What is the Pathname to Connect a Chromebook to an Asus File Share?

[Klueless]

I started with Asus stock, then upgraded to Merlin on my RT-AC1900P. Media Share and File Share now work flawlessly (so far : -) with my Windows 10 client.

I go to my Chromebook, hit "Files", it loads loads "Network File Share for Chrome OS" which then asks me for:

• Share Path
• Display Name (optional)
• Username
• Password

I've tried slashes, backslashes, smb; almost every suggestion I can find on the Internet but I can't seem to come up with the magic combination for Share Path. I always get a "can't mount" message.

smb://192.168.1.1/Docs
\\RT-AC1900P-ABCD\Docs
etc, etc, etc ...​

My Asus Configuration looks like:

• Media Server
  • Enable iTunes => On
  • iTunes Server Name => RT-AC1900P-ABCD
  • Enable UPnP Media Server => On
  • Media Server Name ==> RT-AC1900P-ABCD
  • Path Setting => All Disks Shared

• Network Place (Samba) Share
  • Enable Share => On
  • Allow guest login => Off
  • Concurrent connections => 5 (defaut)
  • Device Name => RT-AC1900P-ABCD
  • Work Group => WORKGROUP (default)
  • Simpler share naming => Yes
  • NTFS Sparse Files Support => Enable

• Users
  • Admin - R/W
  • klueless - R/W

• Structure
  • RT-AC1900P-ABCD
  • Lexa USB Flash Drive
  • Family
  • Docs

Any suggestions what to use for "Path Name"?

 

[thiggins]

Can you ping the IP address of the share?

What do the ASUS logs tell you?

 

[Klueless]

Can you ping the IP address of the share?

Didn't know I could "ping" from a Chomebook. Turns out you can. I can ping to 192.168.1.1 (address of my Asus) and I can ping to RT-AC1900P-ABCD.

What do the ASUS logs tell you??

Nothing. No entries when I ping from either device. No entries when I connect from Windows and no entries when I try to connect from my Chromebook. Just a couple of DHCP requests from a different device.

 

[thiggins]

You may have to install an extension:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/this-extension-lets-chromebooks-access-smbcifs-file-systems/

 

[Klueless]

You may have to install an extension:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/this-extension-lets-chromebooks-access-smbcifs-file-systems/

I forgot to thank you last time so thanks and ... thanks again!

I'm using Google's version of the same. It's newer and has better reviews. In either case I'm left pondering what to use for the path name : -(

 

[ColinTaylor]

Pathname should be something like this (apparently)

\\RT-AC66U\Movies

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/access-network-share-files-chromebook/

 

[Klueless]

Pathname should be something like this (apparently)
\\RT-AC66U\Movies

Saw that site and derived several ideas from it including:

smb://192.168.1.1/Docs
\\RT-AC1900P-ABCD\Docs​

I'm certainly living down to my name : -(

 

[ColinTaylor]

I don't have Chrome OS so can only go by what I've seen on the internet, but all the blogs and YouTube videos I've seen use the same format. So I'd suggest your problem is something else.

If there's nothing helpful in /var/log.samba try increasing the logging level. Create a /jffs/scripts/smb.postconf as follows:

#!/bin/sh

CONFIG=$1
source /usr/sbin/helper.sh

pc_replace "log level = 0" "log level = 2" $CONFIG

 

[Klueless]

I don't have Chrome OS so can only go by what I've seen on the internet, but all the blogs and YouTube videos I've seen use the same format. So I'd suggest your problem is something else.
If there's nothing helpful in /var/log.samba try increasing the logging level. Create a /jffs/scripts/smb.postconf as follows:

#!/bin/sh
CONFIG=$1
source /usr/sbin/helper.sh
pc_replace "log level = 0" "log level = 2" $CONFIG

Ouch, my head hurts ...

I found this note;

"I installed Debian to my NAS box, installed Samba 4.5.8, and then everything works fine.
So I guess there's some incompatibility with old Samba 3.6.x, and the Google team couldn't spend their time to support it anymore."​

Looks like we're running 3.6 on Asus/Merlin. I enabled smb2 (just in case). Still no luck.

This guy seems happy too.

"I've actually had good luck with Network File Share for Chrome OS. I can easily stream HD video from my Synology NAS. Like powermatt, I can also access my files through the Synology NAS if I want to."​

Synology runs Samba 4.4

I might just be SOL ... for now ...

 

[sfx2000]

Weird...

\\HOSTNAME\share usually works - if you need credentials, it's case sensitive...

Take the dashes out of the HOSTNAME - trust me on this, as they're handled differently between windows and linux..

 

[sfx2000]

Also \\<hostip addr>\share

also works - just make sure that the userid has permissions for that share on the host.

 

[Klueless]

Also \\<hostip addr>\share ... also works - just make sure that the userid has permissions for that share on the host.

Thank you ... I've tried the IP address, no luck.

Take the dashes out of the HOSTNAME - trust me on this, as they're handled differently between windows and linux..

The dashes were generated by Asus. I think I can over ride, I'll try tomorrow.

 

[sfx2000]

The dashes were generated by Asus. I think I can over ride, I'll try tomorrow.

Make sure no spaces in the share names...

 

[Klueless]

Make sure no spaces in the share names...

True that ... I'm learning ... the hard way : -)

 

[Klueless]

The Asus guide led me to believe that FAT32 was preferred but that NTFS was ok. My PC would only format exFAT or NTFS. I tried formatting FAT32 from the command line but it failed (not the command but the result). So NTFS it was.

With everything else failing I went back to Tim's post:

You may have to install an extension:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/this-extension-lets-chromebooks-access-smbcifs-file-systems/

It worked!!! Google's version was widely praised. This one was panned but this one was the one that worked! Thank you Tim, thank you, thank you. Beers are on me!

 

[sfx2000]

@Klueless - good to hear!

Thanks for following up and sharing.

sfx