Share files and folders with other computers

Sharing files with Ubuntu One

Many people these days use multiple computers. They might have a desktop at their office as well as a laptop for traveling or just going to a coffee shop. Ensuring that all of your files are accessible no matter what computer you are using is quite a difficult task. The same could be said for the complexity of keeping your Evolution address book, Tomboy notes, or Firefox bookmarks in sync.

This is where Ubuntu One helps - it keeps your digital life in sync. All of your documents, music, bookmarks, address book contacts, and notes stay in sync across all of your computers. In addition, they are all stored in your personal online cloud so you can use a web browser from any computer to access all of your files from the Ubuntu One website.

Ubuntu One provides all Ubuntu users with 2 GB of storage for free. More storage capacity and contacts synchronization with mobile phones is available for a monthly fee. Set up Ubuntu One and use your computer as you normally would. Ubuntu One takes care of the rest.

Setting up Ubuntu One

To start setting up Ubuntu One, open it with System → Preferences → Ubuntu One. If this is your first time running the program, Ubuntu One will add your computer to your Ubuntu One account.

Ubuntu One uses the Ubuntu Single Sign On (SSO) service for user accounts. If you do not have an Ubuntu SSO account, you will be guided through the entire process. When you are finished, you will have an Ubuntu SSO account, a free Ubuntu One subscription, and your computer will be set up for synchronization.

Configuring Ubuntu One

Ubuntu One Preferences shows how much of your storage capacity you are currently using as well as provides account management tools. You can always access it from System → Preferences → Ubuntu One.

The Account tab displays your account information like name and email address and provides links to more account management and technical support resources.

The Devices tab lists all of the devices that are currently added to synchronize with your account. Devices are either computers or mobile phones. For the computer that you are currently using, you can adjust how much of your bandwith is used by synchronization and connect or reconnect to Ubuntu One. You can also remove computers and mobile phones from your Ubuntu One account.

The Services tab is where you manage what Ubuntu One features synchronize with your cloud storage and other computers. You can enable or disble the synchronization of files, purchased music, contacts, and bookmarks.

More information

For more information about Ubuntu One, it's services, and technical support resources, visit the Ubuntu One website.

You can also follow the Ubuntu One blog for news on the latest features.

Sharing folders via the Shared Folders application

To share folders using the Shared Folders application:

Press Applications → Accessories → Terminal to open a Terminal.
Type shares-admin and press Enter to open Shared Folders.
You may receive a message which says Sharing services are not installed. If this happens, ensure that the two checkboxes in the message box are checked and press Install services. Sharing service support will then be downloaded and installed; this may take a while.
Press the button and enter your password in the Password field.
Press the Authenticate button.
Select the Shared Folders tab and press Add.
Select the location of the folder you wish to share by changing the Path option.
Choose Windows networks (SMB) from the Share through option.
Enter a name and comment for the shared folder.
If you would like people accessing the shared folder to be able to add, change and remove files in the folder, uncheck Read only. If you leave Read only checked, people will only be able to view files in the folder.
Press Share to make the shared folder available. Other people on the same network (LAN) as you should now be able to access the folder.

See the Shared Folders Administration Tool manual for more information on managing network shares.

Sharing folders via Nautilus

To share folders using Nautilus:

Press Places → Computer to open a File Browser window.
Right click the folder you wish to share and select Sharing Options on the popup menu.
Check Share this folder in the Folder Sharing window. You may change the Share name field if you want to use a different share name.
You may receive a message which says Sharing services are not installed. If this happens, ensure that the two checkboxes in the message box are checked and press Install services. Sharing service support will then be downloaded and installed; this may take a while.
Select Allow other people to write in this folder if you wish to allow others to add, change, and remove files in this folder. If you leave this box unchecked, other people will only be able to view files in this folder. You may also fill in the Comment field.
Select Guest access (for people without a user account) if you wish to allow guest users to access your files.
Press Create share to make the shared folder available.
You may receive a message stating that Nautilus needs to add some permissions to the folder in order to share it. If this happens, press Add the permissions automatically.
Other people on the same network (LAN) as you should now be able to access the folder.


	You may receive a message which says You do not have permission to create a usershare. If this happens, contact your system administrator or configure the Folder sharing service (samba).

See the Shared Folders Administration Tool manual for more information on managing network shares.

Accessing shared folders via Windows

If you would like to access a shared folder hosted on an Ubuntu computer by using computers running Windows, you may have to perform some additional steps:

Press Applications → Accessories → Terminal to open a Terminal.

Type sudo smbpasswd -a username, replacing “username” with your own username. Press Enter to run the command.


	You can find out what your username is by typing whoami into the Terminal and then pressing Enter.

Enter your password when prompted with “[sudo] password for username:” and press Enter again.
When prompted with “New SMB password:”, enter the password that you would like to use to access the shared folder and then press Enter. You can leave the password blank, which will allow anyone to access the shared folder.
When prompted with “Retype new SMB password:”, enter the password that you just entered and then press Enter.
You should now be able to connect to the shared folders on the Ubuntu computer.

Problems connecting to shared folders in Windows

If you are unable to connect to a shared folder using Windows, try using the IP address of the Ubuntu computer rather than its host name to access the share:

Press System → Administration → Network Tools and select the Devices tab.
Select the name of your network connection from the Network device option list (for example, “eth0”). If you have several network connections, you may have to try this several times.
Make a note of the number in the IP address column. It should consist of four numbers separated by dots (for example, “192.168.2.10”)
On the Windows computer, select Start → Run and type \\ipaddress in the text box, replacing “ipaddress” with the IP address of the Ubuntu computer
Press OK to connect to the shared folder.


	The folder sharing service in Ubuntu that supports sharing with Windows computers is called Samba. The background process, or daemon, is called smbd.

If you are still unable to access the shared folder, check that the folder sharing service is running on the Ubuntu computer. In a terminal, run:

service smbd status

You should see an output like:

smbd start/running, process 123

If the service is stopped, you will see:

smbd stop/waiting

If you find that the service is stopped, try starting the service:

sudo service smbd start

More information can be found on the Ubuntu community help pages.


View other computers on the network		Chapter 9. Internet Applications