Symlinks, create in File Explorer

Got a feature request? Great! Post your ideas here!

Moderator: Lillian.W@AST

Post Reply
asustorista
Posts: 6
youtube meble na wymiar Warszawa
Joined: Tue May 03, 2016 1:32 am

Symlinks, create in File Explorer

Post by asustorista »

In the file browser in WebUI I can move or copy files and folders but not symlink them. For that I have to ssh into the asustor server and ln -s.

Please add the option to symbolic link when drag-dropping in File Explorer. It's a useful and powerful tool, highly needed.
MikeG.6.5
Posts: 917
Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 1:56 am

Re: Symlinks, create in File Explorer

Post by MikeG.6.5 »

I AGREE 100%!

The fact that symlinks don't work correctly has made me modify my workflows. I had to move part of my media to another drive, then symlink the new folders. Within Linux I can access these folders, but can't within Windows or within the ADM Web App. This forces me to have 4 extra drives mapped on my Windows machines just to access all of the media.

EDIT: I just created a ticket with Asustor's support about Symlinks. Hopefully we'll hear something back soon.
MikeG.6.5
Posts: 917
Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 1:56 am

Re: Symlinks, create in File Explorer

Post by MikeG.6.5 »

This is the ticket I created:
I recently had to move data around to make sure I had ample room for everything. After I moved data from one array to another, I then made symlinks on the old array pointing to the new folders created on different drives. (I have 4 external drives connected to my NAS, as well as a system single drive, and a Raid 5 3 drive array on the NAS itself. Over 36TB of drives on this NAS right now.)

Within any Linux application running on the NAS, these links are respected, and the apps can see the new folders correctly. The ADM File Explorer and Windows machines with mapped network drives CAN NOT see these folder. The ADM File Explorer doesn't see the links at all. Windows machines see the links but can't access the folders. I get an error about permissions. It doesn't matter what permissions I set the folder to, I can't seem to access the data at all, without mapping a new drive to the new folders.

So we need to get symlinks respected both inside the NAS OS (ADM File Explorer) and within mapped drives. I shouldn't need to have 3 or more mapped drives to access data that has symlinked folders in it. Please fix this!
This is the response I received after the Chinese New Years was complete:
Hi Mike,

Thanks for contacting.
For the issue mentioned, you may need to modify the /usr/builtin/etc/samba/smb.conf file to let the sym link work in SMB.

Please don't be hesitate to contact if you got further question.

Best regards.
Jack Ni
Technical Support Department
Tel: +886-2-7737-0888 #3903
Fax:+886-2-7737-0899
ASUSTOR Inc.,

Live demo: http://www.asustor.com/live_demo
Review & Awards: http://www.asustor.com/news/review?lan=en
ASUSTOR College: http://www.asustor.com/online/College?lan=en
Official forum: http://forum.asustor.com/
Official Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MarketingASUSTOR
Official facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/ASUSTOR.INC?fref=ts
Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/ASUSTOR.
This lead me on a merry goose chase to figure out how to make it work. What I found is this... If I place the following lines in the file referenced above, I can get full access through Windows 10: (The file is/volume0/usr/builtin/etc/samba/smb.conf and can be accessed with WinSCP's file explorer for future reference.)

Code: Select all

[share-name-goes-here]
follow symlinks = yes
wide links = yes
This appears to work beautifully. I can not only see the linked folders, but can make new folders, files, changes, etc. all within Windows. I have asked that this be an optional toggle in the CIFS/Samba settings in the future. Hopefully Asustor's developers will think about it and add the functionality.

While this doesn't resolve the ADM's File Explorer's issues, it is one step closer.
Post Reply

Return to “Feature Requests”