Mount a samba network drive from terminal without hardcoding a password

Question

I know that the default command would look like this:

sudo mount -t cifs -o username=YOUR_USERNAME,password=YOUR_PASSWORD,uid=YOUR_UBUNTU_USERNAME //networkNameOfRemoteComputer/path/to/my/folder /path/to/mounting/dir

However I want to mount a samba share folder without hard coding my password. I consider it a high security risk if the password is visible. Does anyone have an idea?

(In a previous version of this question I also asked for mounting without sudo rights but it seems that this is just not possible :( )

Solution

Use the mount.cifs command instead, as it allows to specify a credentials file or prompts for a password if none given.

Installation

First of all, check you have the needed packages installed by issuing the following command:

sudo apt-get install cifs-utils

METHOD 1 - USING A CREDENTIALS FILE

According to the manual http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/raring/man8/mount.cifs.8.html :

OPTIONS
[...]
credentials=filename specifies a file that contains a username and/or password and optionally the name of the workgroup. The format of the file is:

username=value
password=value
domain=value

Usage:

mount.cifs //<hostname_or_ip>/<cifs_share> <local_mountpoint> -o user=<user_to_connect_as>,rw,credentials=<path_to_the_credentials_file>

Example:

sudo mount.cifs //domain.com/share /mnt/domain_com -o user=admin,rw,credentials=/root/.credentials

It's important to note that the "name_of_the_user_to_connnect_as" can contain also the domain or the workgroup:

user=workgroup/user
user=domain/user

(Depending on you environment, you will need more or less options)

Regarding security, it should be enough to store the credentials file in the /root directory, but if you want to store it elsewhere, just

• set the root user as its owner with sudo chown root <file>
• set owner-only permissions with `sudo chmod 600

METHOD 2 - PASSWORD PROMPT

If as stated, you don't want your password to be visible at all, then just don't provide the "password" option in your mount.cifs command.

From the manpage at http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/hardy/man8/mount.cifs.8.html

password=arg

      specifies  the  CIFS  password. If this option is not given then the
      environment  variable  PASSWD  is  used.  If  the  password  is  not
      specified directly or indirectly via an argument to mount mount.cifs
      will prompt for a password, unless the guest option is specified.

      Note that a password which contains the delimiter character (i.e.  a
      comma  ’,’)  will  fail  to be parsed correctly on the command line.
      However,  the  same  password  defined  in  the  PASSWD  environment
      variable  or  via  a  credentials file (see below) or entered at the
      password prompt will be read correctly.

Accordingly, the following command should prompt for a password:

mount.cifs //<hostname_or_ip>/<cifs_share> <local_mountpoint> -o user=<user_to_connect_as>,rw

Tested and working as expected:

Comments

[Eduardo López]

I'm not sure if you can point to a credential file from that command, but if so would be the easiest way, IMO. The credential file should have restrictive permissions so that only could be accessed with sudo.

[mcExchange]

Could you give an example for that?

[Eduardo López]

Well, if you plan on mounting every time manually, you can just remove the "password" option from your command. You should be then prompted for the password each time, afaik.

[Eduardo López]

I mean using mount.cifs - At least, the manual says it should work :-)

[Eduardo López]

Look at the edit - it is working with mount.cifs

[mcExchange]

mount.cifs works :) Great success! Thank you

[mcExchange]

By the way: I had to sudo apt-get install cifs-utils

[Eduardo López]

Glad you sorted this out! I'll edit the answer following your lats comment.