Can’t access Ubuntu’s shared folders from Windows 7

Question: Can’t access Ubuntu’s shared folders from Windows 7

Answer:

Have you installed Samba?

sudo apt-get install samba

If so, then you need to set a Samba Password:

sudo smbpasswd -a USERNAME

That command will generate a prompt for a password. (Substitue USERNAME for your username)

Set a folder to share:

mkdir /home/USERNAME/sharedfolder

Make a backup copy of your smb.conf file:

sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf ~

Open your smb.conf file:

 gksu gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

Add this to the very end of the file:

[sharedfolder]
 path = /home/USERNAME/sharedfolder 
available = yes 
valid users = USERNAME 
read only = no 
browsable = yes 
public = yes 
writable = yes

There should be NO spaces between the lines (I was unable to do this in this post), and there should be a single space both before and after each of the equal signs. Save and exit gedit.

Restart Samba

sudo restart smbd

Use this command to check your smb.conf file for syntax errors:

 sudo testparm

Now   you should be able to share from your Windows 7 Machine.