Configure your server with gadmin-samba

1 First steps

Open SoftwareCenter – search for ‘gadmin-samba’ and install it. Once done, open via the Launcher. It’ll back up and then complain about the current configuration file – click ‘Yes’ to create a new one. Click ‘Activate’ if its status is set to ‘deactivated’, then review the information on the Server settings tab, configuring it to match your network’s settings – click ‘Apply’ when done.

2 Create users

If necessary, you need to create users on the server for each person who wants access to the shared folder. Switch to the Users tab and click ‘New User’, then provide a username and password, plus assign each account to the same group (say shared). Leave /dev/null selected under ‘Home directory’ and ‘Shell:’ so the user only exists for sharing purposes. Click ‘Apply’.

3 Set up shared folder

Switch to the Shares tab. Click ‘New Share’ to create a shared folder. Provide a name and directory, then scroll down and click ‘Add access permissions’ to configure access by user or group, plus define what permissions they have. Click ‘Forward’ and you can then select the users or groups in question – Ctrl-click for multiple selections, and be sure to include your own username.

4 Final steps

Scroll down and verify ‘Writeable’ is set to ‘Yes’. Click ‘Add’ followed by ‘Apply’ to share the folder – it should immediately become accessible over your network. Now browse to the shared folder in your file manager, right-click and choose Properties > Permissions. To allow other users to write to the folder, set Others to ‘Create and delete files’ and click ‘Close’.