How to share files between a Linux and Windows computer

The easiest and most reliable way to share files between a Linux and Windows computer on the same local area network is to use the Samba file sharing protocol. All modern versions of Windows come with Samba installed, and Samba is installed by default on most distributions of Linux.

Create a shared folder on Windows

First, create a shared folder on your Windows machine.

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Go to Network and Sharing Options.
3. Go to Change Advanced Sharing Settings.
4. Select Turn on Network Discovery and Turn on File and Print Sharing.

Now, create a new folder to share or choose an existing folder that you’d like to share.

1. Right-click the folder and select Properties.
2. Go to the Sharing tab.
3. Above the Share button is the network name of the share you are creating. It should look like \\YOURCOMPUTERNAME\Users\YourUserName\ShareFolderName. Make a note of this network name to use later on your Linux machine.
4. Click Share.

Access a Windows shared folder from Linux, using Konqueror

Many Linux distributions use the KDE desktop environment and the Konqueror file manager/browser. If this is what you are using, you can follow these steps to access your Windows shared folder:

1. Click the K menu icon.
2. Select Internet ->Konqueror.
3. In the Konqueror window that opens, click the Network Folders link, or type remote:/ in the address bar and press Enter .
4. Click the Samba Shares icon.
5. Click the icon of your Windows Home workgroup.
6. Click the Workgroup icon.
7. Click the icon for your computer.
8. When prompted, enter the username and password for the Windows account that created the share.
9. Click OK.

Access a Windows shared folder from Linux, using Nautilus

Many Linux distributions, especially those that use the GNOME desktop environment, use the Nautilus file manager. If this is what you’re using, you can follow these steps to access your Windows shared folder:

1. Open Nautilus.
2. From the File menu, select Connect to Server.
3. In the Service type drop-down box, select Windows share.
4. In the Server field, enter the name of your computer.
5. Click Connect.

Alternatively, in the Nautilus address bar, you can type smb://ComputerName/ShareName and press Enter . For instance, when you created your Windows Share, if the share name was listed as:

Type smb://YOURCOMPUTERNAME/Users/YourUserName/ShareFolderName and press Enter . Note the smb: at the beginning; in Linux, use forward slashes instead of backslashes.

Access a Windows shared folder from Linux, using the command line

You can also access your Windows share from the Linux command line using the smbclient program.

1. Open a terminal.
2. Type smbclient at the command prompt.
3. If you receive a «Usage:» message, this means smbclient is installed, and you can skip to the next step. If the command is not found, however, you need to install smbclient. Follow these steps to install it.

Mounting and mapping shares between Windows and Linux with Samba

More Linux resources

In my previous article, Interoperability: Getting started with Samba, I covered installing and configuring Samba shares on a Linux server. The real power of Samba comes when Windows clients can communicate with Linux file servers. In this article, I will cover how you can access Samba shares from both Linux and Windows clients.

Install the Samba client packages

To access Samba share from Linux clients we need to install a few Samba client packages.

On the client machine, install the samba-common and samba-client packages.

Check for available shares

Let’s check if we can access our shares from the server. We can use either the hostname or ip address of the server. If you use the hostname , make sure DNS is working.

Create a directory that we can use as our mount point. I’m going to create a directory under /mnt , but you can use any directory you would like to. You may need to configure SELinux on that directory.

Now, mount the share.

Now that we’ve mounted our share, we can check the mounts with the following command:

Let’s make that directory mount persistently so it can withstand a reboot. Using the text editor of your choice, edit the /etc/fstab file. You can do this in multiple ways, but I’m going to demonstrate two ways to mount the Samba share at boot in /etc/fstab .

The first option provides a username and password for the Samba user in the fstab .

The other option is to create a credential file. You can call this file anything, but I would like to call it cred . I would like to place credentials files in the home directory of the user. In our demonstration it will be /home/user/.cred .

The _netdev option is important since we are mounting a network device. Clients may hang during the boot process if the system encounters any difficulties with the network.

Now create that .cred file inside the user’s home directory.

Next, add the Samba user’s username and password.

Finally, mount all filesystems.

Access a share from a Windows client

I will be using Windows 10 as my client machine with a workgroup called SAMBA . We need to create a local user account on the Windows machine that matches the username and password of the Samba user account we created in my previous article. Although account creation is not necessary, this will make things simpler when accessing the share.

Like I mentioned above, this step is optional and you can skip it completely. Although there are multiple approaches to adding a new local user on a Windows machine, for the simplicity of this article I will be using PowerShell. Launch PowerShell as an administrator and issue following commands:

Now that we have created a new local user account matching the Samba user account, we can log in to Windows with our newly created user account.

Access a share from Windows Explorer

To access the Samba share from Windows Explorer, start typing the IP address to our share in the search area. I am using the hostname of the Samba server. In my case, it is centos . You can also access the share by using the IP address of the Samba server.

You might be prompted to enter the username and password to access the share if you skipped the local user creation process. If you get prompted for credentials, enter the Samba username and password we created in the previous article.

You will need to enter the Samba share path every time you want to access the share. There is a better way to access the share by mapping a drive to Samba share in Windows.

Mapping a drive to a Samba share

To map a drive to the Samba share, open PowerShell and issue following command:

Accessing a Samba share on Linux and Windows is easy. With this basic setup, you will be able to access file shares from client machines in your network. With somewhat more configuration, you can deploy Samba shares in a domain environment. Samba can do more than file share. If you would like to learn more about Samba, read this article about Windows and Linux interoperability. This is a basic set up, but you can do so much more with Samba.

[ Want to test your sysadmin skills? Take a skills assessment today. ]

How to Mount a Windows Share Folder on Linux

Linux and Windows systems have major differences, with different file systems and protocols in use. Sharing files between them can be difficult, especially because they use two different sharing protocols.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to mount a Windows share folder on Linux, however. Follow along below to find out how.

Share Your Windows Folder

Before you do anything, you need to ensure that Windows has been correctly set up to allow for networking file sharing.

To enable this on Windows 10, right-click on the network icon in the notifications area of your Windows taskbar. From here, click “Open Network & Internet Settings.”

Under the “Status” category, click “Sharing options.”

In your Windows sharing options menu, make sure that “Turn on network discovery” and “Turn on file and printer sharing” are enabled.

Click the radio buttons next to both options to make sure this is the case.

Click “Save changes” to save your settings. Once this is done, open Windows File Explorer and locate the folder you’re looking to share with your Linux PC.

Right-click the folder and click “Properties.”

In your folder properties, click the “Sharing” tab, then click “Advanced Sharing.” Click to enable the “Share this folder” checkbox, then click “Permissions.”

Under the “Permissions” section, set the control rights for your folder. By default, Windows will grant read-only access to your files.

If you want to allow everyone to read or write to the folder, click “Allow” for the “Full Control” permissions set. Set these permissions to suit your own requirements.

Once you’re done, click “OK” three times to close each of the dialog boxes.

Your folder should now be shared on your network, ready for you to access from your Linux PC.

Install CIFS-utils

Depending on your Linux distribution, you may be able to mount your Windows-shared folder automatically in your distribution’s file explorer.

However, this may not work correctly. The safest way to mount Windows-shared folders on Linux is to use the CIFS-utils package and mount the folder using the Linux terminal.

This allows Linux machines to access SMB file shares used by Windows PCs.

To install CIFS-utils, open a new terminal window. For Ubuntu and Debian-based distributions, type:

For Arch users, type:

Once installed, you can then mount your Windows share folder from the Linux terminal.

Mount Windows SMB Share on Linux

You’ll need to create a mount directory before you can mount your Windows SMB-shared folder on Linux. This is where Linux will mirror the contents of your shared folder.

To do that, open a terminal window and type:

Once created, type the following:

Replace “Windows” with the IP address or hostname for your Windows PC and “SharedFolder” with your shared folder name. For the username, replace “account” with your Windows username or full Microsoft account email.

You’ll be asked to provide your Windows password before the mounting process is complete. Type this in, then click Enter. If you used the correct information, your Windows folder should now be mounted and accessible in the folder you created.

Sharing Files Between Linux and Windows

Mounting Windows and Linux shared folders gives you the freedom to access your most important files, no matter the operating system. The SMB protocol is well supported on Linux, so you shouldn’t find it difficult to continue accessing your Windows files and folders once you’ve installed the CIFS-utils package.

If you’d rather use a single system, here are five of the best Linux distros for Windows users you could use.

Ben is a UK based tech writer with a passion for gadgets, gaming, and general geekiness.

Share Folders on Local Network Between Ubuntu and Windows

Last updated October 29, 2020 By Mohd Sohail 47 Comments

This is a complete tutorial to show you how to share folders over the local network between Windows and Ubuntu.

Do you have multiple devices in your home? Do you have to use Flash Drive or SD card to transfer data from Ubuntu to another computer? Do you find it annoying? We know you do. Because we don’t want you to waste your precious time while you can transfer your files, documents, and other large stuff quickly and easily, over the local network. It’s one-time setup and then with some clicks you will be able to share files between Ubuntu and Windows or any other Linux system. And don’t worry it’s easy and takes only a little time.

One more thing to add, while we performed this tutorial on Ubuntu, this tutorial should be valid for any other Linux OS.

Share folder on local network in Ubuntu

If you are using Ubuntu, there are two ways you can share your local files over the local network to access it from Windows or other Linux computers.

1. Share it for everyone’s access on local network, without password
2. Password protect the folders for restricted access

We’ll see both methods in this post and will let you decide which one you would prefer to use.

Method 1. Share folders on local network without password

You’ll have to do some settings on both Windows and Ubuntu.

Enable sharing on Ubuntu

To share a folder on the local network in Ubuntu, right click on the desired folder and select Local Network Share:

Possible troubleshoot: If you do not see the option of Local Network Share in right click menu, open a terminal and use the following command to install nautlius-share:

You’ll need to restart Nautilus. Either log out and log in back or use the command below:

When you click on Local Network Share, you will see the option of sharing the folder. Just check the option of Share this folder:

Possible troubleshoot: If you are prompted about Sharing service not being installed, like in the screenshot below, just click on Install service and follow the instructions.

When you check the option of Share this folder, you’ll see option of Create Share available for you. You can also allow other users to edit the files in the shared folder. Option for guest access can be checked as well.

You’ll see that the folder icon have been changed to show that it has been shared. To stop sharing a folder, just uncheck the Share this folder option.

Now access the shared folder on Windows machine.

Step 2: Enable sharing on Windows

On Windows, right click on “This PC” or “My Computer”, and select “Add a new connection”.

Adding New Connection

Click on “next” button.

Adding New Connection

Now it’s time to enter server address and the name of folder which we’ve shared. Please enter in following format.

You can find your server’s address, i.e. IP address of Linux machine by entering ip a command.

In my case, IP address of Linux machine is 192.168.0.102 and folder I’ve shared is share.

Ip Address

Now add the location in the following manner:

Entering Server Address

Now you will see this screen, just click next.

Adding New Connection

Now, you can access the shared folder in “This PC” or “My Computer” under “Network Location” section.

New Shared Folder

Now this was the easy way out. This provides access to anyone on your local network to access these files.

In normal condition, you should prefer this. I mean, devices on your home network should be generally known devices. But this could not be the case always. What if you want only certain people to access it?

This is where Samba server comes in picture. We’ll see that in the second part of the tutorial.

2. Share the folders on local network in Ubuntu with password protection

To do this, we need to configure Samba server. Actually, we did use Samba in the previous part of this tutorial. We just did not emphasize on it. Before we go on seeing how to set up Samba server for local network sharing in Ubuntu, let’s first have a quick look on what actually is Samba.

What is Samba?

Samba is the software package that allows you to share files, documents and printers across a network, irrespective of whether you are using Linux, Windows and Mac. It’s available for all major platforms and can work tremendously nice in all of them. Quoting from Wikipedia:

Samba a free software re-implementation of the SMB/CIFS networking protocol, and was originally developed by Andrew Tridgell. As of version 3, Samba provides file and print services for various Windows Clients and can integrate with a Windows Server domain, either as a Primary Domain Controller (PDC) or as a domain member. It can also be part an Active Directory domain.

Install Samba server on Ubuntu

You can easily install Samba on you Ubuntu box. Before installing update your system so that you can install any available updates.

Now install Samba serer and few other required stuffs with the following command:

Once you’ve installed Samba server, it’s time to configure Samba from the graphical interface window to share files.

Configure Samba server on Ubuntu

Open Samba Configuration tool from the dash:

Go to Preference->Server Settings. Although the default settings are good and may be same you need. But you may need to make change to it in some cases.

Now in Server Settings you’ve two tabs, ‘Basic’ and ‘Security’. Under Basic tab you’ve the following options that mean:

• Workgroup – This is the name of the Workgroup of the computer you want to connect to. For example, if you want to connect to a Windows computer so you will enter the workgroup name of Windows computer, and in Windows you already have the same workgroup name as is set by default in Samba Server Settings. But if you have a different workgroup name on Windows then you will enter that workgroup name in this field. (In Windows 7 to get the workgroup name, right-click Computer icon and go to Properties, there you’ll see Windows Workgroup name.)
• Description – This is the name of your computer as seen by others. Don’t use spaces or non-internet friendly characters.

Allowing ‘Guests’ is not advisable so there is no reason to change security settings. Keep as it is.

It is all done! You’ve setup Samba Server. We are not far from sharing our first folder on network.

Create a system user for network file sharing

We will now create a system user for sharing file on network. This is how simple it is.

• Go to System Settings.
• Under Systems Settings Click User Accounts.
• Click unlock to Enable + (plus) icon.
• Click + (plus) icon to create a new system user.

Now as you can see the above image, you can enter ‘Full name’. As you enter ‘Full name’ Username will be taken as Full name automatically. Because we are creating this user to share files so we will assign Account Type to ‘Standard‘.

Done above steps? Click add. You have created a system user. The user is not yet activated so we will activate it by setting up password for this account. Make sure Users accounts panel is unlocked. Click Account disabled and type a new password, then confirm password and click Change.

Yipee… Upto now we have installed and configured Samba and We have created a System user to share files on network from the account and we have activated our newly created account, too. Now We will move to Samba for the last step of configuring everything, then we will share a folder.

Add new Samba user

Open Samba and click Samba Users under Preference. Fill up the the simple dialogue. Here are couple of details about the fields:

Unix Username – In this case I am selecting the user that I just created.

Windows Username – You will enter this username when you are accessing from Windows Machine.

Samba Password – You will enter this password when you are accessing from Windows Machine.

Once you’ve done click OK. Now take a deep breath. You have successfully created a network with the help of Samba. Now restart the network or Samba services and ready to share files with other machines.

Share folders or files over the network

To share files with Samba it’s simple with graphical user interface. Click the Plus icon in Samba and you will get dialogue like this:

Complete the fields. In ‘Directory‘ browse the folder you want to share. Here are the details about the fields you will see here:

• Share name is the name of the folder that other would see.
• Description is simply about the content you are sharing on network.
• Writable You shared folders are ‘read only’ by default. You can set them to writable if you want others on network to change them.
• Visible As the name suggests when you click Visible, the shared folder will be visible to the people on network.

Now you can set permissions for the folder you are sharing. To do this click ‘Access’ tab and check the users you want to share the folder with. When you select Allow access to everyone, the folder will be accessible to everyone on the network.

Finally click OK to complete the sharing. Now the folder is shared with the people you want. You have completed sharing file on network. Is there everything left? Yes! How to remove the folders from the network?

Remove shared folders

We will also need to remove some of the folders after sometime from network. It is very simple and here is how we can do that.

This is all done! We can also share files over network using terminal but that would not be as easy as this one. If you request for command line sharing then I will write a tutorial on how to share files over network with command line in Linux.

So, how do you find this tutorial to share files on local network in Ubuntu? I hope with this tutorial you can easily share files between Ubuntu and Windows. If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to ask it in the comment box below.

This tutorial was requested by Kalc. If you would like, you can request your own tutorial. We would be happy to help you out along with other readers facing the same issue.

Like what you read? Please share it with others.