Accessing Computers/Devices on a Network from Linux

Question

I have a network hard drive that I want to access from my Linux system as well as some other computers that run Windows, but I have no idea how to go about doing this. The desktop environment Gnome has a "Browse Network" option, but it doesn't do anything at the moment. I've heard of NFS and Samba, but I'm having difficulties understanding how I'm supposed to configure them.

Solution

If the drive is already accessible from Windows, then it most likely uses SMB, not NFS. To enable SMB (Samba) support in GNOME, make sure you have gvfs-smb, gvfs-backends or similar package installed. This should be enough to allow browsing the network.

If you know the drive's IP address, press Ctrl+L in the file manager, then enter smb://address next to Location.

To access it by name, you might need libnss_wins.so, which usually comes as part of samba or winbind packages. Once you have it, edit the "hosts:" line of /etc/nsswitch.conf; add "wins" as the last item. Some distributions will do it for you automatically.

Comments

[someguy]

Thank you. Is there a way I can just view all the available computers/devices instead of having to enter the address or name?

[user1686]

@someguy: I did say that installing the apropriate Gvfs backend should be enough to enable network browsing in GNOME.

[someguy]

There is no gvfs-backends package for my system (Arch) or anything similar that installs smbnetfs.

[user1686]

@someguy: There is gvfs-smb, though. (I don't recommend using smbnetfs, but you can dig into the AUR and hope the old package still works.)

[someguy]

That doesn't allow me to view all the computers. I have to enter the address or name. Also, what's wrong with smbnetfs? Edit: Sorry, I get it now. I have to type smb://workgroup. Thank you :p.

[user1686]

@someguy: Ah, I forgot the workgroup. GNOME used to have a place to set the workgroup per-user; currently you have to dig into dconf for it. (Or set it system-wide at /etc/samba/smb.conf.) I don't have anything against smbnetfs myself, but I tend to avoid old and unmaintained software when an active alternative (Gvfs) is available.