SMB1 puzzle

I posted recently about my old NAS failing. Turned out it was terminal and I either had to get a new one or find some other way to set up a network drive accessible from anywhere on the LAN. The answer was simple as all I had to do was connect a spare HDD to the USB port on my BT Smart Hub 2 router and that works a treat. Only today did it occur to me that as the old NAS was no longer in use I would no longer need to keep SMB1 active - a good thing as we have all been urged for years to get rid of it and MS have said it will be removed soon. So I disabled it and my new network attached HDD promptly became inaccessible! I had assumed that SMB 2 or 3 would step in but not so so I have temporarily had to reselect SMB1. What should I do now?

Move to a NAS that does not require SMB1. I am using an old computer powered by an AMD FX processor that is running TrueNAS for mine.

@NavyLCDR tbh the network attached HDD will do just fine for my needs, I really don't need all the bells and whistles of a NAS. Are you saying that doing that would mean keeping SMB1 active?

fixer said:

...all I had to do was connect a spare HDD to the USB port on my BT Smart Hub 2 router and that works a treat. Only today did it occur to me that as the old NAS was no longer in use I would no longer need to keep SMB1 active .... So I disabled it and my new network attached HDD promptly became inaccessible! .... What should I do now?

Click to expand...

I too have a 2TB Toshiba usb HDD plugged into my BT Smart Hub to use as a network drive. Unfortunately none of the BT hubs, even the latest models, have support for any version of SMB higher than SMB 1.5.



What you need to do is re-enable just the 'SMB 1.0/CIFS Client' in Windows Features.

Thanks Bree, that completely answers my dilemma. Not a great state of affairs though is it?

fixer said:

Thanks Bree, that completely answers my dilemma. Not a great state of affairs though is it?

Click to expand...

No, not great

If you wanted to do something about it then you could either buy a new router that does support SMB 2.0 or higher, or keep your BT Hub and buy a new NAS.

Me, I'm sticking with my BT Hub and the SMB 1.0 Client on my PCs. AFAIK the major security risks of SMB 1.0 came when you had an SMB 1.0 server on your network, and when it could be accessed from outside your firewall. Just enabling the client on your private netork should be relatively safe.

Me too