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Chapter 10. 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 by using the file browser.

10.1. 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: 

<protocol>://<user_name>@<domain_name>:<port>/<folder>/<file>
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Where:

  • <protocol> specifies the connection type, such as ssh for the SSH protocol.
  • <user_name> specifies the user name. Some protocols do not require user names.
  • <domain.name> is the address of the server, such as server.example.com.
  • <port> specifies the port number. Some connections do not require specifying a port number.

GVFS URI examples for common network share protocols

  • ssh://user@server.example.com/path
  • smb://server/share
  • dav://example.server.com/path
  • ftp://ftp.example.com/path

10.2. 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 Enter server address 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.

10.3. Unmounting a storage volume in GNOME

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

Warning

Always unmount a storage volume before removing the drive from the computer. Removing a drive might corrupt the data on the volumes that are still mounted.

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.
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