Windows shares

If you’ve followed the walkthrough, you’re at a point where the NAS can be let loose on your network for people to access. The final step is providing shared folders for Windows users to access. This uses the SMB/CIFS, aka Samba, system. Find this under ‘Services > SMB/CIFS’. You largely just need to hit Enable, click Save, then click the Shares tab, and add any folders you’ve created. Click +Add, then Enable, select the Shared folder (we create a public one in step 14), and if it should be available to everyone, enable the ‘Public > Guest allowed’ pull-down menu. You’ll likely need to click ‘System Apply’ once you’ve saved the new share’s settings. If you jump on a Windows machine and peruse the network, you’ll now see a new OpenMediaVault machine, and inside there is the Public folder.

Creating folders with access control is more involved, and Windows can be a bit odd with credentials on occasion. In OMV, select ‘Access Rights Management > User’, click +Add, and create a user with a password. If you’ve not already, under ‘Shared Folders’ create a suitable folder to have restricted access: Click +Add, give it a name, choose the Device and under Permissions, choose ‘Admin r/w, Users r/w, and Others None’. Click Privileges, and choose the user and read/write access. Switch to ‘SMB/CIFS’, click ‘Shares > +Add’, select your new folder from the ‘Shared folder’ list, click Save, then Apply.