Request: Allow mapping external drives as the root directory

[coffincolors]

Amazing app, thanks for bringing Samba server support to android, despite the limitations. I managed to get connected to my internal storage after installing the SMB1 legacy feature and also the Windows 11 Insider preview build of 24H2 which allows for mapping drives using alternative ports (so in this case, 4450) using powershell (New-SmbMapping + -TcpPort). Allows full Samba access without root on Android 14!

I will download your code myself and attempt the modifications but my request is essentially, more configurations options. I'd like to map an external drive connected to my android device as the default samba folder, namely, devices mounted to \mnt\media_rw\XXXX-XXXX where XXXX-XXXX is the drive storage label. Setting of authentication also wouldn't hurt.

But thanks for your work, this opens up some interesting possibilities!

[buttercookie42]

I'm glad you're finding the app useful. Also thanks for the tip that an upcoming Windows version might support custom SMB ports after all, will add that to the readme. (Also will keep that in mind for the UI around root access, i.e. while I might want to add a (dismissable one-time) warning message if root access fails, I definitely won't prevent the server from launching even without root to not block your usecase.)

As for your actual request – UI programming isn't my favourite hobby, hence I've only added the minimum amount of UI I can get away with so far, but in principle I'm very much open to adding some configuration options for the available file shares and authentication.

If you want to play around with some interim solution in the meantime, this is where the file shares are added to JLAN.

[coffincolors]

Well thanks for the super quick reply! I will take a look at the code you shared and see what I can come up with, I don't mind digging into it and adding some UI functionality to prototype some of that stuff. Maybe if I get some time tonight I will give it a shot and then share with you what I come up with.

Regarding the new alternative Port setting in Windows 11, I will double check the exact command I used in PowerShell (if you search for New-SmbConnection the official documentation should come up) to post it here later- but to get it working had to add the share without specifying a local path, but then specifying -TcpPort 4450. Then I could access it via \\simbadroid in Windows Explorer and via map network drives. It wouldn't work with the actual IP or \\simbadroid.local for whatever reason, but \\simbadroid was just fine. Your app is the only working solution I've found, the next closest would be MixPlorer but I couldn't get connected beyond seeing an empty folder labeled "\\<local_ip>\shared"

One more side note, when you first enable All Files Access in Android 14, you have to restart SimbaDroid- otherwise it seems to crash..very minor issue but worth noting. It's something that I also noticed when adding USB storage support to Winlator Cmod

[buttercookie42]

Then I could access it via \simbadroid in Windows Explorer and via map network drives. It wouldn't work with the actual IP or \simbadroid.local for whatever reason, but \simbadroid was just fine.

Hmm, that's curious. \\simbadroid.local is the mDNS hostname, whereas \\simbadroid is provided via the old NetBIOS name service. It's strange that only one would work, but not the other, and not a raw IP address, either. For the time being I'm still on Windows 10, though (and even if I switched to Windows 11, I wouldn't be using an insider preview), so it'll be a while before I might be able to experiment with it myself.

One more side note, when you first enable All Files Access in Android 14, you have to restart SimbaDroid- otherwise it seems to crash..very minor issue but worth noting.

Can you open a separate issue for that one? Although curiously enough I can't reproduce it on my phone (Android 14, too) – I press back after granting files access, and then I can launch the server just fine without having to restart the app.