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SMB (Server Message Block) is the commands used within Windows in order to share files and printers. For example, when a user opens a file in an application such as Microsoft Word, the application must first "open" the file, then issue multiple "read" commands. When it is done reading the file into memory, Word then "closes" the file. This entire process happens so quickly the user is unaware of it. When the file happens to reside on another computer (such as a file server), Windows will "redirect" these open/read/read/read/close commands across the network. SMB is the system for doing this. SMB is used for: - file sharing
- Allows one computer full access to the file on another's hard drive as if that hard drive were local.
- print sharing
- Allows one computer to print directly to another's printer as if that printer were local.
- IPC (interprocess communication)
- Allows two applications to communicate remotely as if they were located on the same machine.
- authentication
- Allows a person to log into one machine using a user account from a different machine. In particular, many machines part of a Windows "domain" can share the same logins and passwords.
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