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I'm looking for something like nautilus-share for Thunar, does it exist?

If not please tell me how do I share a folder in Xubuntu?

3 Answers 3

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Overview

Unfortunately Thunar does not support the same equivalent Nautilus-Shares functionality. However you can workaround this.

Prerequisites

First install samba

sudo apt-get install samba

Thunar Shares

Open Thunar and Select *Edit > Configure Custom Actions > + *

Basic Tab:

  • Name: Samba Public Read Only
  • Command: net usershare add %n %f "" Everyone:R guest_ok=y

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Appearance Conditions Tab:

Make sure only Directories is enabled.

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Restart Thunar and right click a directory in your home folder, say Documents, and select "Samba Public Read Only".

To check if it has done it correctly run the following command to see the share definition:

net usershare info --long

It should look like this if it's done it correctly:

[documents]
path=/home/dad/Documents
comment=
usershare_acl=Everyone:R,
guest_ok=y

Repeat for:

  1. Public - Writable

    • Name: Samba Public Writeable
    • Command: net usershare add %n %f "" Everyone:F guest_ok=y && chmod 777 %f
  2. Private - Read Only

    • Name: Samba Private Read Only
    • Command: net usershare add %n %f "" Everyone:R guest_ok=n
  3. Private - Writeable

    • Name: Samba Private Writeable
    • Command: net usershare add %n %f "" Everyone:F guest_ok=n && chmod 777 %f
  4. Remove Share

    • Name: Samba Share Remove
    • Command: net usershare delete %n && chmod 755 %f

What it can do:

Create a samba usershare. Change permissions on the target folder allowing write access to samba clients.

What it can't do:

Nautilus-shares has a GUI which showed you available options and those you have already selected.

Nautilus-shares change the folder icon to show you that the folder was shared. Right-click the folder that has been shared and select properties. Add an emblem to remember that this folder has been shared.

credit

3
  • This is excellent. Perfect answer.
    – darkliquid
    Oct 26, 2013 at 8:05
  • @fossfreedom Still an excellent answer, I added all 5 Custom Actions to Thunar 1.6.11 at my Xubuntu 16.04 Minimal Install (installed from a mini.iso. I can open Samba Public Read Only / Writeable folders but I cannot open Samba Private Read Only / Writeable. The Password required for share... is not accepted. So I can only share folders with the Public way. Is any package missing from my system? Another issue is that when I do Samba Share Remove at a folder, I can still open it from another PC until I reboot the sharing PC, but this is minor problem, since I know it now.
    – vasilis74
    Sep 10, 2017 at 22:54
  • Also, a kind of GUI to see the folders you share at a computer, is to go to Network at the same computer's Thunar and see the listed folders, but you can't see the /path. This way the Samba Share Remove'ed folders do not show, they only show from the other computer. And I would like to know if I can tick more than Directories at the Appearance Conditions Tab. Thanks for all this help!
    – vasilis74
    Sep 10, 2017 at 23:06
1

Folder sharing with Xubuntu is easy, but the Thunar file manager is not the way to do it. (I'm using Xubuntu 12.04, but I know this worked for 11.10 also.)

When you install Xubuntu, BOTH Thunar and Nautilus file managers are automatically installed. Thunar is the selected file manager by default. To share folders/files, go to the "Applications Menu" in the top-left corner of the screen and click on "Settings", then click on "Settings Manager". Click on the "Preferred Applications" icon. Select the "Utilities" tab, and under "File Manager", drop down the list and select "Nautilus".

Summary: Applications Menu/Settings/Settings Manager/Preferred Applications/Utilities/File Manager, then select Nautilus.

The next step is to go back to the Applications Menu and click on "System", then click on "Synaptic Package Manager". When Synaptic opens, search for the package named "nautilus-share". If it is not already installed, install it now. Close Synaptic when you are finished, then reboot the computer. When you open a new folder window, right-clicking on any folder will allow you to set the "Sharing Options".

Note: Any folder icons that you already placed on your desktop using Thunar will remain Thunar objects. Delete them and create new folder icons with Nautilus, if you want to.

Another note: If you want to see "Shared Folders" on your Applications Menu, go to Applications Menu/Settings/Main Menu, and in the left column, select "System". You will see "Shared Folders" in the right column. Select that, then close the Main Menu window, and "Shared Folders" will thereafter be visible under Applications Menu/Settings.

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It exists, it's the thunar shares plugin. A PPA can be found in the link ("XUbuntu packages")

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  • Did you try the PPA? Those packages were not updated since 2009... But installing the from the tar-file worked for me, I only had to install thre required pacakges, and replace thunarx-1 by thunarx-3 in the ./configure command. Oct 22, 2020 at 15:15

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