SMBChanger 1.0.1

SMBChanger - Enable or Disable SMB 2.0 on Clients and Servers

Enable or Disable SMB 2.0. Server Message Blocks Protocol (SMB) is the file sharing protocol used by default on Windows-based computers. SMB 1.0 was designed for early Windows network operating systems such as Microsoft LAN Manager and Windows for Workgroups, but until Windows Server 2008 and Vista, all Microsoft-based operating systems continued to use it more or less in its original format.SMB 2.0 was introduced in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

SMB 2.0 is designed for the needs of the next generation of file servers. Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista support both SMB 1.0 and SMB 2.0 in order to preserve backward compatibility.Testing done with copying large files between Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and then Vista to Windows 2003, have shown that by using SMB 2.0 the file copying was, in averege, 2 times faster than with older operating systems. However, while SMB 2.0 seems to do a good job if BOTH client and server OSs support it, in some cases it will slow things down. The reson for this is that the version of SMB used for file sharing is determined during the SMB session negotiation.

If both the client and server support SMB 2.0, then SMB 2.0 is selected during the initial negotiation. However, if they don't both support it, SMB 1.0 will be used to in order to preserve backwards compatibility.The SMB protocol version to be used for file operations is decided during the negotiation phase. During the negotiation phase, a Windows Vista client advertises to the server that it can understand the new SMB 2.0 protocol. If the server (Windows Server 2008 or otherwise) understands SMB 2.0, then SMB 2.0 is chosen for subsequent communication. Otherwise the client and server use SMB 1.0. Windows Vista/7 can act as a server and Windows 2008/2008R2 can act as a client.

SMBChanger 1.0.1 is licensed as Freeware for the Windows operating system / platform. SMBChanger is provided as a free download for all software users (Freeware).