Background: I’m attempting to set up a public samba share on my local network following this tutorial on thelinuxcode.com. Long term, I’ll probably set up some security around this, but for now I just want to confirm I can follow a basic tutorial. Unfortunately, so far, I’m failing.
What I’ve done so far (on the host machine):
- Installed samba packages:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install samba - Confirmed smbd is running:
sudo systemctl status smbd - Created a dedicated folder for the share:
sudo mkdir /mnt/ShareDemo - Changed ownership of the ShareDemo folder to
nobody:nogroup:sudo chown -R nobody:nogroup /mnt/ShareDemo - And changed its permissions to
0775:sudo chmod -R 0775 /mnt/ShareDemo - Added the share definition to
/etc/samba/smb.confas follows:
[ShareDemo]
path = /mnt/ShareDemo
valid users = @users
force user = nobody
force group = nogroup
public = yes
writable = yes
browseable = yes
- Updated firewall rules to allow access:
sudo ufw allow samba
As far as I can tell, I’ve followed the instructions exactly as described in the tutorial. According to the tutorial, my newly created Samba share should now be accessible from any Windows, macOS, or Linux device on the same local network. On Linux:
- Install samba-client if you haven‘t already -> DONE.
- Open your file manager and click “Other Locations” or “Network” -> DONE.
- Browse for your Ubuntu hostname and click the share folder -> DONE.
- It will mount automatically without any login prompt needed -> this is where I’m stuck. I’ve tested this on two different Linux devices on my local network. In both cases, the samba share shows up in the file manager, but the system prompts me to authenticate and I cannot proceed as an anonymous user.
Even though the tutorial doesn’t specifically say I need to, I’ve tried restarting smbd after updating smb.conf, but I still have the same issue.
What have I done wrong? Is the tutorial missing a step or simply outdated? Is there another tutorial that I should follow instead? Thanks in advance!
This helped, thank you!
What has me scratching my head is that in the tutorial I was reading from, it mentions setting up users but very explicitly labels that section as “Optional.” Anyway, I got in after following the instructions in that paragraph - adding a Linux and Samba user called
shareuserand updating the config. Unlike in the tutorial, I keptbrowseable = yesso that I can still browse to the folder in my file manager.valid users = shareuser public = no writable = yes browseable = yesIt’s a good lesson to learn if you’re working with Samba frequently. Just always that there are two auth systems at work: SMB local to the server and filesystem, and the SMB protocol auth that does network access.
👍