QNAP: Restore Samba (SMB) functioning

Recently I changed my QNAP, moving from an old 32bit model to a recent 64bit. The new NAS enabled me to install the 4.3.x firmware that introduces many new features and use 64-bit computing.

The migration occurred in conjunction with Wannacry (found on Homelab blog an article on how to exploit this vulnerability on NAS QNAP) and on my NAS was no longer running Samba (SMB). I don’t know if it is due to the wannacry patch or NAS/Firmware change. But Samba did not go anymore! Several people on the official QNAP forum complain about the same problem.

I solved by connecting via SSH to the NAS and editing the Samba configuration file. A small guide…

$ smb2status

By typing the smb2status command, in output I had “smbd is not running” even if the WEB interface was correctly active.

$ mv /etc/config/smb.conf /etc/config/smb.conf.old

I did a backup copy of the Samba configuration file and saved it in smb.conf.old. Then I read the default configuration file:

$ cat /etc/default_config/smb.conf

Copy the contents of this file locally, in the text editor you prefer, then read the old configuration file:

$ cat /etc/config/smb.conf.old

Immediately after the Global Statement ([GLOBAL] … …) you will find the specifications of each of your shared folders, just copy this contents on your local text file.

You will then have a file composed of [GLOBAL] variable coming from the default file and then the variables of each of your shared folders coming from the old file. Example:

[global]
…

[Multimedia]
….

[Download]
…

[Web]
…

[Public]
….

Now you have to recreate the configuration file by copying inside it the newly built text:

$ vi /etc/config/smb.conf

Once the new Samba configuration file is pasted, we restart Samba.

$ /etc/init.d/smb.sh restart

After the reboot has finished, try typing smb2status again and it should be ok:

$ smb2status

smbd (samba daemon) Version 4.4.14
smbd (samba daemon) is running.
max protocol SMB 3.0 enabled.