SMB

I Learned SMB File Sharing by Fixing Our Office Scanner

Eli Kent

15 Jul 2025 — 2 min read

TL;DR: A non-functional scanner connection led me to build a working mental model of SMB, file sharing, and user permissions in Windows.

Why I Did This

I needed to send a scan to my computer. Unfortunately, the Ricoh technician had created a brittle system by setting the destination folder path to my now-invalid IP address, rather than using my computer's name.

What I Did

On my computer, confirmed that Share this folder was checked and that user ricoh had permission to write to the destination folder.
Via Local Users and Groups in Computer Management, I created a password for user ricoh.
Via the printer/scanner's control panel, I created a new folder using my computer's name, and provided ricoh's username + password.

Insight: A computer's name is equivalent to a website's URL, and the router to a DNS server, mapping human-friendly names to IP addresses.

Reflection: Using SMB is a bit like giving a neighbor a spare key. It’s convenient and extends what’s possible across devices on a shared network, but that convenience comes with risk. You’re not just unlocking functionality, you’re broadening your system’s exposure. It’s a reminder that access and vulnerability often scale together.

Connection: SMB is a protocol for sharing data, like IP, but with a more focused scope.

Security Lens

🟥 Red Team POV: Look for users with administrator access set up on auxiliary devices to gain access to a computer.

🟦 Blue Team POV: To limit vulnerability, enforce least required privilege principles and narrowly-defined users for SMB, and make sure Password protected sharing is enabled (Advanced sharing settings).

What I Broke and How I Fixed It

On my first attempt to fix the issue, I failed to provide the scanner with a valid username and password, and the connection failed. To fix this, I created a new password for user ricoh, and created a new folder in the Ricoh machine using //my-computer-name/scanner and the proper credentials. Now, the scanner sends the request to the router, which uses the computer name as a pointer to route it to the current IP address.

Tools Used

SMB
Users and Groups in Windows' Computer Management GUI
File Explorer
Advanced Sharing Settings
Ricoh control panel

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