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⏲️ ~ 3 minutes Intermediate
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How to Connect to a Windows Shared Folder from Raspberry Pi

In a network environment, it is common to share folders between different operating systems to facilitate file and resource sharing. Let’s see how to connect to a Windows shared folder from a Raspberry Pi, allowing you to access and manage files.

If you are using a Raspberry Pi and need to access a shared folder on a Windows system, the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol, also known as CIFS (Common Internet File System), is the right tool for the job.

  • SMB (Server Message Block) is a network protocol used to share files, printers, and other resources on a local network.

  • CIFS (Common Internet File System) is an implementation of SMB that allows machines to access files and folders remotely.

Windows uses SMB/CIFS to share files on a network, making it easy to access these folders from Linux-based systems like the Raspberry Pi.

Prepare the Shared Folder on Windows

First, we need to set up the shared folder on Windows. To do this,

  1. Right-click on the folder you want to share.
  2. Select Properties and go to the Sharing tab.
  3. Click on Share and then select the users you want to share the folder with or choose Everyone for broader access.
  4. Click Apply and OK to save the changes.

You should remember the network path of the shared folder. It usually has the format \\ComputerName\FolderName or \\IPaddress\FolderName.

For example, if your PC’s IP address is 192.168.1.100 and the shared folder is named Documents, the network path will be \\192.168.1.100\Documents.

Install the CIFS Client on the Raspberry Pi

To access the shared folder from your Raspberry Pi, you will need to install the CIFS client. First, ensure that the system is updated:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Now, run the following command to install the necessary package to work with CIFS:

sudo apt install cifs-utils

Mount the Shared Folder

To mount the shared folder on your Raspberry Pi, follow these steps:

  1. Create a Mount Point:

The mount point is a directory on your Raspberry Pi where the shared folder will be accessed. Create a directory for this:

sudo mkdir /mnt/shared

Where shared is any name you want to give to your folder. Now use the mount command to connect to the shared folder.

sudo mount -t cifs //ComputerName/FolderName /mnt/shared -o username=user,password=password

Replace,

  • ComputerName with the name of your PC or its IP address
  • FolderName with the name of the shared folder
  • user and password with the access credentials if necessary.

If the shared folder does not require authentication, we can omit the username and password options.

You can now use the shared folder through the mount point:

ls /mnt/shared

You should see the contents of the shared folder in this directory.

Persistent Configuration

To ensure that the shared folder mounts automatically on each boot, add an entry in the /etc/fstab file.

Open the /etc/fstab file with a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add the following line at the end of the file:

//ComputerName/FolderName /mnt/shared cifs credentials=/home/pi/.smbcredentials,uid=pi,gid=pi 0 0
  • credentials=/home/pi/.smbcredentials: File that contains the username and password.
  • uid=pi,gid=pi: Adjusts the permissions for your user on Raspberry Pi.

Create the Credentials File

Create a file named .smbcredentials in the home directory of the Raspberry Pi user you are using and add the credentials:

nano /home/pi/.smbcredentials

Where pi is the name of the user you want to configure (by default, it is pi on Raspberry Pi).

Add the following lines to the file:

username=user
password=password

Save the file and adjust the permissions:

chmod 600 /home/pi/.smbcredentials

Apply the changes in the fstab file with:

sudo mount -a

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