How to Mount a Network Drive on Ubuntu

Ubuntu can mount a network drive the same way Windows “maps” a share: you attach a remote folder to a local path such as /mnt/nas and read or write files through it. Most home and office setups use SMB/CIFS (Samba, NAS vendors, Unraid) or NFS (Linux file servers).

This guide covers mounting a network drive on Ubuntu from the terminal and the Files app: install cifs-utils, mount SMB shares with a credentials file, mount NFS exports, make mounts survive reboots with /etc/fstab, and unmount safely. I stood up a dummy Samba and NFS server on the same Ubuntu 25.04 host (glc-netshare and glc-public on 127.0.0.1) so every command below has real output. Swap 127.0.0.1 for your NAS IP or hostname.

Quick command summary

What you are mounting

SMB URLs look like //192.168.0.10/backups. NFS paths look like 192.168.0.10:/srv/backups. WebDAV (davfs2) and SSHFS are other options; this article focuses on SMB and NFS because those are what most “map network drive” guides target.

If you already export folders from an Ubuntu server, see how to set up a NAS server on Ubuntu for Samba and NFS on the server side.

Prerequisites

On the Ubuntu client: Install the SMB and NFS clients with apt; these packages provide mount.cifs, smbclient, and the NFS mount helpers used below.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y cifs-utils nfs-common smbclient

On Ubuntu 25.04:

cifs-utils:
  Installed: 2:7.2-2ubuntu0.1
nfs-common:
  Installed: 1:2.8.2-2ubuntu1

You also need:

• The server hostname or IP (for example 192.168.0.4 or nas.local).
• The share or export name (for example glc-netshare).
• For authenticated SMB: a username and password allowed on that share.
• A local mount point directory—create it before you mount, same idea as mounting a USB drive.

Use sudo for system-wide mounts under /mnt or /media.

See check Ubuntu version if you are unsure which release you are on.

Lab setup used for testing (optional)

To reproduce my session without external hardware, I created a dummy share on the same machine:

sudo mkdir -p /srv/glc-netshare /srv/glc-public
echo 'Hello from dummy network drive' | sudo tee /srv/glc-netshare/welcome.txt

Samba shares glc-netshare (authenticated) and glc-public (guest read-only) were added to /etc/samba/smb.conf, and NFS exported /srv/glc-netshare to 127.0.0.1 in /etc/exports. You do not need this on a normal desktop—point commands at your real NAS instead.

Discover shares on the server

SMB: list share names

smbclient -L 192.168.0.4 -U glcshare

When prompted for a password, enter the SMB account password. On my host:

	Sharename       Type      Comment
	---------       ----      -------
	glc-netshare    Disk
	glc-public      Disk
	IPC$            IPC       IPC Service (mail server (Samba, Ubuntu))

Use the Sharename column in your mount command: //192.168.0.4/glc-netshare.

NFS: list exports

Use showmount -e to ask the server which paths it exports. For more client-side discovery methods, see how to list NFS shares and mount points.

showmount -e 127.0.0.1

Export list for 127.0.0.1:
/srv/glc-netshare 127.0.0.1

Your server may export to * or a subnet instead of a single IP.

Mount a network drive on Ubuntu (SMB / CIFS)

Step 1: Create a mount point

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/glc-netshare
sudo chmod 755 /mnt/glc-netshare

Step 2: Store credentials (recommended)

The file must remain readable only by root. The Linux file-permissions guide explains why mode 600 grants read/write access to the owner and no access to the group or others.

sudo install -m 600 -o root -g root /dev/null /root/.smbcredentials
sudo nano /root/.smbcredentials

Contents:

username=glcshare
password=YourPasswordHere
domain=WORKGROUP

domain= is optional for many home NAS units.

Step 3: Mount the share

sudo mount -t cifs //127.0.0.1/glc-netshare /mnt/glc-netshare \
  -o credentials=/root/.smbcredentials,uid=$(id -u),gid=$(id -g),file_mode=0664,dir_mode=0775

Verify:

findmnt /mnt/glc-netshare
cat /mnt/glc-netshare/welcome.txt

TARGET            SOURCE                   FSTYPE OPTIONS
/mnt/glc-netshare //127.0.0.1/glc-netshare cifs   rw,relatime,vers=3.1.1,...,uid=1000,forceuid,gid=1000,forcegid,...
Hello from dummy network drive

uid= and gid= make files appear owned by your login user instead of root.

Guest read-only SMB mount

For a public share that allows guests:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/glc-public
sudo mount -t cifs //127.0.0.1/glc-public /mnt/glc-public -o guest,ro,uid=$(id -u),gid=$(id -g)
cat /mnt/glc-public/public.txt

public share file

Wrong password (real error)

This is what I saw with a bad password:

mount error(13): Permission denied
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs) and kernel log messages (dmesg)

Fix the credentials file or test with smbclient -L //SERVER -U user%pass before mounting again.

Write permission gotcha

My first mount could read but not create files until the server export was owned by the Samba user:

tee: /mnt/glc-netshare/from-client.txt: Permission denied

After changing the server-side owner with chown, this worked:

echo 'written from client mount' > /mnt/glc-netshare/from-client.txt
cat /mnt/glc-netshare/from-client.txt

written from client mount

On a NAS you usually set permissions in the vendor UI instead of SSH.

Older SMB servers

If negotiation fails, pin an older dialect:

sudo mount -t cifs //SERVER/SHARE /mnt/nas -o credentials=/root/.smbcredentials,vers=3.0,uid=$(id -u),gid=$(id -g)

findmnt then shows vers=3.0 in the options list.

Mount a network drive on Ubuntu (NFS)

NFS fits Linux-to-Linux shares and many NAS “NFS export” toggles.

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/glc-nfs
sudo mount -t nfs 127.0.0.1:/srv/glc-netshare /mnt/glc-nfs
findmnt /mnt/glc-nfs
cat /mnt/glc-nfs/welcome.txt

TARGET       SOURCE                      FSTYPE OPTIONS
/mnt/glc-nfs 127.0.0.1:/srv/glc-netshare nfs4   rw,relatime,vers=4.2,...
Hello from dummy network drive

Check space:

Check mount-point usage and filesystem types with df; the df and du covers -h, -T, and filtering pseudo-filesystems.

df -hT /mnt/glc-nfs

Filesystem                  Type  Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
127.0.0.1:/srv/glc-netshare nfs4   58G   42G   14G  76% /mnt/glc-nfs

For export options and server tuning, see NFS mount options examples.

Mount permanently with /etc/fstab

Edit fstab when you want the network drive available after every boot.

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak.$(date +%F)
sudo nano /etc/fstab

SMB example:

//192.168.0.4/glc-netshare  /mnt/glc-netshare  cifs  credentials=/root/.smbcredentials,uid=1000,gid=1000,file_mode=0664,dir_mode=0775,_netdev,x-systemd.automount  0  0

NFS example:

192.168.0.4:/srv/glc-netshare  /mnt/glc-nfs  nfs  _netdev,x-systemd.automount  0  0

Test before reboot:

sudo umount /mnt/glc-netshare /mnt/glc-nfs 2>/dev/null || true
sudo mount -a
cat /mnt/glc-netshare/welcome.txt

Hello from dummy network drive

For systemd .mount units instead of fstab, see mount a partition using systemd.

Map a network drive in the Ubuntu GUI (Files)

On Ubuntu Desktop:

1. Open Files (Nautilus).
2. Click Other Locations in the sidebar.
3. At Connect to Server, enter smb://192.168.0.4/glc-netshare or nfs://192.168.0.4/srv/glc-netshare.
4. Click Connect and enter SMB credentials when asked.

The share appears in the sidebar for your session. GNOME typically mounts it under /run/user/$(id -u)/gvfs/. That is fine for interactive use; use /mnt plus fstab when you need a fixed path for scripts, Docker bind mounts, or servers.

Install gvfs-backends if the Connect to Server dialog lacks SMB:

sudo apt install -y gvfs-backends

Unmount a network drive

sudo umount /mnt/glc-netshare

Confirm:

findmnt /mnt/glc-netshare || echo "not mounted"

not mounted

If you see target is busy, use lsof on the mount point to identify which process still has a file open, then close that process cleanly. Lazy unmount (sudo umount -l) detaches the tree while processes finish—use only when you understand leftover handles may still hold files open.

Troubleshooting

References

• Ubuntu Discourse: Mounting network drive help
• mount.cifs(8) man page
• nfs(5) man page
• Samba wiki

Summary

To mount a network drive on Ubuntu, install cifs-utils for SMB or nfs-common for NFS, create a mount point under /mnt, and run sudo mount -t cifs //server/share /mnt/nas with a root-only credentials file. Use showmount and smbclient -L to discover exports before you mount. For mounting a network drive permanently, add a line to /etc/fstab with _netdev and test with sudo mount -a. The Files app can connect via Other Locations → Connect to Server when you prefer a GUI over the terminal.