{"id":9922,"date":"2025-03-21T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/?p=9922"},"modified":"2025-03-08T13:06:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T18:06:23","slug":"connect-to-a-windows-drive-from-linux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/?p=9922","title":{"rendered":"Connect to a Windows drive from Linux"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/i>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n

I run Linux all the time, including at home and in my \u201cday job.\u201d This isn\u2019t really the challenge it used to be, from days long ago. In a previous era, many organizations relied on Microsoft\u2019s Active Directory to manage users and Windows fileshares to provide storage. In this modern era, most organizations have moved to the Cloud, including file storage. And when the browser is the interface, what runs on your desktop doesn\u2019t matter<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at my \u201cday job,\u201d the organization still uses Active Directory to manage the Windows desktop users, and uses legacy Windows fileshares for some users. Recently, a colleague asked me for help in connecting their Linux system to the Windows fileshare. Here\u2019s how we did it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you start<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To connect to a Windows fileshare from \u201cuserspace,\u201d your Linux system needs to have the gvfs-smb<\/code> package. This provides Windows fileshare support when using gvfs<\/code>. You can check if you have this package installed by typing this at the command line:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$ dnf list --installed | grep gvfs<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The dnf<\/strong> command is the package manager on Fedora Linux, and the list<\/code> subcommand asks dnf to provide a list<\/em> of packages; the --installed<\/code> option says to list only the packages that are already installed<\/em> on the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You should see a list of all gvfs<\/code> packages installed on your Linux computer. You should see gvfs-smb<\/code> in that list; if it\u2019s not shown, you\u2019ll need to install it. For example, you can install the gvfs-smb<\/code> package by typing this on the command line:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$ sudo dnf install gvfs-smb<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Gather the information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To make a connection to a Windows fileshare, you\u2019ll need to have your Windows connection information at hand. This includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Your username, which we needed to enter as an email address like username@example.com<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Your password<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The domain for the AD organization, probably the same domain as the username, like example.com<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The server to connect to<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The path to the fileshare<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    Ask your Windows administrator for the exact path you should use. Note that Linux uses the \u201cforward slash\u201d for paths, but Windows uses the \u201cbackward slash\u201d instead. If your Windows fileshare is something like \\org\\dept\\home\\username<\/code> then you\u2019d write that on Linux like \/org\/dept\/home\/username<\/code> with the \u201cforward slashes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Make the connection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    While you can connect to a Windows fileshare from the command line and \u201cmount\u201d the Windows drive to a Linux path, it\u2019s easiest to make the connection from \u201cuserspace\u201d using the file manager. My Linux laptop runs Xfce, and the file manager is Thunar, but the process is the same if you\u2019re using GNOME or KDE; just open your regular file manager and start there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    To make a new network connection in Thunar, use Go > Open Location<\/strong> in the menu:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"Using
    Opening a location<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    In Thunar, this menu action actually puts your \u201ccursor\u201d into the \u201caddress\u201d part of the file manager window so you can type a path. On GNOME or KDE, this action will probably bring up a dialog window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Type the server name and the path you want to connect to. This also needs a \u201cprotocol\u201d at the beginning of the path, to tell the file manager how to connect<\/em> to the network resource. For example, you could also make a similar connection over SSH or some other protocol. To connect to a Windows fileshare, you use the smb<\/code> protocol, like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    smb:\/\/files.example.com\/org\/dept\/home\/username<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    This sample assumes the file server is files.example.com<\/code> and the path you want to access is stored at \/org\/dept\/home\/username<\/code>, such as for a user\u2019s home directory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    You should be prompted to enter your username, password, and domain. After entering this into the dialog box, you should see the Windows fileshare: (I\u2019ve blurred the details for my organization)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"Viewing
    Viewing the remote fileshare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    To make it permanent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    If you want to access this network resource at a later time, such as after you reboot your computer, you will need to make a \u201cbookmark\u201d to it. To create a bookmark using Xfce\u2019s Thunar, use the Bookmarks > Add Bookmark<\/strong> menu action:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"Adding
    Adding a bookmark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    To disconnect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    When you\u2019re done with the fileshare, you can \u201cunmount\u201d the remote storage using the \u201ceject\u201d icon on the \u201cfolder\u201d icon in the file manager. On Xfce\u2019s Thunar, that\u2019s listed on the left, under \u201cNetwork\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"Thunar
    Click the ‘eject’ icon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    Here’s how I connected my Linux system to a Windows AD fileshare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":2818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[407,5],"tags":[91,665],"class_list":["post-9922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-file-management","category-linux","tag-linux","tag-windows"],"modified_by":"Jim Hall","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9922"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9928,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9922\/revisions\/9928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}