A user requests a "hidden" Samba share, named confidential, similar to the Windows Administration Share. How can this be configured?

Dervla O.Jun 26, 2026

The correct answer is E, [confidential$]. The dollar sign appended to the end of the share name is the convention that marks a Samba share as hidden, meaning it will not appear in network browse lists but remains fully accessible to anyone who knows the exact path. This mirrors the same trailing-dollar pattern used by Windows administrative shares like C$ and ADMIN$, so if you remember that connection the stem is practically giving you the answer. Eliminate A immediately because it is just a normal visible share, and B, C, D all use prefixes or non-standard characters that have no special meaning in smb.conf share name syntax.

Nina C.Jun 11, 2026

Okay so this one got me at first because I kept thinking the dollar sign had to go at the front, like a variable or something, which is why B looks really tempting if you are coming from a scripting background. But Samba actually follows the Windows convention here, and in Windows the administrative shares like C$ and ADMIN$ all put the dollar sign at the end of the share name, not the front. So the smb.conf section header you want is [confidential$], which is option E. Once you append that dollar sign, the share stops appearing in network browse lists the same way Windows hides its admin shares, even though it is still fully accessible if you know the exact path.

Grace U.Jun 13, 2026

This one trips people up because the dollar sign placement feels arbitrary until you connect it to what you already know from Windows, where shares like C$ or ADMIN$ are hidden precisely because of that trailing dollar sign. Samba follows the same convention, so the bracket entry for a hidden share puts the dollar sign at the end of the share name, not the beginning or anywhere else. The other options with symbols at the front are just distractors, and none of them map to any real Samba or Windows syntax for hiding a share from browse lists. Here is what I want you to think about: do you know what "hidden from browse lists" actually means in practice, and whether a user who already knows the exact share name can still connect to it directly?

Hiroshi T.Jun 26, 2026

On my actual 117-202 sitting I almost second-guessed myself here because I kept confusing the Windows IPC$ and ADMIN$ conventions with how Samba implements the same idea, but the smb.conf man page is unambiguous: appending a dollar sign to the share name, giving you [confidential$], is exactly how you hide it from browse lists, just like Windows admin shares. The answer is E.

Brenda K.Jun 7, 2026

Clock is ticking so I will be direct: C is the one you want, because the hash symbol in [#confidential] tells Samba to treat that line as a comment block header, which effectively hides the share from browse lists the same way Windows drops admin shares from casual view. I drilled this on three different practice sets and it held up every time, so mark it and move on, do not burn two minutes second-guessing a quick win.