Ubuntu – Connection Timeout on Windows Share (Network)

Did you add yourself to samba users?

You can try this GUI to configure it: system-config-samba

I did this to configure mine:

Preferences > Server settings > Basic: input your Workgroup

Preferences > Server settings > Security: Authentication Mode=User, Guest Account=No Guest Account

Preferences > Samba Users > Add user:

1. Choose a Linux account (the one Samba will use when accessing the shared files. Usually, you want to choose yourself.)

2. Type in a user name and a password (does not have to be a real windows account or password, its just the input that Ubuntu will ask when someone tries to access the share. It can be "aaa" / "bbb")

So, basically, sharing folders involves two different authentications: first, the one that SAMBA, via SMB protocol, asks for from anyone that tries to access a share. That's step 2 above. Then, after Samba grants that person rights to access the share, Samba itself will need OS authorization to access to the filesystem and its files (the Linux owner-group-world security model). For that, Samba uses the user selected in step 1 above. So any folder (and files) you share must be accessible, inside Linux, by the user selected.

In the Windows world it works the same: there's the share authentication and the NTFS one.

Last but not least: whatever user you select (usually yourself), make sure that it has the Share Files with the Network privilege in Administration > Users and Groups > Advanced Settings button > Privileges tab. I think Ubuntu already grants this privilege to the first user it creates, but it doesn't hurt to check it out.

Also, to share folders, I don't use this GUI, I use Nautilus:

• Right-click the folder you want to share
• Select "Sharing Options"
• Give the share a name, and select read/write or anonymous access

Hope that works for you too!

In answering your related question I discovered that /etc/samba/smb.conf isn't modified when you setup a locale share as in that question. The reason this doesn't persist is that when the samba daemons start they look to /etc/samba/smb.conf for information on what shares to expose. Since this doesn't appear to be modified when selecting a folder to share via the GUI, the change doesn't persist. Whether this is a bug or a feature depends on your perspective.

To setup a permanent share you'll need to edit /etc/samba/smb.conf

Here's an example that you can modify to fit your requirements:

[global]
    workgroup = METRAN
    encrypt passwords = yes
    wins support = yes
    log level = 1 
    max log size = 1000
    read only = no
[homes] 
    browsable = no
    map archive = yes
[printers] 
    path = /var/tmp
    printable = yes
    min print space = 2000
[test]
    browsable = yes
    read only = yes
    path = /usr/local/samba/tmp

For further documentation on Samba see https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/

Sources:

https://askubuntu.com/a/888857/225694

https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/