Samba

Samba the Linux and Unix implementation SMB/CIFS (aka, Windows File Sharing). If it is not included in a given OS distro, it can be installed easily to share files to XBMC (among other uses). Samba/SMB is often a good choice due to it being highly compatible with other computers, regardless of the OS.


 * http://www.samba.org

Installing

 * Gentoo


 * Debian/Ubuntu

Compile from source
Installing Samba regardless of distro

Configuring
Samba's configuration is stored. All the following items should be placed in that file.

Global configuration

 * workgroup : Should be set to the workgroup your home pc uses if you planning on accessing this share from a windows PC
 * netbios name : This is the name that will be displayed when browsing the your Network Neighborhood
 * server string : The title of the server that will be displayed in windows(This is not the share name)

Share configuration

 * path
 * Set this to the path to be shared by samba

Run  to check your smb.conf for internal correctness.

Finally resart samba service.