How to share files between a Linux and Windows computer

The easiest and most reliable way to share files between a Linux and Windows computer on the same local area network is to use the Samba file sharing protocol. All modern versions of Windows come with Samba installed, and Samba is installed by default on most distributions of Linux.

Create a shared folder on Windows

First, create a shared folder on your Windows machine.

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Go to Network and Sharing Options.
3. Go to Change Advanced Sharing Settings.
4. Select Turn on Network Discovery and Turn on File and Print Sharing.

Now, create a new folder to share or choose an existing folder that you’d like to share.

1. Right-click the folder and select Properties.
2. Go to the Sharing tab.
3. Above the Share button is the network name of the share you are creating. It should look like \\YOURCOMPUTERNAME\Users\YourUserName\ShareFolderName. Make a note of this network name to use later on your Linux machine.
4. Click Share.

Access a Windows shared folder from Linux, using Konqueror

Many Linux distributions use the KDE desktop environment and the Konqueror file manager/browser. If this is what you are using, you can follow these steps to access your Windows shared folder:

1. Click the K menu icon.
2. Select Internet ->Konqueror.
3. In the Konqueror window that opens, click the Network Folders link, or type remote:/ in the address bar and press Enter .
4. Click the Samba Shares icon.
5. Click the icon of your Windows Home workgroup.
6. Click the Workgroup icon.
7. Click the icon for your computer.
8. When prompted, enter the username and password for the Windows account that created the share.
9. Click OK.

Access a Windows shared folder from Linux, using Nautilus

Many Linux distributions, especially those that use the GNOME desktop environment, use the Nautilus file manager. If this is what you’re using, you can follow these steps to access your Windows shared folder:

1. Open Nautilus.
2. From the File menu, select Connect to Server.
3. In the Service type drop-down box, select Windows share.
4. In the Server field, enter the name of your computer.
5. Click Connect.

Alternatively, in the Nautilus address bar, you can type smb://ComputerName/ShareName and press Enter . For instance, when you created your Windows Share, if the share name was listed as:

Type smb://YOURCOMPUTERNAME/Users/YourUserName/ShareFolderName and press Enter . Note the smb: at the beginning; in Linux, use forward slashes instead of backslashes.

Access a Windows shared folder from Linux, using the command line

You can also access your Windows share from the Linux command line using the smbclient program.

1. Open a terminal.
2. Type smbclient at the command prompt.
3. If you receive a «Usage:» message, this means smbclient is installed, and you can skip to the next step. If the command is not found, however, you need to install smbclient. Follow these steps to install it.

How to Mount a Windows Share Folder on Linux

Linux and Windows systems have major differences, with different file systems and protocols in use. Sharing files between them can be difficult, especially because they use two different sharing protocols.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to mount a Windows share folder on Linux, however. Follow along below to find out how.

Share Your Windows Folder

Before you do anything, you need to ensure that Windows has been correctly set up to allow for networking file sharing.

To enable this on Windows 10, right-click on the network icon in the notifications area of your Windows taskbar. From here, click “Open Network & Internet Settings.”

Under the “Status” category, click “Sharing options.”

In your Windows sharing options menu, make sure that “Turn on network discovery” and “Turn on file and printer sharing” are enabled.

Click the radio buttons next to both options to make sure this is the case.

Click “Save changes” to save your settings. Once this is done, open Windows File Explorer and locate the folder you’re looking to share with your Linux PC.

Right-click the folder and click “Properties.”

In your folder properties, click the “Sharing” tab, then click “Advanced Sharing.” Click to enable the “Share this folder” checkbox, then click “Permissions.”

Under the “Permissions” section, set the control rights for your folder. By default, Windows will grant read-only access to your files.

If you want to allow everyone to read or write to the folder, click “Allow” for the “Full Control” permissions set. Set these permissions to suit your own requirements.

Once you’re done, click “OK” three times to close each of the dialog boxes.

Your folder should now be shared on your network, ready for you to access from your Linux PC.

Install CIFS-utils

Depending on your Linux distribution, you may be able to mount your Windows-shared folder automatically in your distribution’s file explorer.

However, this may not work correctly. The safest way to mount Windows-shared folders on Linux is to use the CIFS-utils package and mount the folder using the Linux terminal.

This allows Linux machines to access SMB file shares used by Windows PCs.

To install CIFS-utils, open a new terminal window. For Ubuntu and Debian-based distributions, type:

For Arch users, type:

Once installed, you can then mount your Windows share folder from the Linux terminal.

Mount Windows SMB Share on Linux

You’ll need to create a mount directory before you can mount your Windows SMB-shared folder on Linux. This is where Linux will mirror the contents of your shared folder.

To do that, open a terminal window and type:

Once created, type the following:

Replace “Windows” with the IP address or hostname for your Windows PC and “SharedFolder” with your shared folder name. For the username, replace “account” with your Windows username or full Microsoft account email.

You’ll be asked to provide your Windows password before the mounting process is complete. Type this in, then click Enter. If you used the correct information, your Windows folder should now be mounted and accessible in the folder you created.

Sharing Files Between Linux and Windows

Mounting Windows and Linux shared folders gives you the freedom to access your most important files, no matter the operating system. The SMB protocol is well supported on Linux, so you shouldn’t find it difficult to continue accessing your Windows files and folders once you’ve installed the CIFS-utils package.

If you’d rather use a single system, here are five of the best Linux distros for Windows users you could use.

Ben is a UK based tech writer with a passion for gadgets, gaming, and general geekiness.

How to Transfer Files Between Linux and Windows via LAN

You’ve tried to use a flash drive or SD card to transfer files from Linux to a Windows computer, and you found it annoying and tiring, especially when there are lots of files to move, and it’s taking ages to complete.

You don’t have to waste your precious time using storage devices when you can move files quickly and easily over your local network (LAN).

The main methods used to do this are:

• Create a share in Linux to access it from Windows using Samba
• Create a share in Windows to access it from Linux

Create a share in Linux and access it from Windows using Samba

The best and fastest way to do this is by installing the Samba suite. Samba is an ideal solution for sharing files between different devices such as a Windows, Linux or Mac machines. The machines need to be networked with a generic router.

Windows machines come with functionality that allows them to work with Samba out of the box, so you only need to install one package for Linux machines.

1. On your Linux machine open the location containing the files you wish to share.

2. Right-click on the file and select “Sharing Options.”

3. If you get a prompt asking you to install Samba services, click “Install service.”

4. Click Restart session once Samba service is installed to enable sharing.

5. Check the “Share this folder” and “Allow others to create and delete files in this folder” boxes.

6. Click “Create Share” to complete the process.

7. Open Terminal and type the following commands:

Replace USERNAME with your own user name.

8. Find the global section and add the lines:

9. Press Ctrl + O and Ctrl + X to save and exit.

10. Restart Samba:

11. Go to the Windows machine and right-click Start, then select Run.

12. In the Run box, type the command: \\computer_name\share_name5 .

Note: the computer name in this case can be the IP address of the Linux machine, which you can find by going to the Linux computer and opening terminal, then typing ipconfig .

13. Type the Linux computer name and share the resource name.

14. A prompt will be displayed asking for your credentials.

15. Type in your Linux username and password. Click OK.

16. Try to access the shares from your Windows computer.

The new server should be displayed in “My Network Places” in Windows.

Alternatively, do the following: right click Start and select Run, then enter: //server . Replace server with the name or IP address of the machine that runs your Samba server. A window with the browsable shares from the server will open.

Note: to access non-browsable shares, use this code: \\server\share name

Create a share in Windows to access it from Linux

This will be done in three steps as follows:

• Enable sharing on Windows
• Share the folder
• Access it from Linux

Enable sharing on Windows

Start by ensuring the network settings are configured to allow a connection from the Linux system. To do this:

1. Go to Control Panel and click “Network and Internet.”

2. Select “Network and Sharing Center.”

3. The Network and Sharing Center window will open. Click “Change Advanced settings.”

4. Enable these two settings: “Network Discovery” and “Turn on file and printer sharing.”

5. Click Save changes.

6. Sharing is now enabled.

Share the folder

Create a shared folder for the Linux system to see, connect and access. You can share anything, so follow these steps:

1. Find the folder you want to share and right-click it.

2. Select “Properties.”

3. Under the Sharing tab, click “Advanced Sharing.”

4. Under the Advanced Sharing window, enable the “Share this folder” option.

5. Click “Permissions.”

Note: in the Permissions window you can restrict access to the folder to specific users or accounts. Select “Full Control permission to Everyone” to give any user access. This way anyone can read and write changes to the files in the folder you share.

If, however, you want to restrict access to specific user accounts, remove the “Everyone” user, add the users you want and then assign the relevant permissions to them. The user accounts are those that are on the Windows system (not the Linux system).

6. Click OK to close the Permissions window.

7. Click OK to close the Advanced Sharing window.

8. Go to the Security tab in the main properties window.

Note: configure similar permissions as those in the sharing settings so that Linux users can access the shared folder.

If they don’t match, the most restrictive settings are applied.

However, if the user you intend to share with already has security permissions, close the window and move to the third step. Otherwise, click “Edit” to add a user, click “Add” in the Permissions window that opens, and enter the user’s details.

9. Click OK on all windows. The folder should now be shared with your network.

Access from Linux

You can mount the shared folder using Linux GUI or by using a command line. For our example we’ll use Terminal because it works across many distributions, and it’s faster.

To do this, you’ll need the cifs-utils package to mount SMB shares. The complete the following steps.

1. In the terminal, type:

2. Make a directory.

3. Mount the share to the directory

4. Create a folder on the desktop. (It’s easier to access from here.)

5. Create and mount the folder using these commands:

Note: if prompted for the root password of the Linux system and for your user account on Windows, insert each of them and run the command.

You’ll now see the contents of the Windows share and will be able to add data to it.

Are you now able to transfer files to and from Linux and Windows systems? Tell us what worked for you, and if you have a different method, share with us below.

My passion has always been to share every bit of useful information I find on tech, with the ultimate goal of helping people solve a problem.