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A Quick Tutorial to Set Up an NFS Server on Windows | TechNonStop

A Quick Tutorial to Set Up an NFS Server

on Windows
By

Sat, 10/01/2011 - 15:44

Update (Nov 9, 2011): As noted in the comments below, Windows Services for UNIX Version (SFU) is no
longer supported on Windows 7 and 2008. For these versions, try installing Cygwin with the optional nfsserver component. If you're using Windows 2008, you can use the Server for NFS that comes built-in
instead - in this case, most of the steps below should apply.
Ab dullah Chougle

A few days ago, I needed to share a large folder present on a Windows server to access it from my local
Ubuntu workstation. I initially used Samba, but my build script refused to recognize paths present in that
share.
The solution was to use an NFS share - but this required a special setup on Windows. Even after a lot of
searching on Google, I couldnt easily find a guide that talked about how to get started with an NFS server
on Windows quickly. Most articles I came across were only detailing information on NFS security, or some
obscure command line options for tweaking NFS options - which shouldnt be required when all you want is
a simple share within your local, protected network.
So, heres what to need to do if you need an NFS server enabled on Windows quickly, and mount it on your
Linux box:
1) Download Windows Services for UNIX from Microsofts Download Center. Heres the direct download link.
2) Run setup.exe from the extracted directory.

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3) Follow the prompts, until you reach the following screen:

Choose custom installation - since wed like to only install the NFS server for sharing folders.
4) Choose the following three components to install:
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(i) NFS -> Server for NFS

(ii) Authentication tools for NFS -> User Name Mapping
(iii) Authentication tools for NFS -> Server for NFS Authentication
Heres a pictorial representation of the components youll need:

5) On the next screen, choose to change the behavior to case-sensitive, to provide full compatibility with
UNIX programs
6) On the User Name Mapping screen, choose Local User Name Mapping Server and Password and
group files:

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7) Now, copy your passwd and group files from your UNIX/Linux distribution onto your Windows machine.
For Ubuntu, these are located at /etc/passwd and /etc/group. Provide the paths to these files in the next
screen:

8) Continue with the installation prompts until you finish.

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9) Windows Services for UNIX should now be installed:

10) Open the Services for UNIX Administration shortcut, and click on User Name Mapping:

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11) Click on Show User Maps and then click on the buttons for Listing Windows Users and Linux Users:

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12) Choose Administrator (or the appropriate account you want to map the UNIX user to) in the Windows
list, and your username in the Linux list. (In Ubuntu, UIDs for user accounts usually start from 1000)
13) Click Add to create a map. If you get the following warning, click OK to ignore it.

14) Click Apply at the top right corner.

15) Now, youre ready to share folders! Just right click any folder you need to share, and share it from the
NFS tab. You can click the Permissions button for more options, like allowing write access, which is
disallowed by default.

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16) Next, mount the share on your UNIX/Linux machine. I used the following command on Ubuntu:
$ sudo mount <windows-server-ip-address>:/<windows_share_name>
<path_to_local_mount_point>
For example:
$ sudo mount 192.168.1.3:/SharedFolder ~/windows_share
If this guide helped you, please let us know in the comments below!

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