USB drive under linux

[GK59]

I'm curious, do attached USB network drives on the router appear as they do under windows just as easily under Linux? I'm switching to Kubuntu 18.04 LTS on my laptop and wondered how we go about getting this set up, thanks.

Do we need to install a samba program in Ubuntu to enable seeing the drive?

 

[bbunge]

Bionic distros should be able to connect to the SMB/USB drive on your Asus router. However, you may need to enable SMB1 on the PC to connect to the share on Asus. Had to do this on a bare bones Bionic install when I could not connect via command line. I've not tried Kubuntu recently but it may work out of the box.

 

[GK59]

Bionic distros should be able to connect to the SMB/USB drive on your Asus router. However, you may need to enable SMB1 on the PC to connect to the share on Asus. Had to do this on a bare bones Bionic install when I could not connect via command line. I've not tried Kubuntu recently but it may work out of the box.

Hi, by enabling SMB1 on the PC if I understand you correctly I can access my drive fine in windows, it's accessing it while I'm in my Kubuntu VM, but from this link it appears that this may be what I'm looking for although I'm not certain the article assumes the drive is attached to a router but I'm admittedly lost in all of this atm, will dig thru and see if I can get this working.

perhaps this link may be more appropriate for what I need?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I've not used Kubuntu but in other Linux distributions being able to access SMB network drives works out of the box. You don't normally need to install any of the Samba packages unless you want to share files from the Kubuntu PC. If you only want to access drives on other machines then you might need the cifs-utils package, but I think it's usually installed by default.

The two articles you linked to are for setting up a Samba server on your PC so don't really apply to your question.

 

[GK59]

I've not used Kubuntu but in other Linux distributions being able to access SMB network drives works out of the box. You don't normally need to install any of the Samba packages unless you want to share files from the Kubuntu PC. If you only want to access drives on other machines then you might need the cifs-utils package, but I think it's usually installed by default.

The two articles you linked to are for setting up a Samba server on your PC so don't really apply to your question.

Thanks Colin as always. I'll want to share or copy to and fro from the drive eventually but as you said those links aren't yet again what I want so I did go ahead and set up an account on my router as I had in windows, created my login name I use in Kubuntu, pwd, permissions etc. but I still do not see the drive so it's probably a config setting I need to edit in in Ubuntu so that's where I'm at currently.

Question, are we talking about mapping the drive to ubuntu?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Have you tried just typing the URL into your Linux browser?

smb://servername/Share

 

[ColinTaylor]

Usually you can just use the desktop's built-in file manager. Here I went to Places > Network > Windows Network

 

[GK59]

I just installed Kubuntu to my laptop and on it now as I write. I see the drive now under "Network" but no sub directories.

network:/RT-AC86U-A868.local/RT-AC86U-A868 [hex address].workstation

 

[ColinTaylor]

Try looking for an option to reload/refresh the view:

 

[GK59]

Try looking for an option to reload/refresh the view:

View attachment 13141

hmm I'm using Dolphin which is the default files app and don't see it...

there' a "Reload" under "Control" in the dolphin nav bar but that does nothing...

btw I have both SMBv1+SMBv2 selected on the router for Samba protocol version

 

[ColinTaylor]

Sorry, I don't use Kubuntu or Dolphin. Try the things I mentioned earlier: install the cifs-utils package and try typing smb://RT-AC86U-A868.local/ into a web browser.

I suggest that you go onto the router and change the Samba Device Name to something a bit nicer like "RT-AC86U" instead of "RT-AC86U-A868".

EDIT: What do you have set for your local Domain Name (LAN - DHCP Server)?

 

[GK59]

Sorry, I don't use Kubuntu or Dolphin. Try the things I mentioned earlier: install the cifs-utils package and try typing smb://RT-AC86U-A868.local/ into a web browser.

I suggest that you go onto the router and change the Samba Device Name to something a bit nicer like "RT-AC86U" instead of "RT-AC86U-A868".

EDIT: What do you have set for your local Domain Name (LAN - DHCP Server)?

well still no go with your suggestions, changed name to just "RT-AC86U" and now it no longer shows up under "Network", I just don't understand this at all, tried most everything but still nothing an probably making this more difficult than it should be, thanks anyway and I'll keep reading on.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Reboot your PC after making changes to the router.

 

[ColinTaylor]

You could try mounting the drive from the command line:

sudo mount -t cifs -o username=Colin //192.168.1.1/ASUS /mnt

Where "ASUS" is the name of your share.

 

[GK59]

You could try mounting the drive from the command line:

sudo mount -t cifs -o username=Colin //192.168.1.1/ASUS /mnt

Where "ASUS" is the name of your share.

I tried:
sudo mount -t cifs -o username=Geoff //192.168.50.1/RT-AC86U /mnt

and get:

mount error(22): Invalid argument
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs)

I did reboot the router and laptop earlier. I should also mention that my Kubuntu 18.04 LTS install is encrypted if that matters.

I know in this post from you, I was having difficulties in windows regarding services etc. but that worked with those suggestions and I know this here will too eventually...

 

[ColinTaylor]

What is the name of the folder you are sharing on your router? Presumably it's not "RT-AC86U" as that would be rather confusing. Also make sure that "Simpler share naming" is set to Yes.

 

[GK59]

What is the name of the folder you are sharing on your router? Presumably it's not "RT-AC86U" as that would be rather confusing. Also make sure that "Simpler share naming" is set to Yes.

the main folder with all the files is "Archives", the other folder just has the WD utilities etc. and "Simpler share naming" is indeed set to "Yes"

I just don't understand why just changing the device name in the router would then cause it to not show where it was beforehand.

I mentioned above in an edit that my install is encrypted, not sure if that matters.

 

[ColinTaylor]

So the command would be:

sudo mount -t cifs -o username=Geoff //192.168.50.1/Archives /mnt

EDIT:

I just don't understand why just changing the device name in the router would then cause it to not show where it was beforehand.

Windows/Samba shares rely on broadcast packets to announce their presence. It can sometimes take a while for the shares to become visible (the same thing happens in Windows).

 

[GK59]

st

So the command would be:

sudo mount -t cifs -o username=Geoff //192.168.50.1/Archives /mnt

EDIT:

Windows/Samba shares rely on broadcast packets to announce their presence. It can sometimes take a while for the shares to become visible (the same thing happens in Windows).

same error as above, it asks for a password, I input the one I created in the router account setup, then the error again...

mount error(22): Invalid argument
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs)

I'm assuming we set up an account just as we did for windows?

 

[ColinTaylor]

What SMB version do you have set on the router? Try setting it the SMBv1 only.