1. Install Samba

The first thing we need to do is to update the package repositories and then install Samba.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install samba

2. Configure Samba

Now we'll have to add a few lines to the Samba configuration file /etc/samba/smb.conf to make everything work.

[global]
 # The following property ensures that the existing files do not have their
 # permissions reset to the "create mask" (defined below) if they are changed
 map archive = no
 
 # Notify upon file changes so that Windows can detect such changes
 change notify = yes
 
 # Configure shared folder for your user where "developer" is your Linux username
 [developer]
 comment = Developer Files
 path = /home/shared
 guest ok = no
 browseable = yes
 writable = yes
 create mask = 0664
 directory mask = 0775

Save and close the config file and then add a Samba user and password identical to your Linux user account.

sudo smbpasswd -a developer

Restart Samba so that the config can be re-read.

sudo service smbd restart

Your Windows host should now have access to the shared folder. To access the shared folder, open a folder browser and type in:

\\*ubuntu-local-ip-address*\developer (e.g. \\192.168.1.100\developer)

To find out what your local IP address is, got to your Ubuntu server terminal and type:

ifconfig