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So, my server finally died (good old 10 year old machine, minimum). I was running Mandriva on it using samba to share some data areas for backups and storage (had added a SATA card and some 1TB drives). With it's death I decided to switch to Ubuntu..

I am running Ubuntu 12.10. I initially installed samba since that is what I was used to, but then noticed when in Nautilus that, like in windows, I can right click and share.

What is the difference between these sharing modes? I can see my samba share but still have permissions to fix since I setup one of the old drives and it doesn't have the right group ownership yet. But I "right clicked shared" another area and I can see that and use it right away from my windows boxes...

Do I not even need to use samba any more? Should I ditch it for this other sharing method?

I did some searches but didn't find much, most likely I just don't know the key words yet to use in my search..

Unix: medium user; Ubuntu: NEWBIE!!

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  • If you want to set up a server you should consider using Ubuntu Server. It comes without a graphical interface and so without Nautilus, which would solve your problem ;-)
    – André Stannek
    Commented Dec 24, 2012 at 11:58
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    Yes, I went through that thought process and while the machine is my "server" (sftp, http, proxy, file share) I have still always had a monitor attached. It is in the basement where the kids can still use it to play YouTube etc.. So, I still stuck with desktop..
    – ITB-GTI-10
    Commented Dec 24, 2012 at 12:03

2 Answers 2

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Ubuntu requires the Samba server to be able to share files using network protocol called Server Message Block (SMB) that's where the name "Samba" came from. Thus, any Ubuntu apps that runs on top of Ubuntu including Nautilus requires the Samba server daemon installed to serve files over the network.

Additional info at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Samba

Hope this helps.

Eduardo B.

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  • Yes, that helps a lot, means to me that nautilus share wouldn't work unless samba was installed. And I think once I figure out my permission issues with my HD and smb.conf I will go with regular old straight samba! I had spent some time before to make sure my wife and I could write, but the kids could only read some areas. I had an old admin group, but that looks gone so now just need to fix the drive permissions and fix the groups. (don't think I will create admin, just make sure I use the right one, sudo)
    – ITB-GTI-10
    Commented Dec 24, 2012 at 12:21
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Nautilus just provides a simple front-end to creating a share with Samba. It is Samba that actually does the job. Therefore is you require a more fine-grained control over sharing use manual configuration instead. You may find the below and related docs useful: http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-Guide/index.html

There are also other protocols available, that allow to share files from Linux machine, like NFS (Network File System). However to mount this kind of shares under Windows you'll have to install 'Client For NFS' on those boxes.

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    where are the shares stored, though? they're not in smb.conf
    – endolith
    Commented May 11, 2015 at 23:17
  • @endolith: I know this was asked 8 years ago -- but for posterity: on my Ubuntu 22.04 system, they are in /var/lib/samba/usershares.
    – ckhan
    Commented Sep 24, 2023 at 21:06

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