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Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, or if it has been posted before. I couldn't find anything though.

If I log on to a linux server without supplying a username or password (from windows through samba), what user am I logged on as? The reason I'm asking is because I want to make that user an owner of the files, so that he/she can change the files without the need for me as an administrator to make it writeable to all. I know there is no sense in what I'm trying to do, but it's a very special case scenario. The limitation I have is that I may not change the files through chmod in any way, yet the files needs to be editable by a guest. Is this possible, assuming the files are editable by the owner (755)?

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If you post the relevant section from your smb.conf file, we can tell you what exactly you need to do. –  Sachin Divekar Dec 7 '11 at 13:09
Thanks Sachin, but I figured it out with the help of the other answers. Turns out it was user 'nobody' in the 'nogroup' group. I changed the owner of the files to 'nobody' and it worked like a charm. –  Felthragar Dec 7 '11 at 13:24
Glad to hear that. You better post it as answer. –  Sachin Divekar Dec 7 '11 at 13:35
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2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

If you can save a file into the folder through Samba then you can examine the properties of the file to see which user and group own it - that should be your answer.

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Thanks, that's a good idea and it did help me find out. Can't figure out why I didn't come to think of that... –  Felthragar Dec 7 '11 at 13:17
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It is the username you are supplying while mounting the samba share.

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Thanks man. I'm guessing when have it run as a service it gets started by 'nobody', since that's what it said. –  Felthragar Dec 7 '11 at 13:20
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