Chapter 14. Browsing files on a network share

You can connect to a network share provided by a server and browse the files on the server like local files. You can download or upload files using the file browser.

14.1. GVFS URI format for network shares

GNOME uses the GVFS URI format to refer to network shares and files on them. When you connect to a network share from GNOME, you provide the address to the network share in the following format.

A URL, or uniform resource locator, is a form of address that refers to a location or file on a network. The address is formatted like this:

The basic GVFS URI format takes the following syntax: 

protocol://server.example.com/folder/file

The scheme specifies the protocol or type of server. The example.com portion of the address is called the domain name. If a username is required, it is inserted before the server name:

You can also specify the user name or the port number to the network share: 

protocol://user@server.example.com:port/folder/file

Table 14.1. Common network share protocols

ProtocolGVFS URI example

SSH

ssh://user@server.example.com/path

NFS

nfs://server/path

Windows SMB

smb://server/Share

WebDAV

dav://example.server.com/path

Public FTP

ftp://ftp.example.com/path

Authenticated FTP

ftp://user@ftp.example.com/path

Additional resources

14.2. Mounting a storage volume in GNOME

You can manually mount a local storage volume or a network share in the Files application.

Procedure

  1. Open the Files application.

  2. Click Other Locations in the side bar.

    The window lists all connected storage volumes and all network shares that are publicly available on your local area network.

    If you can see the volume or network share in this list, mount it by clicking the item.

    If you want to connect to a different network share, use the following steps.

  3. Enter the GVFS URI string to the network share in the Connect to Server field.
  4. Press Connect.
  5. If the dialog asks you for login credentials, enter your name and password into the relevant fields.
  6. When the mounting process finishes, you can browse the files on the volume or network share.

14.3. Unmounting a storage volume in GNOME

You can unmount a storage volume, a network share, or another resource in the Files application.

Procedure

  1. Open the Files application.
  2. In the side bar, click the Unmount (⏏) icon next to the chosen mount.
  3. Wait until the mount disappears from the side bar or a notification about the safe removal appears.

14.4. Additional resources (or Next steps)