Is Win10 home immunised against Samba ? tho getting a Samba 4 network to work does appear somewhat complex if one party doesn’t play well.

Hi Robin,

You may need the Pro version to get NFS to work, have a look here, so Samba or cloud storage might be your best options. If you want to try Samba have a look here. I just use cloud storage myself.

Thor

This is one of those jobs that ranges from dead easy to hells bells! Much depends on the version of Windows and the version of Linux you are using, and which transport you choose to use.

Linux is good at open standards-based file sharing, while Microsoft prefer their own methods. In general, it's easier to go with Microsoft's built-in file sharing mechanism (SMB) and let Linux do the conversion.

In Windows the first step is to 'Share' the file or folder. This has been simplified in Windows 10 and it can be done from the File Explorer. Permissions may be an issue; a user is not allowed to share files belonging to other users.

'Sharing' a file in Windows causes a process to advertise its availability over the network. Other Windows machines listen for (and make) advertisements and they pop up as a Network Drive in the File Explorer panel.

Linux talks Microsoft SMB using a package called Samba. It may not be necessary to install it. The need to talk to other computers on a network is so common it may already be operational. (Depends on the Linux Version and possibly what boxes where ticked at installation.)

On my Ubuntu machine, the equivalent of File Explorer lists SMB drives under 'Other Locations'

In addition to Windows SMB it also detects APF (Apple's file sharing protocol).

Once network folders are visible you can access files in the usual way.

Is it really that simple? Of course not! File sharing gets complicated very quickly, for example if you need to control sharing between groups of computers. Configuration on either Linux or Windows is equally complicated. If it doesn't work straight off, wrap a wet towel round your head, take two paracetamol, and read the manuals!

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 18/08/2018 10:09:39

Why bother trying to get your superior OS to try to talk with Windoze? You could bring your laptop back to useful life by installing Linux on it, so that it becomes a dual-boot device (or, of course dump Windoze altogether). The installed Linux should be able to mount the existing Windoze partition(s). Then you have the simpler task of getting two linux boxes to talk to each other, and two computers running a superior OS!

I decided to set this up as a test. Conveniently, also Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. It was simpler than expected.

1) Right-click on the Ubuntu folder you want to share, then 'Local Network Share'
2) Check 'Share this folder' and give the share a name
3) If Samba is not already installed, you will be given the oppourtunity to install it, do so, then repeat from step 1
4) Set the user rights you want
5) Now set your samba password with the command 'sudo smbpasswd -a <username>'

You can of course edit smb.conf manually if your prefer.

Windows 10 seems to have lost the ablity to browse workgroups, so you will need to access the share by IP address. For that reason, best to give Linux a static IP address.
E.g. \192.168.1.83sharename

That's it.

Glad you and Alan got it to work because I hit a problem doing the same thing. My Ubuntu 18.04.1LTS and Windows10 laptop can both 'see' shares advertised by the other. Unfortunately, neither connects properly to the other due to an internal authentication or permissions problem. (I think.)

Unhelpful error messages in the logs have me baffled. There's a hint that Ubuntu and Windows are communicating with IPv6 rather than IPv4, in which case the problem may be that NetBIOS over TCP only works over IPv4. Might explain why the passwords are initially accepted and then the session fails internally.

Ubuntu and Windows both connect to a NAS without problems.

Not too worried because I can transfer files with ftp. Still, getting SMB to work is another challenge I can waste time on…

Dave

Thanks Robin, that's really useful to know. My internet search didn't pick up that Canonical might be at fault!

Dave

A little progress. My Windows 10 Home laptop can read a Public directory & files on Ubuntu (i.e the share works when a login isn't required), but not the other way round. May not have configured Windows correctly and didn't have time to investigate further.

Dave

I've just got Astronomy Linux working on an old laptop. It uses Ubuntu 16.04.

I won't go through the details but it was a long , traumatic haul and I could not have done it without someone handholding me through the parts where Ubuntu help was just sending me in circles. It seems impossible to install wireless card drivers without an internet connection, had to find an ethernet cable in the end!

Not hugely impressed at this point.

Neil

The drivers came from Ubuntu.

In short, the various web pages didn't explain anything in a way I could understand, and following the instructions about installing the driver onto a laptop with no internet connection simple sent me on a ping-pong trail back and forth between two websites, each telling me the other would tell me what to do.

I had to jury rig a wired internet connection, but it took about an hour to discover that astronomy linux came with the originator's ethernet connection already set up and that was blocking me setting up a new one. I deleted it and it found my connection.

The other big issues were things not being where they were supposed to be and the computer repeatedly hanging or requiring restarts – it even needed a restart before it could find a mouse, presumably because it wasn't plugged in when I booted.

I won't go through the hours it took to get a workable ISO disk image onto a USB key…

Hopefully I can just get this set up as tool and forget about greping and sudoing!