tcpdump(1) hacked to better understand SMB packets. smbtcpdump gives the ability to interpret NBT and SMB packets in a fair bit of detail. To capture all SMB packets going to or from host "fred" try this: tcpdump -i eth0 -s 1500 port 139 host fred If you want name resolution or browse packets then try ports 137 and 138 respectively. Example Output: Here is a sample of a capture of a "SMBsearch" directory search. If you don't get output that looks like this then smbtcpdump is not working correctly. NBT Session Packet Flags=0x0 Length=57 SMB PACKET: SMBsearch (REQUEST) SMB Command = 0x81 Error class = 0x0 Error code = 0 Flags1 = 0x8 Flags2 = 0x3 Tree ID = 2048 Proc ID = 11787 UID = 2048 MID = 11887 Word Count = 2 smbvwv[]= Count=98 Attrib=HIDDEN SYSTEM DIR smbbuf[]= Path=\????????.??? BlkType=0x5 BlkLen=0