How to share files between Ubuntu and OSX?

Is there any links/tutorials/videos that helps me share files between Ubuntu and Mac OSX?


Setup a Samba Server in Ubuntu

In OSX:

  • Open a finder window and hit cmd-K
  • Type 'smb://ipAddress' where 'ipAddress' is your ipaddress
  • Select the share you're connecting to (as per the samba setup)
  • Authenticate
  • It should mount the share the same as it mounts anything else

In Windows:

  • Configure your firewall to allow smb connections if it doesn't already
  • Open Start->Run
  • Type '\ipAddress' where 'ipAddress' is your ipaddress
  • Authenticate
  • Under the 'Network Places' folder the shared folders should appear

Here's a really long drawn-out explanation for windows including how to setup the server in *nix.

Samba is basically Windows NFS (Network File System) that is completely cross platform and easier to setup/use.

Note: There is a GUI tool for configuring Samba but I can't remember how to access it off the top of my head. Also, I think you can connect to Samba in OSX under connect-to (or something similar) from the top bar menu but I can't remember exactly what it's called since I haven't used a mac in over 6 years.

IMHO, this method is a lot easier and straight forward to use than FTP because it mounts the remote folder as if it's a local folder on your system. It doesn't get much more transparent than that.


A bit of Google-fu found a guide for Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid) and Mac OS X. I haven't got a Mac handy to test on, so haven't tested it.


I accomplished this by doing the following:

I have a Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) on a G5 PowerPC and Ubuntu on an Acer Aspire One.

  1. In mac OS, go to system preferences>sharing and enable "Personal File Sharing"

  2. In Ubuntu open DashHome and open "Files" folder. (or however you know how to get to the files folder.)

  3. In the sidebar, choose "Browse Network"

  4. As long as the two machines are on the same network, your mac should be in there as a directory that you can mount within Ubuntu.

I had very little idea what do do, having only ready this page, and it turned out pretty easy. It works for me, sharing files within a home office. It wouldn't work if you need to work remotely because you would be off your own network.


Samba works well in my setup, a home network with three Macs and a server running Ubuntu (since 9.04, currently at 10.10). The Ubuntu machine automatically shows up in the Finder along with the other Macs.

I followed this install guide for the Samba setup. The guide is for Ubuntu server, but it's the same setup and it works the same for the desktop version.

The only change I made was to set the "create mask" to 0777 ("world writable") instead of 0755, otherwise creating folders on the Ubuntu machine from the Macs didn't work properly.