He who is NY said on Tue, 10 Oct 2017 20:58:20 +0100:
> Harry, this sounds interesting.
It *is* interesting.
We have to be careful when we're talking functionality because the actual
factual words we use matter - otherwise we'll mislead each other by mistake
(or out of ignorance).
For example, in the iOS thread you're responding to, nobody yet except you
and Wilf actually *understood* the facts presented. (Not Lewis. Not Snit.
Not nospam. Not even Slootweg. All of them are speaking out of sheer
ignorance, clearly showing they don't understand the facts presented in the
original post in the least. Which itself proves my point that they're all
working off of ignorance foisted upon them by pretty marketing pictures.)
So let's concentrate on just two facts here in this offshoot thread:
1. What I already do (ftp)
2. What you want to to (smb)
What I do and what you want may not be the same (yet); but we can work
together on obtaining what you want. First let's explain what I do.
Please do note that I've also spent time on SMB but this post won't discuss
my SMB progress so that we can concentrate on the easy stuff first.
> How do you make Android share its storage so
> it can be read over the network by Windows?
It's so simple it's not funny.
1. Start any FTP server on Android
2. Mount your Android phone on Windows
That's all there is to it.
Windows' native file explorer understands "ftp" addresses.
For example, if you had an ftp URI of the form:
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/some/path/to/some/repository
Then you could "mount" that "repository" on Windows (with or without
assigning it a "drive letter".
That's all I'm doing here.
I run on Android the most reliable FTP Server freeware I can find (see
numerous threads on figuring out *which* is the most reliable setup!) but
*any* FTP server freeware would functionally do the job.
That's it. That's all you have to do by way of software.
In my case, my Android phone is rooted so the entire file system is visible
to Windows; but rooting isn't a requirement for just mounting the Android
file system that you can see onto Windows.
If you want to copy files from Windows to Android, then you will need a
"login" on Android (mine is set up in the FTP Server software); otherwise,
if you're only going one way, "anonymous" ftp works just fine.
> You use the notation
> \\192.168.1.10\mnt\sdcard (for the appropriate IP address of the Android),
> but that doesn't work on its own so I assume something else needs to be done
> at the Android end to share the card - in other words, to create shares mnt
> and mnt\sdcard on the Android device.
I'm not sure what you're asking since simply running the FTP server on
Android provides you with the top-level mount point of Android. If your
Android device is rooted, then you can set that top level that is available
to Windows to be root (/). If your Android isn't rooted, then the top level
will be something lower down the hierarchy (probably /sdcard or /sdcard0 on
Samsung, which uses that notation for things that aren't actually SD
cards).
> My phone has Android 7.0, and it's a Samsung Galaxy S7.
My phone is Android 4.3 and it's a Samsung Galaxy S3.
And the USB port is broken so I copy everything over the LAN on WiFi. :)
> However, what I was envisaging was the reverse: the Android phone acting as
> the "client", accessing shared folders on the Windows "server", rather than
> a Windows client accessing an Android server as you are illustrating.
Yes. We already have long detailed threads on the Android client side
accessing the Windows side via the SMB server (or other server) on Windows.
Let me search for that in
http://tinyurl.com/comp-mobile-android and the
Windows newsgroups. OK. Here's one which discusses SMB as I recall:
"What do you use to copy text files from Windows XP to Android over WiFi?"
<
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/OkDfuDN9fZU/mFAMnIPGFQAJ>
Where the static/dynamic-related router details were ironed out earlier in:
"How does setting a static IP on a mobile device prevent linux router from
assigning that IP address?"
<
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/rvAUJFOEtDA/WQOdl5mUBwAJ>
> For
> example to have Word docs or MPEG videos on the Windows PC and being able to
> edit the doc in Word on Android or play the video in VLC on Android, in the
> same way that I could on a second Windows PC accessing the same shared files
> on the "server" PC.
Yes. I know what you want, I think. I want the same for editing "calendar"
files, which I brought up recently on the Windows ng where the *same* exact
file is editing either on Android or on Windows or Linux or iOS.
"Offline calendar reminder program for Windows 10 & Android over the LAN"
<
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/haaknP4RxsM/ZGom2TPxBQAJ>
>
> I've found an Android app called AndSMB (v3,5) which can see shared files
> and folders on Windows, but you have to copy a file onto the phone's local
> storage to be able to edit/play it from there, rather than accessing it
> on-the-fly or having Android mount it as a virtual storage area and then
> point the relevant app at that storage area.
We covered AndSMB as I recall, in those threads above (and others).
Here's a screenshot of the current clients/servers I have on Android, where
you'll note that AndSMB and a few others were all used at one point.
<
http://wetakepic.com/images/2017/10/10/andsmb.jpg>
> From the researches I've done, I've found various threads that say that I'm
> asking for the impossible: that Android (unless rooted) doesn't permit a
> \\server\sharename\folder to be mounted as virtual storage (the Android
> equivalent of a Windows drive letter) so you can point the app at that
> virtual storage device as if it were a physical device like the phone's
> internal storage or its plugged-in SD card.
It has been a while since I tried what you want, which is what everyone
wants, which is to truly share the *same* file (not a copy) in real time.
I tried that and gave up in favor of the method I showed you; but if you
read the threads I listed above, you'll get an idea of where we were on
using AndSMB.
As I recall, it was working for others - but I was seeing bugs - which are
likely because all my systems are highly customized (e.g., I don't use
Program Files or the Windows temp directories, etc.).
> It's not the end of the world if it can't be done, but it would be nice to
> have true file access of a Windows 7 "server" from various apps on Android
> client. I'm assuming that I've set the Windows permissions to allow full
> read/write access on the files and folders.
I attacked this in the past, and got progress on the AndSMB stuff, so I'd
have to re-read those threads to get back up to speed on where we left it.
It's a noble quest - but bear in mind that just by using FTP URIs in
Windows file explorer, you get to "copy" anything on Android or Windows to
each other.
Sure, SMB would be "better"; but we'd have to look at the effort where I
gave up only because I was running into bugs (as explained in the threads);
but we could tackle it again if we have the time and inclination.