The built-in file sharing in the settings isn’t good enough, because its apparently restricted to a single folder and can only be seen by other Linux machines and I still have Windows (and Mac) machines at home.
So, I tried to follow these instructions for Samba:
However, I get the following error message:
“sudo: dnf: command not found”
Am I supposed to use something else in Silverblue?
Yes, dnf is not available in Silverblue or any Fedora Atomic desktop. Instead, use rpm-ostree to install Samba. The equivalent command is:
rpm-ostree install samba
You need to reboot before proceeding with the other steps.
Thank you!
I now see the recommended topics pretty much giving the same answer as well… strange that I didn’t see them while making the thread since they are supposed to pop up while typing the topic out…
EDIT: Dear lord, all of the Samba GUI config results/apps are a decade or two old and there’s no updated one I can find? 
This is because this way you can use the manual on any version of Fedora and do the config in the Terminal. Please check the Software app to see for Samba software. On the Legacy Workstation I found the app Smb4K. This Software might makes your live a bit easier … at least for searching and mounting.
Ok, so year of the desktop for Linux is (as always) next year, got it. 
I don’t know why this is an invalid group… this is why you need a GUI app for things like this.
EDIT: No, I take that back… even GUI apps mysteriously fail on Linux (even though I entered my password correctly)…
Also, just in case I typed my password wrong, I tried to re-do it, but then wasn’t even allowed top open the file anymore…
There are applications to transfer files without Samba.
Like:
Please use Sudo !
And do not forget:
It is really not so trivial as it might looks like.
Indeed.
After all these years, I am sure there are technical difficulties and reasons why things are still this way but Samba needs a GUI and needs to be much more simple to configure.
Or we need something else for people who don’t work as sysadmin and just need to share a directory. Like, I don’t know, a basic Web Server?
There might be a roundabout way of getting a Samba Management GUI, but I would not recommend it. I use it on my server running Rocky Linux, so it could theoretically be done on Fedora.
Install and enable cockpit. Be sure to block port 9090 on your public (or default) firewalld zone after installation, so that you can only visit the web console from localhost.
Install the release rpm as a local package from this: GitHub - 45Drives/cockpit-file-sharing: A Cockpit plugin to easily manage samba and NFS file sharing.
Restart cockpit.socket
You suggested two such apps available right now, it didn’t seem to make an impression.
Thanks of your enlightening comment.
The text editor app asked me for my password. That’s not the equivalent to Sudo? If not, then what is when it comes to GUI? There’s no right-click to “launch as administrator” as I have in Windows from what I can see.
The screenshots I posted are past the point where I created a user for Samba, and I wasn’t allowed to create a samba user under any other name than my computer user’s name…
Neither of those two apps seem to allow me to browse the contents of the USB over the network from a regular Windows File Explorer.
You are telling that you work over the network and try to open a document on the shared usb drive?
Or also when you work locally on the USB Drive?
Just would like to make an addition to your issue with the user. The error above saying that access from /run/user/1000/doc/a91b3655/smb.conf permission denied!
The user name is an alias to the userID. So, if you have a user Robert wit ID 1000 on a machina and a User Robert with ID 1002 on a other computer they are not seen as the same … ID has to be the same on both computers. Can you check this while being logged in on both computers, using the command id ?
Everything I posted in this thread is local, as I haven’t managed to get any networking between machines working yet. 
I just checked and on my Linux media server the UID and GID is 1000 while on my Linux laptop, the UID is 1000 but GID is 1001.
I must admit I don’t understand this. How was I then previously able to access my old Windows media server’s shared USB drive (using Samba) from my Linux laptop (using SMB4k, though)?
Also, I changed the name of my USB drive now to remove the space in the name (which is apparently still problematic in a non-GUI environment), but now I get this:
AFAIK regarding UID and GID a user gets assigned a range of them. To add a groups permission to a device or mount or file you would use chown. Please see man chown or chown --help or go to readthedocs about chown.
The Fedora documentation page on how to get Samba up and running doesn’t mention chown at all… are the instructions that I’m trying to follow on that page incorrect for Silverblue?
First of all, if you work locally, its not a matter of sharing, it is a matter how Linux’s user management works. When installing a Fedora workstation, the first user you install with, get the ID 1000. Every other user you create gets a higher number.
I know if you are on Linux for a short time it might be quite irritating.
Have a look here … about the UID (User ID) and the GID (Group ID), we talked lately about it.
You might also have to read the topic I posted the request in it.
Thanks, I will read through that thread but my USB drive is formatted with exFAT.
And again, I’ve managed to add a user for Samba and set it up with a new unique password.
I think the issues I’m having now are as follows:
I think, if I wasn’t quite determined to use Linux, a “regular” user might already have gone back to Windows by this point… (I’ve already given up on OpenSuse Aeon, and I’m quite close to giving up on Silverblue too).
Hello @eobet ,
You’re correct in wanting to use this, my bad for recommending chown. If you have the info package installed (it’s very small) you can use the info '(coreutils) chgrp invocation' to see examples of how to use it. Basically, to add a group to a file or files you (the user) need to be a part of the group you want to add.
To edit system files in general, you can open a terminal and run sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf.
