In order to share the drive on a Windows network the relevant details must be filled in under the ‘CIFS’ section, as detailed below. Replace ’MSHOME’ with your network name for this to work. As mentioned before the wealth of options provided by FreeNAS mean options here should be explored independently.

Click the ‘Save and Restart’ button at the button of the page to apply the changes. Now click on the ‘Shares’ tab and set up the information users will see when they explore the network.

The share on the server is now visible on the network.

FreeNAS is an excellent use of old hardware, and a cheap alternative to NAS devices, if you are willing to get your hands dirty. There is a wealth of options to cater for access by users with different operating systems. There are even options to sync files and folders between the server and client computers using RSync. While the above example illustrates the process can be awkward and slightly counter intuitive it is well worth exploring to have the flexibility of a cheap and cheerful NAS server at your fingertips.