Mount a NAS Share on Ubuntu

Need your Ubuntu server to automatically mount a shared folder from your NAS at boot? This guide uses CIFS/SMB, which is supported by most NAS devices (Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, Unraid, Windows shares, etc.).

1. Install the required package

sudo apt update
sudo apt install cifs-utils

2. Create a mount point

Choose where you want the share to appear.

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/nas

3. Store your credentials

Create a credentials file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/credentials
Warning

If the /etc/samba directory exists (it usually does after installing cifs-utils), simply run:

sudo nano /etc/samba/credentials

Add the following in the credentials file

username=YOUR_USERNAME
password=YOUR_PASSWORD

Save the file and secure it:

sudo chmod 600 /etc/samba/credentials

4. Add the mount to /etc/fstab

Edit the file:

sudo nano /etc/fstab
//192.168.1.100/Media /mnt/nas cifs credentials=/etc/samba/credentials,iocharset=utf8,uid=1000,gid=1000,file_mode=0664,dir_mode=0775,nofail,_netdev 0 0
Warning

Make sure you change the //192.168.1.100/Media to your Share's address and the /mnt/nas to where you would like it mounted

Common options

Option Description
credentials= Uses the credentials file
uid=1000 Makes your user the owner
gid=1000 Sets the group
file_mode=0664 Default file permissions
dir_mode=0775 Default directory permissions
_netdev Waits for the network before mounting
nofail Allows boot even if the NAS is offline

5. Test the configuration

Without rebooting:

sudo mount -a

If there are no errors, verify it mounted:

df -h

or

mount | grep cifs

6. Verify access

List the contents:

ls /mnt/nas

You should now see the files stored on your NAS.