How do I access different SMB shares as different username on the same machine (MS Windows)?

SMB Security = Private

I want to create multiple users with different access levels.

I want to access the share from the same machine using different user accounts (permission levels).

 

Use Cases:

1)  My Windows backup program needs read/write permissions to the backup share.  But when I'm accessing the share not using the backup software, I don't want write permissions. I also don't want my backup program to have access to other shares.

2)  I don't want to always access my photos with read/write permissions.  When I just want to view my photos from the same device, I want read only.  But if I need to modify a file, I want write access, and want to use a different user account (permission level).

 

Thank you.

First thing.  I am going to point you to a resource that can provide you with a understanding of how SMB works.  There is a PDF file in the post which will answer most of your questions

 

      https://forums.unraid.net/topic/110580-security-is-not-a-dirty-word-unraid-windows-10-smb-setup

 

50 minutes ago, Jaybau said:

I want to create multiple users with different access levels.

I want to access the share from the same machine using different user accounts (permission levels).

 

 

Windows will NOT allow more than one user at a time to log onto a server from a Windows client and it does not provide you with a convenient way to log off.  So forget this one...

 

50 minutes ago, Jaybau said:

Use Cases:

1)  My Windows backup program needs read/write permissions to the backup share.  But when I'm accessing the share not using the backup software, I don't want write permissions. I also don't want my backup program to have access to other shares.

 

 

 

You can do this by means of a work around.  You can read the basic setup to do it here:

 

      https://forums.unraid.net/topic/58374-secure-writing-strategy-for-unraid-server-using-write-once-read-many-mode

 

It is a bit of a kludge but is will work. 

 

50 minutes ago, Jaybau said:

2)  I don't want to always access my photos with read/write permissions.  When I just want to view my photos from the same device, I want read only.  But if I need to modify a file, I want write access, and want to use a different user account (permission level).

 

This one is difficult.  I have my Media files setup as Private.  I have two SMB users set up with Read-only access to these files.  One of the users is for all of the computers that require only read access to the files.   The other user is my personal SMB user.  This user generally only has read-only access to the Media share.  When I need read-write access, I log onto the server and change the Access rights as shown below:

 

 

When I am done with the changes, I change them back to Read-only.   (I do this to prevent ramsomware from having read-write access to the share!)  

 

EDIT:  You will probably have more questions.  Ask them in this thread. not in either of the other two threads. 

Edited November 9, 20223 yr by Frank1940

7 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

54 minutes ago, Jaybau said:

I want to create multiple users with different access levels.

I want to access the share from the same machine using different user accounts (permission levels).

 

 

Windows will NOT allow more than one user at a time to log onto a server from a Windows client and it does not provide you with a convenient way to log off.  So forget this one...

 

 

Thinking about this, I have a thought.  yYu could get around this by creating a second Windows user profile/account and do 'switch user' to log into Windows.  The second user would have a different set of Windows Credentials to login as a different Samba user on your Unraid server.