# Why smb.conf needed to print to a smb printer? Mitigation?

## equaeghe

My institute provides smb-access to its printers. To get that to work, I needed to create a smb.conf file. As far as I understood, a smb.conf is normally only needed to set up a server, not to act as a client. So my first question is: Why is this needed?

Now, given that I must set up a smb.conf file, how do I create one that is minimal and actually does not provide a server, so that I mitigate and therefore do not have to worry about security implications?

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## Tatsh

Does your institute provide IPP access to the printers? That is easier to set up with CUPS.

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## Fitzcarraldo

 *equaeghe wrote:*   

> As far as I understood, a smb.conf is normally only needed to set up a server, not to act as a client.

 

The smb.conf file is also read by the Samba suite's client applications, as confirmed in the section HOW CONFIGURATION FILES ARE APPLIED:

https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/current/man-html/smb.conf.5.html

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## equaeghe

 *Tatsh wrote:*   

> Does your institute provide IPP access to the printers? That is easier to set up with CUPS.

 No, the only usable way is to use smb.

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## equaeghe

 *Fitzcarraldo wrote:*   

> The smb.conf file is also read by the Samba suite's client applications, as confirmed in the section HOW CONFIGURATION FILES ARE APPLIED: https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/current/man-html/smb.conf.5.html

 

Thanks.

Now the question remains what a minimal smb.conf looks like that is maximally secure…

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