How to setup Samba File Sharing Server on Ubuntu

Do you have multiple machines running several operating systems? Then you may face issues while transferring files to and fro between those machines. It is a not a great feeling to waste your time troubleshooting file transfer issues.

Hence, we suggest to create a folder and then share it with all the systems connected to the local network. In this tutorial, we walk you through the process of setting up a folder in your local network for being able to share its content across Windows and Linux systems. Its only one-time installation with few little configurations and your files should be ready to share across your different machines.

We shall use a popular tool Samba.

Setting up Samba Server to share files across Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X systems

Samba is a opensource tool that can help you to share the files and printer across cross platforms including Linux, Windows, and Mac over a network.

This tutorial guides you on how to install and configure Samba, to enable file sharing between Ubuntu and Windows. However, first we need to prepare our environment as follows:

Step 1 – Setting up Ubuntu and Windows Hosts

On Ubuntu, put your Ubuntu IP and hostname in the /etc/hosts file. Also, add a record for the Windows IP and hostname.

sudo vi /etc/hosts

Ubuntu Hosts File

On Windows, put your machine IP and hostname. Also, add a record for your Ubuntu IP and hostname.

notepad C:\\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Windows Hosts File

Step 2 – Configure domains

Both machines must be in the same domain, check the default Windows workstation domain using the next command.

net config workstation

Windows Current Domain

As you can see from the previous screenshot, the Windows domain is WORKGROUP.

Step 3 – Enable File Sharing on Windows

Enable File Sharing on Windows, open cmd with administrator privileges and run the next two commands.

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="File and Printer Sharing" new enable=Yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Network Discovery" new enable=Yes

The output should be like below:

Enable File-sharing and Network Discovery

Step 4 – Install Samba on Ubuntu

Ensure that your Ubuntu updated.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Run next command to install Samba on Ubuntu.

sudo apt-get install samba samba-common python-glade2 system-config-samba

Install Samba

Check if the Samba installation was successful.

whereis samba

The output should like below:

Verify Samba Installation

Step  5 – Setup Public Shared Folder on Ubuntu

Create a public directory on Ubuntu for sharing.

sudo mkdir -p /home/hendadel/sambashare

Set the directory permissions so that anyone can read/write to it.

sudo chown -R nobody:nogroup /home/hendadel/sambashare/
sudo chmod -R 0775 /home/hendadel/sambashare/

Create a Shared Directory

Step 6 – Copy and setup Config file

Copy Samba default configuration file to be a backup file in case any error happens in the future.

sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.backup

Edit Samba configuration file

sudo vi /etc/samba/smb.conf

Add the next lines to Samba configuration file:

[global]
workgroup = WORKGROUP
server string = Samba Server %v
netbios name = hendadel-VBox
security = user

[SambaShare]   
Comment = Samba Shared Directory   
path = /home/hendadel/sambashare   
writable = yes   
guest ok = yes   
read only = no
force user = nobody

Edit Samba Config File

Check the Samba configuration file using the next command.

testparm

The output should be like this:

Samba Configuration File Check

Step 7 – Restart Samba Service.

sudo service smbd restart

Restart Samba Services

Step 8 – Access Samba Share on Windows

Now from your Windows machine, open run and use the following command to open Ubuntu shared folder.

\\192.168.1.8\sambashare

Open Shared From Run

The shared folder should like this:

Shared Folder From Windows

You can now create folders or files inside the shared directory from your Windows machine and check if they created in Ubuntu too.

First, create a test folder from Windows:

Create Test Folder

Check the created folder from Ubuntu:

Check Created Folder

Step 9 – Set Private Shared Directory

Previously, we had a public folder for all network members. What if you need to share a folder with some specific users, or in other words users who have username and password only can access the shared directory.

First, we need to create a group, add users and members to this group and only members of this group should have access to the shared directory.

Create a group:

sudo addgroup smbgroup

Create a Group

Add your Ubuntu user to the smbgroup.

sudo usermod -aG smbgroup hendadel

Give a password for the samba user.

sudo smbpasswd -a hendadel

Add user to group

Now, create a directory to share in private.

sudo mkdir -p /home/hendadel/sambaprivate/

Set permissions to the previous directory, so that only root and members of smbgroup access the shared directory.

sudo chown -R root:smbgroup /home/hendadel/sambaprivate/
sudo chmod -R 0770 /home/hendadel/sambaprivate/

Change Permissions

Edit Samba configuration file to add the new created directory.

sudo vi /etc/samba/smb.conf

Add the below:

[SambaPrivate]
path = /home/hendadel/sambaprivate
valid users = @smbgroup
guest ok = no
writable = yes
browsable = yes

The configuration file should be as follows:

Edit Samba Config File

Restart Samba service.

sudo service smbd restart

Check the Samba configuration file:

testparm

Restart Service and Check Configurations

Check the two created folders from Windows machine.

\\192.168.1.8\sambashare

Windows should ask you for username and password like the below screenshot.

Enter Username and Password

After entering your credentials, you should see the shared directories as below.

Check Shared Folders

Finally, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Moreover, for any further questions, leave us a comment, and we will be glad to help you.