Filesharing with the Raspberry Pi

There are many ways to connect to see, copy, and edit files on a Raspberry Pi. Samba is one of the most versatile and is easy to configure to share directories with both Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems.

Table of contents

1. Simple filesharing via SSH
2. Installing Samba
3. Sharing the home folder
4. Connecting to the shared folder

Simple filesharing via SSH

The simplest way to share files with a Raspberry Pi is to use secure copy via SSH. To copy a file from the raspberry pi:

scp pi@<IP Address of Raspberry Pi>:<Path to File> .

Using a . at the end copies it to your current directory. To copy a file to the raspberry pi:

scp <Path to File To Copy> pi@<IP Address of Raspberry Pi>:<Path that File will Go>

Installing Samba

A more versatile solution that also enables you to mount (drives on) your Raspberry Pi is to use Samba. To install, run the following command:

sudo apt install samba samba-common-bin

Next, we create a dedicated shared directory. It can be anywhere, but for this example we create a folder called shared at the top level of the root file system (/). Furthermore, to make the folder readable and writeable for all users while preventing it from accidentally deleted we add the permissions flag 1777:

sudo mkdir -m 1777 /shared

To share the folder, we need to tell samba where it is. Open up the samba configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

At the end of the file, add the following to share the folder, giving the remote user read/write permissions:

[pishare]
path = /shared
writeable = yes
browseable = yes
create mask = 0777
directory mask = 0777
public = no

In brackets, in our example [pishare], you can provide the name as the folder will appear on connected computers. If besides specific users you also want to enable guest access, add the line Guest ok = yes. Now exit and save the file by ctrl+x then y followed by Enter.

Now we want to set a Samba password, which can be the same as your standard password:

sudo smbpasswd -a pi

Finally restart the samba service for the changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl restart smbd

Samba will automatically start whenever you power on your Raspberry Pi.

Sharing the home folder

To share the home folder and make it editable on Mac and Windows systems add the following code:

[pihome]
    comment = Pi Home
    path = /home/pi
    browseable = yes
    writeable = yes
    force create mode = 0777
    force directory mode = 0777
    public = yes

Make sure to adapt the comment which is the name that will appear in the folder window and the path to take into account your username.

Connecting to the shared folder

Connecting to the shared folder is quite easy with any computer on the network.

On a Mac, go to the Finder > Go > Connect to server. Now click browse to find the shared folder automatically, or you can directly enter the address in the address box as follows smb://[ip-address]/[nameofshare].

On Windows, within the File Explorer click Network and there your Raspberry Pi should automatically appear. Click on it to see the folder you just shared.