How do I set up file sharing between two Ubuntu laptops on my wireless network?

Question

I have two laptops running Ubuntu 12.04. Both connect to the same WIFI network to access internet.

How do I connect them to each other so that I can access files on one from another and vice versa?

Also, how do I manage the user permissions, etc. on them?

Answer 1

Share files between 2 Ubuntu computers

If you have two computers running Ubuntu on the same network, it would be an good idea to use openssh to share files between them.

On the server (the computer with the files you want to access), run:

sudo apt install openssh-server

On the client you should have ssh installed already (if for some reason it's not install, run sudo apt install openssh-client).

Then you need to figure out the IP of the computer you want to connect to. Most of the time it's something like 192.168.1.x. To find out the IP, run ifconfig and look for the "wl..." interface (or "eth..." if you're connected over Ethernet cable).

On the client, open Nautilus (Super+E) and go to “File -> Connect to Server”.

Enter sftp://<the_IP_of_the_server>

On older version of Ubuntu, you could pick the folder you wish to share. As of Ubuntu 16, if you don't specify a path after the IP, you'll get the home directory. For a specific directory outside of the home dir of the user you're connecting as, you need to type its path.

Note that it could take some time to connect, depending on the size of the folder directory.

You'll be prompted for the user/password of the computer you want to connect to.

The name of the directory will become a bookmark in Nautilus.

You should have read/write permissions.

Answer 2

If you do not require encryption you can use python. If you have installed python you can try SimpleHTTPServer. For this

cd /folder/to/share

And then,

python -m SimpleHTTPServer

This will allow sharing through port 8000. The other machine can access the files using http://yourlocalIP:8000

EDIT

Since python2 is stopped support, here is the command to python3

python3 -m http.server

Answer 3

A Quick Way to Share Folders in Ubuntu

Objectives:

Share a folder between 2 Ubuntu using samba PC's

sudo smbpasswd -a USERNAME

Answer 4

It seems like every installation of samba is a bit different. You'll want to tweak around with the settings until you get something that works.

Perhaps this will help though. This is my mount of an ntfs drive:

[Alpha]
    path = /media/alpha/
    browseable = yes 
    readonly = no
    guest ok = yes 
    create mask = 0644
    directory mask = 0755
    force user = default
    force group = default

Then I made sure that /media/alpha was mounted with 777 permissions.

Using Samba does this to you... sshfs is better.

Edit: I've recently updated the permissions on my External Drive, and having it mounted as 777 isn't required. Limiting permissions on an ntfs drive is probably another topic.

Answer 5

You can achive this securely via SSH, you need to install openssh-server on the host machine from which you want to access the files use following command to install:

sudo apt install openssh-server

Get your local ip address of system which has files you want to access

ip address show

if connected to wifi pick 3: wl01 or in case of Ethernet pick 2: enp3s0

you are done with host, move to the system form which you want to access, open file manager (nautilus) and chose Other Locations at the bottom notice connect to Server input box

Enter

sftp://<the_IP_of_the_server>/home/<username>

and press connect, you will be asked username and password of the user of which files you want to access

Answer 6

go to /etc/samba directory and type:

   sudo gedit smb.conf

Then just add this line after workgroup name:

   usershare owner only = false

and exit with saving.

Now restart the services:

   sudo service smbd restart

   sudo service nmbd restart

Now create a samba user:

   sudo smbpasswd -a RAIHAN

and provide password for that user.

That's it!!!