Connecting to a Windows network with ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Question

I am trying to connect my Ubuntu desktop to a Windows network. I have been following guides like this.

I enabled the network share, but when I try t open my network tab, I do not see my computer and trying to connect to the Windows network results in the following error:

Failed to retrieve share list from server: No such file or directory

net usershare info gives the following:

net usershare info --long

[Network share]
path=/home/molbio/Network share
comment=
usershare_acl=Everyone:F,
guest_ok=y

Solution

you should have samba file sharing installed. To install samba open terminal and type:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install samba

you will now have samba file server. To access any shared files you need to open file manager and type ctrl + l this will select your file path url. Follow the syntax mentioned below:

smb://< server-ip-or-host >/

Comments

[David Foerster]

Did you make sure that the client machine can reach the server machine through the network at all via ping etc.?

[Admin]

I already had this. It doesn't seem to be on the windows network and isn't accessible via Windows machine.

[David Foerster]

There's no need to install a Samba server to access SMB shares on a different machine.

[mckenzm]

You need a Samba client. It does not hurt to install the server, but you need the client. The Windows machine is the server. Install cifs-utils as well.

[jpaugh]

Installing a server does not necessarily install the client software. Instead, you should verify that nautilus-share is installed.