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using Samba between a linux server and a windows 10 pc client. From windows I go to \\mylinuxserver and go into my home folder and see

.cache/
.gconf/
.gvfs/
.mozilla/
and so on
Desktop/
Downloads/
my_folders_i_care_about/

I don't want to see all the dot folders and files like .cache. I don't want to see .anything in windows explorer when navigating into a samba share. How can I stop dot files and dot folders from being visible?

My smb.conf is currently this for sharing out home directories and any other folder; this is under SLES11 with samba 3.6 but I will be using RHEL 7.6 eventually.

[homes]
    comment = Home Directories
    valid users = %S, %D%w%S
    browseable = No
    read only = No
    inherit acls = Yes
    create mask = 660
    directory mask = 770
[data]
    path = /data
    create mask = 660
    directory mask = 770
    inherit acls = Yes
    read only = No
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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
8

There are a couple of ways to do this. If you just want to hide these files (they will still be accessible, if the user(s) know what their names are), add this parameter:

hide files = /.*/

To make them completely invisible to the Samba user, do this:

veto files = /.*/

FYI - these settings must be put in the section that defines each share; they are not global parameters.

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7
  • for me in samba 3.6 only veto files = /.*/ seemed to prevent them from being visible. Tthe hide files had no affect.
    – ron
    Dec 18, 2019 at 18:51
  • I've only tested it on the 4.x branch; maybe the hide files option is new.
    – ajgringo619
    Dec 18, 2019 at 21:01
  • only veto files = /.*/ seems to work in rhel 7.9 currently with samba-4.10.16-9.el7_9.x86_64. The hide files had no affect.
    – ron
    Apr 7, 2021 at 18:14
  • Interesting...on my LM 20 system (Samba v4.11.6), the hide files = option looks legit; here's the example from the man page: hide files = /.*/DesktopFolderDB/TrashFor%m/resource.frk/.
    – ajgringo619
    Apr 7, 2021 at 19:06
  • you are saying samba v4.11.6 My RHEL 7.9 system right now is samba-4.10. Is there a version hard line with samba where this begins working? In any case the veto files is working for me.
    – ron
    Apr 7, 2021 at 19:40
1

As of version 4.11.6 you can use hide dot files parameter.

It would look something like this:

[data]
    path = /data
    read only = No
    hide dot files = yes
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2
  • this does not work currently on rhel 7.9 with samba-4.10.16-9.el7_9.x86_64. will keep an eye out for samba update, thanks.
    – ron
    Apr 7, 2021 at 18:11
  • Strange it perfectly works for me on Ubuntu 20.04
    – Harry
    Apr 7, 2021 at 19:17

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