How to: Public samba shares in Manjaro

Since I discovered Manjaro 2 months ago, I found my new preferred desktop Linux distribution.

Being from a non-tech savvy country, and owning a non-tech company, I mainly need a user-friendly, fast and stable Linux that I can install on my company’s computers for the employees to use. Manjaro was pretty much ready to use with the default setup, and the only thing I needed to add was a GUI for creating samba shares.

And, here are the steps to accomplish that.

Assumptions:

you have a running XFCE Manjaro install, with Thunar File Manager
you are an admin (sudo rights)

Install thunar-shares-plugin-manjaro

Open a new terminal window and type

sudo pacman -S thunar-shares-plugin-manjaro

Edit smb.conf to set default guest user and group

In the default install, every file and directory created by guests will have root as owner and group. This will prevent the actual computer user from editing/deleting the files created by a samba user. We set the “guest account” mapping to “nobody” and force every file created via samba to belong to the sambashare group and be editable by it.

In a terminal prompt (window) type:
```
sudo mousepad /etc/samba/smb.conf
```
Mousepad is a graphical editor in Manjaro, but use any editor you like: nano, vi ...
Change guest account setting to nobody:
```
   guest account = nobody
```

Add the following lines to the end of your file:

   group = sambashare
   force create mode = 0070
   force directory mode = 0070

My smb.conf file looks like this, yours should be similar.

[global]
   workgroup = MANJARO
   server string = Samba Server
   log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
   max log size = 50
   security = user
   map to guest = Bad User
   guest account = nobody
   usershare path = /var/lib/samba/usershare
   usershare max shares = 100
   usershare allow guests = yes
   usershare owner only = yes
   group = sambashare
   force create mode = 0070
   force directory mode = 0070

Grant executable right to your home directory

This is necessary so that other users can access your shares. There doesn't seem to be any security implications, but please feel free to let me know otherwise.

In a terminal prompt (window) type:
```
chmod o+x /home/<username>
```
Replacing <username> with your username

Restart your computer

Done, now your computer is setup to share folders via samba with guest users. All that is left to do, is create your shares.

Setup your shares

Open your File Manager (Thunar)
Go to the folder you want to share
Right click on it, open Properties and go to the Share tab
Enable sharing and apply settings.
Done. You can now connect from other computers on your network.

FOMFUS

For my future self