Bdtyktl

I'm having trouble getting folders in my non-home folders shared via samba. If the share folder is in my home folder, it works fine. If it isn't it doesn't.

I want readonly access to any user (guest) on the network.

Bit of /etc/samba/smb.conf that I changed:

; This doesn't work:

[Home movies]

        path = /media/diederik/<hdd-guid>/HomeMovies

;       writeable = No

;       browseable = yes

        guest ok = yes



; This works fine:

[Photos]

        path = /home/diederik/Photos/

;       writeable = No

;       browseable = yes

        guest ok = yes

Full config file here.

lsing the containing folders gives:

drwxrwxr-x 31 diederik diederik      4096 Oct 18 19:27  Photos

and

drwxrwxr-x 124 diederik diederik 20480 Nov 28 01:15  HomeMovies

So the ownership and access looks OK to me. (Sub folders also have correct access.)

When I browse locally (going to Files -> Other locations -> Network hostname -> Photos)
the app first shows me an access dialogue, on which I select Anonymous. This then allows me to browse the files. When I select Anonymous on my non-home folders, it says: Failed to mount Windows share: Permission denied.

(I also can't access the non-home folder share on my htpc, also running Ubuntu 18.10.)

After the failed access, I looked in /var/log/syslog for anything samba related, but couldn't find anything. The folder /var/log/samba/ only contains old files, so nothing interesting there either.

I also tried to use the explorer: right click -> Local network share option for the non-home folders, but this also doesn't work.

Are the rules for samba somehow different for folders outside of your home folder?

Change this:

[Home movies]

        path = /media/diederik/<hdd-guid>/HomeMovies

;       writeable = No

;       browseable = yes

        guest ok = yes

To this:

[Home movies]

        path = /media/diederik/<hdd-guid>/HomeMovies

;       writeable = No

;       browseable = yes

        guest ok = yes

        force user = diederik

Then restart smbd: sudo service smbd restart

Reason:
The system creates /media/diederik with special permissions that allows only
diederik the ability to traverse the folder to get to what's past it. The guest user is not you so it will never get to the HomeMovies folder. force user makes the guest user appear to be you - at least for this share.

Note: Even though the guest user appears to be you the share definition will still prevent a write.

EDIT: Just noticed this comment in your original post:

I also tried to use the explorer: right click -> Local network share
option for the non-home folders, but this also doesn't work.

You are going to have to undo that. Can't have two samba shares of the same folder using two different methods at the same time without samba getting confused. Just go back to File Manager > Local network share > and undo the share.