Unable to access network shares in Linux

[rosede]

I'm migrating from a Windows desktop to Linux. When using FFS in Windows, I can access my network shares e.g. \\nas\share1 etc.... and sync between my NAS's. But in the Linux version of FFS, I can't do that. Why? I could mount the shares and do it that way, but I'd prefer not to. I have several shares and it just gets ugly. I'd prefer just to smb://nas/share1 from FFS, but that doesn't seem to be an option. Or, am I missing something somewhere?

Thanks

[xCSxXenon]

Make sure the user you are logged in as, in Linux, has a matching username and the correct permissions to access the NAS

[Flowers4]

First make sure you've installed the samba client:

smbclient //remote_machine/share_name -U username

[rosede]

The user name is not the issue and yes, I've installed smbclient. I can mount the share's from the command line without issue. The issue is I can't mount the shares from within FFS.

When in the Windows FFS I can "browse" to the share e.g. //nas/share. But when I am in the Linux version this does not work. Perhaps I just don't know the correct syntax to access the share from within FFS? I've looked through the documentation, but I only see Windows syntax.
Thanks

[Plerry]

In Windows, next to typing \\nas\share1 in the FFS location window, you can also drag a folder from e.g. Windows (File) Explorer and drop it into the FFS left or right location window.
I believe on a MAC you can do the same by dragging a folder from Finder and drop it into the FFS left or right location window.
I am not proficient in Linux, but if you have a file browser in Linux that is showing your NAS folder, you can try the same. Assuming that works, the FFS location window should then also show the correct way to specify such location.

[Flowers4]

Perhaps this will be more clear.

You need to mount with the mount command your Nas from Samba prior to using free file sync then you can go into free file sync and synchronize whatever you wish to and from the Nas.


To mount a share from a NAS running SMB (Server Message Block) using the Samba client on Linux, you can use the mount command with the cifs filesystem type.

Here's a basic syntax:sudo mount -t cifs //<NAS-IP>/<Share-Name> <Mount-Point> -o username=<Your-Username>,password=<Your-Password>,domain=<Your-Domain>


Replace the following placeholders:<NAS-IP>: Replace this with the IP address of your NAS.<Share-Name>: Replace this with the name of the shared folder on the NAS.<Mount-Point>:

Specify the local directory where you want to mount the NAS share.<Your-Username>: Your username for accessing the NAS.<Your-Password>: Your password for accessing the NAS.<Your-Domain>:

The domain of the NAS (if applicable).For example:sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.1.1/SharedFolder /mnt/nas -o username=myuser,password=mypassword,domain=mydomain

[rosede]

I guess what I've been trying to describe is using the UNC path in FFS. In Windows, I can use the UNC path to access the shares, but I can't in the Linux FFS version. I understand that I first mount the share's in Linux and browse to the shares, but I'd like to use the UNC path like I do in Windows.

Is this not possible in Linux?

Thank you

[xCSxXenon]

Maybe this info will help?
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1093066/what-is-the-unc-network-path-to-a-folder-shared-via-samba

[rosede]

Thank you for the reply, but that does not address my question. I know how to mount CIFS shares in Linux. The question at hand is in FFS Location Bar. In the Windows version of FFS I can access the network shares via the UNC Path. e.g. \\nas\share1, \\nas\share2 etc... But that does not work in the Linux version of FFS. If I try to "map" or even browse to the share in the linux version of FFS, I get "File not found". FFS try's to find the share in my home directory. It does not seem to be network aware as does the Windows version.

I have multiple NAS's and they each have multiple shares. I don't want to mount each and everyone one of those shares to my Linux machine. That is why I want to be able to use the UNC Path to access the shares. I want to be able to mimic the way I do file syncing on my windows machine, but it appears that FFS is not capable of doing this. From reading comments to this thread and from reading documentation, it appears that FFS was written primarily for the windows community and the Linux version is an after thought.

Thank you for all of the suggestions, however, I now realize that I need to find another solution. FFS will no longer work for me.

Thank you

[Plerry]

> but it appears that FFS is not capable of doing this.
By now, you should have understood that it is not FFS, but rather Linux that is not capable of doing what you want.

[therube]

In the Windows version of FFS I can access the network shares via the UNC Path. e.g. \\nas\share1

(From my take, & not that I know, but) it appears that in Linux you would use an ip-address rather then "NAS"?

So maybe \\192.168.2.1\rosede ?

(And of course, the IP & name would need to be correct.)

[rosede]

> but it appears that FFS is not capable of doing this.
By now, you should have understood that it is not FFS, but rather Linux that is not capable of doing what you want.

This is not true. I use KDE and their GUI file manager is called Dolphin. I can browse the network shares using Dolphin. I can browse and access the shares from the command line using smbclient. To me, this is a limitation of FFS.

Are you a Linux user? If so, how to you access your Linux shares in FFS?

[rosede]

So maybe \\192.168.2.1\rosede ?

(And of course, the IP & name would need to be correct.)

Thank you for the suggestion. I have already tried the IP address.

[uri2510]

Hello,
smb does not work in all situations :(
I use Linux Mint and I have a Synology NAS in my network.
The easiest and fastest way to access the NAS with freefilesync is via SFTP.
sftp://user@ip-adress/directory
That works best for me.
If you want to browse your NAS-drives with a filemanager you have to mount them to local folders!
You should also be aware that \ is WINDOWS-SPECIFIC Linux uses /
Regards Ulf

[pjrobar]

If you want to browse your NAS-drives with a filemanager you have to mount them to local folders!
Regards Ulf

Context: SMB file sharing, Fedora, Gnome. I don't know what toolkit FFS uses, so I don't know if its file loading interaction varies depending on the UI/UX that you're using, but the following probably applies to most of them.
----

I think I know what you're trying to say, but as written it's not correct. The Linux file managers that I've used will show network resources, even if they are not currently connected to or mounted on the local host. This is done via network discovery services--most likely WSD, or by the user explicitly entering a full network address. When you access a network share for the first time, you will be asked to authenticate. After successfully authenticating, that share will be mounted so as to appear as a local folder and will then be available to FFS.

With the Gnome File Manager this looks like:

/run/user/1000/gvfs/smb-share:server=bigserver.local,share=space-backup


So the problem is that the file dialog that FFS is using only shows "local" resources. The same is also true for the code behind FFS's location text entry box. Even entering an explicit address in the form of

protocol://computer name or IP address/share


doesn't work because there's no code in FFS that knows that this is a remote resource address and what to do with it.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the file managers' mounts are temporary--lasting only for the current session.

To work around this, you have to remember to dynamically (via the file manager or the command line), or permanently (via /etc/fstab and the proper credential files)* mount remote resources that you want to use every session. (Exercise for the reader: Make this work via the automounter.)

This is in contrast to Windows or macOS, for example, where the file dialog interface is a full instance (or near enough) of that UI's File Manager.


* Linode has a nice write up on this at their site:
https://www.linode.com/docs/guides/linux-mount-smb-share/