How do I create a simple SMB file share?

Question

I'm not interested in cloud storage or anything like that, I just need to share out a folder so that OS X and Windows clients can connect to it. Connecting to shares FROM Elementary OS seems to be built in, but I don't see any "friendly" way to share out a folder.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You need to install samba server and make some edits in its config file:

sudo apt-get install samba samba-common

After that you have to edit the file /etc/samba/smb.conf

Just add the following (of course for requirements) to the end of the file:

[SharedFolder1]
   comment = My shared folder
   read only = yes
   path = /home/user/samba/shared_folder1
   browsable = yes
   guest ok = yes

After that you have to (re-)start the samba server:

sudo service samba restart

If the samba daemon does not automatically start on system start, type the following command:

sudo sysv-rc-conf samba on

Edit: For Loki and Juno (Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.04) the commands are:

sudo systemctl start / stop smbd for start / stop the server and sudo systemctl enable / disable smbd for autostart the daemon.

The displayed name in Windows will be "SharedFolder1".

Note: In the example above everyone has access to the folder without a password (guest ok = yes) but only in read-only mode (read-only = yes). Maybe this can also help you.

Answer 2

Try samba GUI tool system-config-samba

Check samba is installed

smbd --version

install if required

sudo apt install samba samba-common-bin

Run the following command to install it.

sudo apt install system-config-samba

Then we can start it from command line.

sudo system-config-samba

If you get the following error:

:~$ could not open configuration file `/etc/libuser.conf': No such file or directory

You can fix it by creating an empty /etc/libuser.conf file with the following touch command.

sudo touch /etc/libuser.conf

@pblakez