization. See http://*** for further details.

These are the default settings for the common options:

config 'samba'
        option 'name' 'openwrt'
        option 'workgroup' 'openwrt'
        option 'description' 'openwrt'

The daemons are up and running and recheable via NetBIOS. Now you only need to configure the directories you intend to make accesible to users in your LAN. This example assumes you attached a USB harddisk to the USB-Port and correctly mounted a partition. You can now choose to share the partition as a whole, or just individual directories on it. Fo each entry you need to create an individual config 'sambashare' section.

config 'sambashare'
        option 'name' 'Shares'
        option 'path' '/mnt/sda3'
#       option 'users' 'sandra'
        option 'guest_ok' 'yes'
        option 'create_mask' '0700'
        option 'dir_mask' '0700'
        option 'read_only' 'yes'

In addition to the UCI file (/etc/config/samba), modifications can be made to the /etc/samba/smb.conf.template file.

Samba can be configured at either share level access or user level access. At share level access all users on the network can access the share, and all files are shared with all users. At user level access a username and password are needed to access the share. By default Samba is configured for user level access.

These configurations have proven to work for some:

At share level access all users on the network can access the share, and all files are shared with all users. To set share level access change security = user to security = share in /etc/samba/smb.conf.template:

[global]
	netbios name = |NAME| 
	workgroup = |WORKGROUP|
	server string = |DESCRIPTION|
	syslog = 10
	encrypt passwords = true
	passdb backend = smbpasswd
	obey pam restrictions = yes
	socket options = TCP_NODELAY
	unix charset = ISO-8859-1
        local master = yes
	preferred master = yes
	os level = 20
	security = share
	guest account = nobody
	invalid users = root
	smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd

Then add a share to /etc/config/samba. Make sure that guest ok is set to yes

config 'samba'
	option 'name' 'openwrt'
	option 'description' 'openwrt'
	option 'workgroup' 'WORKGROUP'

config 'sambashare'
	option 'read_only' 'no'
	option 'create_mask' '0700'
	option 'dir_mask' '0700'
	option 'name' 'name-of-share'
	option 'path' '/path/of/share'
	option 'guest_ok' 'yes'

This share should now be accessible by \\ip-adress-openwrt\name-of-share (windows, username and password can be anything).

At user level access a username and password are needed to access the share.

Steps:

To access a samba share with user level access there must be a user added to the system. Edit /etc/passwd and add a line for the new user. Choose a user id (the first number in the line) of 1000 or higher that does not exist yet. Set the group identification number (the second number) to the same number as the user nobody. Copy the rest.

root:!:0:0:root:/root:/bin/ash
nobody:*:65534:65534:nobody:/var:/bin/false
daemon:*:65534:65534:daemon:/var:/bin/false
newuser:*:1000:65534:newuser:/var:/bin/false

Note: keep in mind that the user(s) and group(s) utilized by Samba need to have the proper permissions for their shares, i.e. they need write access in order to write via smb.

smbpasswd newuser password

Edit /etc/samba/smb.conf.template and add null passwords = yes:

[global]
	netbios name = |NAME| 
	workgroup = |WORKGROUP|
	server string = |DESCRIPTION|
	syslog = 10
	encrypt passwords = true
	passdb backend = smbpasswd
	obey pam restrictions = yes
	socket options = TCP_NODELAY
	unix charset = ISO-8859-1
        local master = yes
	preferred master = yes
	os level = 20
	security = user
	null passwords = yes
	guest account = nobody
	invalid users = root
	smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd

Then add a share to /etc/config/samba. Make shure that guest ok is set to no

config 'samba'
	option 'name' 'openwrt'
	option 'description' 'openwrt'
	option 'workgroup' 'WORKGROUP'

config 'sambashare'
	option 'read_only' 'no'
	option 'create_mask' '0700'
	option 'dir_mask' '0700'
	option 'name' 'name-of-share'
	option 'path' '/path/of/share'
	option 'guest_ok' 'no'

This share should now be accessible by \\ip-adress-openwrt\name-of-share (windows, correct username and password are needed).

If you use a trunk version and experience connection aborts take a look at this file /etc/samba/samba.conf.template and search for reset on zero vc = yes Remove this line or set it to no.

More information about this issue here: https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/9992