---
name: "mount_smbfs"
section: "8"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["freebsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mount_smbfs"
---

# mount\_smbfs(8)

mount a server message block (SMB1/CIFS) file system

## NAME

**mount\_smbfs** – mount a server message block (SMB1/CIFS) file system

## SYNOPSIS

**mount\_smbfs** \[**-E** *cs1***:***cs2*\] \[**-I** *host*\] \[**-L** *locale*\] \[**-M** *crights***:***srights*\] \[**-N**\] \[**-O** *cowner***:***cgroup***/***sowner***:***sgroup*\] \[**-R** *retrycount*\] \[**-T** *timeout*\] \[**-U** *username*\] \[**-W** *workgroup*\] \[**-c** *case*\] \[**-d** *mode*\] \[**-f** *mode*\] \[**-g** *gid*\] \[**-n** *opt*\] \[**-u** *uid*\] **//***user***@***server* \[**:***port1*\[**:***port2*\]\] **/***share* *node*

## DESCRIPTION

The **mount\_smbfs** command mounts a share from a remote server using SMB/CIFS protocol.

The options are as follows:

- **-E** *cs1***:***cs2*

  Specifies local (*cs1*) and server's (*cs2*) character sets.

- **-I** *host*

  Do not use NetBIOS name resolver and connect directly to *host*, which can be either a valid DNS name or an IP address.

- **-L** *locale*

  Use *locale* for lower/upper case conversion routines. Set the locale for case conversion. By default, **mount\_smbfs** tries to use an environment variable LC\_\* to determine it.

- **-M** *crights***:***srights*

  Assign access rights to the newly created connection.

- **-N**

  Do not ask for a password. At run time, **mount\_smbfs** reads the *~/.nsmbrc* file for additional configuration parameters and a password. If no password is found, **mount\_smbfs** prompts for it.

- **-O** *cowner***:***cgroup***/***sowner***:***sgroup*

  Assign owner/group attributes to the newly created connection.

- **-R** *retrycount*

  How many retries should be done before the SMB requester decides to drop the connection. Default is 4.

- **-T** *timeout*

  Timeout in seconds for each request. Default is 15.

- **-U** *username*

  Username to authenticate with.

- **-W** *workgroup*

  This option specifies the workgroup to be used in the authentication request.

- **-c** *case*

  Set a *case* option which affects name representation. *case* can be one of the following:

  - *Value*

    *Meaning*

  - **l**

    All existing file names are converted to lower case. Newly created file gets a lower case.

  - **u**

    All existing file names are converted to upper case. Newly created file gets an upper case.

- **-f** *mode*, **-d** *mode*

  Specify permissions that should be assigned to files and directories. The values must be specified as octal numbers. Default value for the file mode is taken from mount point, default value for the directory mode adds execute permission where the file mode gives read permission.

  Note that these permissions can differ from the rights granted by SMB server.

- **-u** *uid*, **-g** *gid*

  User ID and group ID assigned to files. The default are owner and group IDs from the directory where the volume is mounted.

- **//***user***@***server*\[**:***port1*\[**:***port2*\]\]**/***share*

  The **mount\_smbfs** command will use *server* as the NetBIOS name of remote computer, *user* as the remote user name and *share* as the resource name on a remote server. Optional *port1* and *port2* arguments can be used to override default values of port numbers used by communication protocols. For SMB over NetBIOS default value for *port1* are 139, and *port2* are 137.

- *node*

  Path to mount point.

## FILES

- *~/.nsmbrc*

  Keeps user-specific static parameters for connections and other information. See */usr/share/examples/smbfs/dot.nsmbrc* for details.

- */etc/nsmb.conf*

  Keeps system-wide static parameters for connections and other information.

## EXAMPLES

The following example illustrates how to connect to SMB server “SAMBA” as user “GUEST”, and mount shares “PUBLIC” and “TMP”:

```
mount_smbfs -I samba.mydomain.com //guest@samba/public /smb/public
mount_smbfs -I 192.168.20.3 -E koi8-r:cp866 //guest@samba/tmp /smb/tmp
```

It is also possible to use [fstab(5)](/fstab/5.md) for smbfs mounts (the example below does not prompt for a password):

```
//guest@samba/public    /smb/public     smbfs  rw,noauto,-N 0   0
```

## SEE ALSO

[smbutil(1)](/smbutil/1.md), [nsmb.conf(5)](/nsmb.conf/5.md)

Other resources:

- Chapter dedicated to Samba configuration in the FreeBSD Handbook: **https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-samba.html**

## STANDARDS

**mount\_smbfs** offers support for SMB/CIFS/SMB1. It does not support newer versions of the protocol like SMB2 and SMB3. SMB2 and SMB3 are supported by software available in the [ports(7)](/ports/7.md) collection.

The list of supported SMB servers includes:

- Samba

- Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT4.0 (SPs 4, 5, 6)

- IBM LanManager

- NetApp

## HISTORY

SMB/CIFS protocol and SMB/CIFS file system implementation first appeared in FreeBSD 4.5.

## AUTHORS

Boris Popov ⟨bp@butya.kz⟩, ⟨bp@FreeBSD.org⟩

## BUGS

Please report bugs to the author.