Win/Mac

With the rich file sharing features in Control Panel > File Services > Win/Mac, you can easily access and manage folders or files stored on the USB storage or external drives connected to your Synology Router. It is designed to make storing and sharing files within your local network quick and simple, allowing you to directly access folders or files on the attached storage devices without going through the hassle of logging into SRM every time. For example, you will be able to access files with Windows Explorer and Finder just like other network devices.

In this article, we will show you how to set up Win/Mac file services to access and share files stored on connected storage devices.

Contents

1. Access files using Windows file service
   • To enable Windows file service
   • To manage advanced settings (optional)
2. Access files using Mac file service
   • To enable Mac file service

1. Access files using Windows file service

Windows file service allows Windows, Mac, and Linux clients with SMB/CIFS support to access data stored on the storage devices connected to your Synology Router. If you would like to browse files via Windows Explorer or mount shared folders as network drives, please follow the instructions below to enable this option.

To enable Windows file service:

1. Under the Windows File Service section, tick the Enable Windows file service checkbox.
2. Enter the following fields or tick the checkboxes if necessary:
   • Workgroup: This option allows you to designate the system as a member of a specific workgroup for network management purposes.

     Note:

     • The name of a workgroup can include 1 to 15 characters. The name cannot include the following characters: [ ] ; : " < > * + = \ / | ? ,
   • Enable SMB 2: SMB (Server Message Block) 2 has been supported since Windows Vista and is the enhanced version of SMB. SMB 2 adds the ability to compound multiple SMB actions into a single request to reduce the number of network packets and enhance performance.

     Note:

     • To use USB printers, you must enable this option.
   • Enable Large MTU: Maximum transmission unit (MTU) refers to the largest data unit that can be passed over a communications protocol. In order to take advantage of faster network interfaces, such as 1- or 10-gigabit Ethernet, Large MTU increases the maximum transmission unit to 1 megabyte (MB). Enabling Large MTU improves the speed and efficiency of large file transfers, and reduces the number of packets that need to be processed.

     Note:

     • SMB 2 is supported on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, and later.
     • Large MTU is supported on Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, and later.
     • In order to make large MTU effective with your Windows computer, you will need to modify your computer's registry settings. For more details, please refer to Microsoft technical support (such as this article).
   • Enable Transfer Log: Checking this option enables logging of file access operations, including creating, deleting, reading, writing, moving, and renaming files or folders via CIFS/SMB protocol, also known as Windows File Transfer protocol.
3. Click Apply to save the settings.
4. Once you have successfully enabled Windows file sharing service, you can start accessing files on connected storage devices via Windows Explorer on your Windows computer. Please refer to this tutorial for detailed instructions.

To manage advanced settings (optional):

1. Under the Windows File Service section, click the Advanced Settings button to manage the following options:
   • WINS server: Microsoft Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) is a NetBIOS name-to-IP-address mapping service. Window users will locate the system more easily on TCP/IP networks if the system has been configured to register with a WINS server.
   • Disable Opportunistic Locking: Checking this option disables "Opportunistic Locking" of CIFS, resulting in increased performance when database applications access database files on the shared folder of Synology Router via network.
   • Enable Local Master Browser: When multiple Windows computers exist within the same subnet, they will negotiate and elect one computer as a "local master browser". The local master browser maintains lists of the other computers within the subnet and their shared resources, and shares these lists with the other computers. This option allows the Synology Router to assume the role of local master browser.

     Note:

     • Enabling this function disables hard disk hibernation and activates the guest account without a password.
   • Enable DirSort VFS module: Sorts folder names and lists them alphabetically. Enabling this option affects system performance.
   • Veto files: Hides files according to specified criteria. Criteria can include wildcards (*), and multiple entries should be separated by a slash (/). For example: /abc*/*.txt/*.conf/. Enabling this option affects system performance.
   • Allow symbolic links within shared folders: Enabling this option allows symbolic links to point to files or folders within the same shared folder. Symbolic links can be created using an SRM terminal.
   • Allow symbolic links across shared folders: Enabling this option allows symbolic links to point to files or folders in different shared folders. Symbolic links can be created using an SRM terminal. Please note that enabling this option might allow users without access privileges to see and access shared folders that are the target of symbolic links.
   • Enable MSDFS VFS module: Allows symbolic links to point to files or folders located on other SMB servers. To learn more about creating MSDFS links, please see here. Please note that the cache of the client device should be cleared after disabling this option, otherwise normal performance might be affected.
   • Disable multiple connections from the same IP address: When this option is enabled, the Synology Router only allows one connection per IP address from clients using Windows File Service. When multiple clients with the same IP address use Windows File Service, the Synology Router will keep the latest one and drop any older connections. In a NAT environment, the client might be using a single IP address, in which case enabling this option might affect the normal performance.
   • Collect debug logs: When this option is enabled, detailed logs will be stored for debugging purposes. Enabling this option affects system performance.
   • Apply default UNIX permissions: Tick this option to apply the default UNIX permissions when uploading or creating files and folders. The UNIX permission will be 744 for files and 755 for folders. When this option is disabled, UNIX permission is 777 for files and folders.

     Note:

     • Enabling this option might cause inconsistent permission issues between different protocols. To avoid inconsistencies, we suggest leaving this option disabled.
   • Clear SMB cache: Click this button to delete the following SMB cache files for troubleshooting purposes:
     • /var/cache/samba/netsamlogon_cache.tdb
     • /var/lib/samba/winbindd_cache.tdb
     • /var/lib/samba/share_info.tdb
     • /var/lib/samba/registry.tdb
     • /run/samba/connections.tdb
     • /run/samba/gencacche.tdb
     • /run/samba/gencache_notran.tdb
2. Click Apply to save the settings.

2. Access files using Mac file service

You can enable Mac file service to make your Synology Router a Mac file server (AFP server) and allow users to access data stored on the storage devices connected to your Synology Router. If you would like to browse files using your Mac OS computer, please follow the instructions below to enable this option.

To enable Mac file service:

1. Under the Mac File Service section, tick the Enable Mac file service checkbox to make Synology Router a Mac file server (AFP server).
2. Set a Time Machine backup folder if necessary. (See the section below for more information.)
3. Click Apply to save the settings.
4. Once you have successfully enabled Mac file sharing service, you can start accessing files on connected storage devices via Menu Bar or Finder on your Mac computer. Please refer to this tutorial for detailed instructions.