I've always found the default installation of Samba already exports home directories. If it doesn't you need to edit /etc/samba/smb.conf to include a section like:
[homes]
comment = Homes Directories
valid users = %S
read only = No
create mask = 0700
directory mask = 0700
You then need to add your username to Samba's user database by executing
smbpasswd -a orcris
(assuming your linux username is orcris - replace as needed)
The windows share is then \\yourlinux\orcris. It will likely prompt for your linux username and smbpasswd (which doesn't have to be synchronized with your linux login password).
Documentation I've found tends to forget to tell you to add the username using smbpasswd.
Answer from StarNamer on askubuntu.comUbuntu
ubuntu.com › tutorials › install-and-configure-samba
Install and Configure Samba | Ubuntu
Now that Samba is installed, we need to create a directory for it to share: ... The command above creates a new folder sambashare in our home directory which we will share later.
TechRepublic
techrepublic.com › home › networking
How to Use Samba File Sharing for Linux and Windows
November 6, 2025 - This is not required for accessing shares, but enables GUI-based sharing in Dolphin (or Nautilus). You may also need to add your user to the sambashare group: Note: Log out and back in for group changes to take effect. Open File Explorer. ... When prompted, enter your Samba username and password. ... Right-click This PC in File Explorer. Select the Map network drive. Choose a drive letter (for example, Z:). In the Folder field, enter the same path: \\192.168.x.x\shared
How-to create a (samba) shared folder in your local network – antiX-forum
I recently discovered the joys of using a shared folder to move files between my computers. It was a pain to set the shared folder because I did not find, in the repository any GUI that I was able to use to configure samba. More on antixforum.com
Need help accessing a samba shared folder
You have to create the Samba user and password. Defining one in the config file is only half of the process. It's also not the UNIX user, but you can use that user if you prefer. Run this command as root: smbpasswd -a Also, when using chown on things already owned by your user, you don't have to issue sudo. I would also advise avoiding the use of the -R flag unless you know what you're doing. It recursively changes ownership on everything under that directory, and more often than not, you most likely just want the top-level directory to be owned by the desired user/group when the data in it is shared. You'll also want to add the UNIX user to the Samba group if you're going to use a shared directory like this. sudo groupadd smbgroup sudo gpasswd smbgroup -a More on reddit.com
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February 1, 2025Is it a good idea to use Samba for sharing between Ubuntu and Windows 10
Yeah, used it for years. Just make sure you're not opening the Samba ports to the world - I mean, those ports aren't open on my router firewall but I still restrict the Samba ports to 192.168.1.* anyway on the Ubuntu firewall and Samba still required user authentication. More on reddit.com
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December 26, 2021Samba share for paperless-ngx LXC's consume directory
Directly piping a script from a random website, into BASH execution, is a potential security risk. This submission or the links in it refer to such a command that will retrieve the contents of the web page underlying script and execute it directly on your machine without review. This script could be changed at any time without the knowledge of the user. Always review what a script is doing before you run it! I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns. More on reddit.com
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August 6, 2023Videos
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Samba File Sharing Made Easy: Step-by-Step Linux Guide - YouTube
antiX-forum
antixforum.com › forums › topic › how-to-create-a-samba-shared-folder-your-private-network
How-to create a (samba) shared folder in your local network – antiX-forum
6- Change ownership/permissions of the shared folder (replace /FULL/PATH/OF/FOLDER/TO/BE/SHARED with the appropriate address to your shared folder): sudo chown -R smbuser:smbgroup /FULL/PATH/OF/FOLDER/TO/BE/SHARED sudo chmod -R g+w /FULL/PATH/OF/FOLDER/TO/BE/SHARED · 7- Make sure that samba is started: sudo service smbd restart
Red Hat
redhat.com › en › blog › samba-file-sharing
How to share files with Samba
December 9, 2025 - $ sudo systemctl enable --now firewalld $ sudo firewall-cmd --list-services cockpit dhcpv6-client ssh $ sudo firewall-cmd --add-service samba success · Create a directory on the server to hold your shared files and folders, and change the SELinux context to samba_share_t:
AranaCorp
aranacorp.com › blog › tutorials › creating a shared folder with samba under linux
Creating a shared folder with Samba under Linux • AranaCorp
September 24, 2025 - [global] log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m log level = 1 [smbSharedFolder] comment= Folder Shared by Samba Server path = /home/<USERNAME>/smbSharedFolder public = yes read only = no
Substack
hakedev.substack.com › hake hardware › ubuntu samba share
Ubuntu Samba Share - Hake Hardware - Substack
September 26, 2024 - But if you want to share a specific ... create a share on your OS drive, you need to create it. If using the OS drive, I suggest creating something under /media. I will be doing just that: ... By default folders created under /media are owned by root, but we will update the permissions to be appropriate for Samba ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/linux4noobs › need help accessing a samba shared folder
r/linux4noobs on Reddit: Need help accessing a samba shared folder
February 1, 2025 -
On the server side (which runs lubuntu) I edited the file /etc/samba/smb.conf adding the following
[Downloads] comment= Network Shared Folder by Samba Server on Ubuntu path = /home/itguysnightmare/Downloads force user = smbuser force group = smbgroup create mask = 0664 force create mode = 0664 directory mask = 0775 force directory mode = 0775 public = yes read only = no
Folder ownership was changed like so: sudo chown -R smbuser:smbgroup ~/Downloads
And I changed permissions like so: sudo chmod -R g+w ~/Downloads
I then restarted the service systemctl restart smbd
On client side, which runs solus with kde, I opened dolphin, went to network and shared folders (smb)
It asks for a password. Username and password of the user running on server didn't work.
I'm not sure what I did wrong but I'd sure love to learn.
Top answer 1 of 3
4
You have to create the Samba user and password. Defining one in the config file is only half of the process. It's also not the UNIX user, but you can use that user if you prefer. Run this command as root: smbpasswd -a Also, when using chown on things already owned by your user, you don't have to issue sudo. I would also advise avoiding the use of the -R flag unless you know what you're doing. It recursively changes ownership on everything under that directory, and more often than not, you most likely just want the top-level directory to be owned by the desired user/group when the data in it is shared. You'll also want to add the UNIX user to the Samba group if you're going to use a shared directory like this. sudo groupadd smbgroup sudo gpasswd smbgroup -a
2 of 3
2
I'm using the following samba settings between Windows and Linux. Linux-linux should be similar. Try adding 'guest ok = yes' to your smb.conf # Change this to the workgroup/NT-domain name your Samba server will part of workgroup = HOMEGROUP wins support = yes netbios name = RaspberryPi-4 ... [share] comment = Raspberry Pi Share Directory path = /home/pi/Share browseable = yes guest ok = yes read only = no create mask = 0777 force create mode = 0777 directory mask = 0777 force directory mode = 02777 force user = pi
Medium
medium.com › @AustinNewtonTech › creating-a-samba-share-with-the-linux-command-line-ef5a69cb1a81
Creating a Samba Share With the Linux Command Line. | by Austin Newton | Medium
July 28, 2023 - Once Samba has finished installing, we need to create a user for this Samba share. The username will be the same as your Linux username, but you will need to enter a password. To create the user we will enter the command: ... Now that we have created the samba user, we need to create the folder we will be sharing.
ZDNET
zdnet.com › home › tech › services & software › operating systems › linux
How to create Samba share on Linux for guests to access on your network | ZDNET
October 3, 2023 - Samba is a great way to share folders from your Linux desktop with other users on your network. For example, you might have documents that others need to access -- or perhaps you have photos, video, or just about any type of file to share.
MakeUseOf
makeuseof.com › home › linux › how to set up a network shared folder on ubuntu with samba
How to Set Up a Network Shared Folder on Ubuntu With Samba
August 16, 2021 - Want to share files with multiple devices on a single network? Create a shared folder on your Ubuntu machine using Samba.
Linux Mint Forums
forums.linuxmint.com › board index › main edition support › tutorials
Share Folders using Samba in Home Network with Mint 21 - Linux Mint Forums
July 14, 2022 - Edit /etc/samba/smb.conf And at the bottom of the file create a share definition to the folder you want to share.
Linux Mint Forums
forums.linuxmint.com › board index › main edition support › networking
[SOLVED] Sharing Multiple Folders on Local Network using Samba NOT WORKING. - Linux Mint Forums
November 8, 2022 - ; idmap config * : backend = tdb ; idmap config * : range = 3000-7999 ; idmap config YOURDOMAINHERE : backend = tdb ; idmap config YOURDOMAINHERE : range = 100000-999999 ; template shell = /bin/bash # Setup usershare options to enable non-root users to share folders # with the net usershare command.
Chuck Carroll
chuck.is › samba
How to Set Up a Samba Share on a Linux Server | Chuck Carroll
August 21, 2024 - I'm using GNOME, so I'll connect to the new server by opening my file manager (Nautilus), click on "Other Locations" in the sidebar, and in the server address field enter smb://[ip address of server]/share/. From there, I am prompted with the username and password created in step 2. If all ...
Raspberry Pi Forums
forums.raspberrypi.com › board index › using the raspberry pi › beginners
Sharing an existing folder using Samba - Raspberry Pi Forums
This is the smb.conf with all the default settings removed (note it is interspaced with comments) [global] workgroup = WORKGROUP security = user syslog = 0 log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m max log size = 1000 usershare allow guests = yes passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u pam password change = yes passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* . panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d dns proxy = no unix password sync = yes map to guest = bad user username map = /etc/samba/user.map Why have you got a user.map ?
SambaWiki
wiki.samba.org › index.php › Setting_up_Samba_as_a_Standalone_Server
Setting up Samba as a Standalone Server - SambaWiki
This section describes some advanced share configuration parameters. For further information about the used parameters, see the smb.conf (5) man page. [demo] path = /srv/samba/demo/ read only = no force create mode = 0660 force directory mode = 2770 force user = demoUser force group = demoGroup · The force create mode and force directory mode parameters force Samba to create new files and folders with the set permissions.
Rocky Linux Documentation
docs.rockylinux.org › 10 › guides › file_sharing › samba_file_share
Samba Windows File Sharing - Documentation
If you are a seasoned Linux ... if you have not, Samba is the de facto open-source implementation of SMB to enable file sharing and Active Directory access from Linux machines to Windows networks. ... Replace /var/store with the directory to be shared....
Atlantic.Net
atlantic.net › home › blog › how to create samba share on ubuntu
How to Create Samba Share on Ubuntu | Atlantic.Net
May 14, 2025 - gpasswd -a user1 samba · Next, create a shared folder that you have specified in the smb.conf file: mkdir -p /data/private touch /data/private/file1 · Next, provide read and write permissions to the Samba share: setfacl -R -m "g:samba:rwx" /data/private · Next, check the Samba configuration file for any errors with the following command: testparm ·
Raspberry Pi Forums
forums.raspberrypi.com › board index › using the raspberry pi › troubleshooting
Setting up Samba File Sharing / Network Attached Storage (NAS) - Raspberry Pi Forums
sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf To share a folder named shared on the USB drive add the following lines to the bottom of the file: (The first line in the square brackets [ ] is just the name of the folder or directory that will show up when browsing for the drive on your network)
Adrian Mejia
adrianmejia.com › how-to-set-up-samba-in-ubuntu-linux-and-access-it-in-mac-os-and-windows
How to set up Samba in Ubuntu/Linux, and access it in Mac OS and Windows | Adrian Mejia Blog
July 13, 2011 - # Adrian's share [MyShare] comment = YOUR COMMENTS path = /your-share-folder read only = no guest ok = yes · Restart samba.