Sharing 2nd Hard Disk Drive in Ubuntu Server 12.4

Question

Greetings to all the techies and Gurus!

I have Ubuntu Server 12.4 LTS with Samba Server Installed. I have a 2nd 2TB HDD. I want to Create a Folder in the 2nd HDD and share it with windows PC's.... How do I do it? Appreciate all your help peepz.. Chers

Solution

I think that this guide will be helpful for you:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/How%20to%20Create%20a%20Network%20Share%20Via%20Samba%20Via%20CLI%20%28Command-line%20interface/Linux%20Terminal%29%20-%20Uncomplicated,%20Simple%20and%20Brief%20Way!

The main steps from the guide:

1. Set a password for your user in Samba

   sudo smbpasswd -a <user_name>
   

2. Create a directory to be shared

   mkdir /home/<user_name>/<folder_name>
   

3. Make a backup to be safe:

   sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf ~
   

4. Edit the conf file (you can use any editing program, I prefer gedit)

   sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf
   

   add the following lines to the end of the file:

   [<folder_name>]
   path = /home/<user_name>/<folder_name>
   available = yes
   valid users = <user_name>
   read only = no
   browseable = yes
   public = yes
   writable = yes
   
   
   ##Note that before and after the equal sign should be a SPACE!
   

5. When done, restart the samba:

   sudo restart smbd
   

6. Once Samba has restarted, to check syntax errors, run:

   testparm
   

7. To access the shared directory from windows run:

   \\<HOST_IP_OR_NAME>\<folder_name>\ 
   

The folder name will be the value that you used in "" in "/etc/samba/smb.conf".

Comments

[sboda]

Sorry for the late answer, yes, that's also possible, assuming that the partition is mounted... You will have to change path = /media/sdb5/custom if the partition is mounted in /media/sdb5, or you can right click on the mounted drive and you can find under properties the file path...

[Neil]

sboda, thank you for that I manage to share the folder, I can navigate in the folder from a windows user... but the non of the windows users are unable to create/modify/save any file under the folder. I have no restricted permission set to the folder folder is set to 777... any idea where i am going wrong?

[sboda]

You're welcome! You should add write list = user_name after browseable = yes. (I think if you add just write list = * then anyone will have acces to write it!) Please accept my answer, if this will work!