Persistently Mount a SAMBA/CIFS Share in Linux

  1. Log into the Linux device
  2. Run the following commands in terminal:
    # update software repositories
    sudo apt update
    # install cifs utilities
    sudo apt install cifs-utils -y
    # create a hidden smb credentials file
    nano ~/.myshare.smb
  3. Paste the following into the .smb, updating the credentials as needed to authenticate to the share

    user=LinuxShare
    password=SomethingSecure!!
    domain=i12bretro.local

  4. Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes
  5. Continue with the following commands in the terminal
    # create a folder in /media to mount the share
    sudo mkdir /media/myshare -p
    # edit the fstab file
    sudo nano /etc/fstab
  6. Add a line to the bottom of fstab with the following, updating the server, share and host file location as needed
    NOTE: fstab entries are formatted as //<%server%>/<%share%> <%mount location%> <%filesystem type%> <%mount options%>

    # windows share on i12bretrodc
    //i12bretrodc/myshare /media/myshare cifs uid=0,credentials=/home/i12bretro/.myshare.smb,iocharset=utf8,vers=3.0,noperm 0 0

  7. Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes
  8. Continue with the following commands in the terminal
    # remount filesystems listed in fstab
    sudo mount -a
    # change directory to the share mount point
    cd /media/myshare
    # reboot to test the share is mounted on started
    sudo reboot now

Documentation: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/mount.8.html