Easy SMB Core

Turn a spare Windows PC into a private home file server — without the command line.

You pick a folder, tick who's allowed to open what, and press Save. Everyone in the house can then reach their files from a laptop, a phone or a tablet. There's also a web page you can open from your phone to change things later, so you don't have to go and sit at the server.

What it does

Shows you the real permissions, always. Every folder displays what Windows actually reports right now — ON SERVER: Read Only, Full Control (inherited), No Access. Change as much as you like across as many people as you like; nothing is written until you press Save, and rows you've changed are marked ● UNSAVED.

Tells you whether the save worked. After saving, every rule is read back off the folder and you get a pass/fail report. Windows tools routinely report success while changing nothing — this catches that.

  ✓  1. Read the current share list
  ✓  5. Lock down Family_Shared
  ✗  8. Publish share 'Resources'
        The command reported an error.
        | New-SmbShare : Access is denied.
  ✗  7 ok, 3 failed, 1 skipped

Every action reports itself step by step. There's an Activity box along the bottom. Each step announces itself, then turns into a tick or a cross with the real error text attached. If something fails you're told which step, and what it said.

Fixes the "why do I see everything twice on my phone?" problem. Tapping a server from a phone shows its share list, not its folder tree. Share the parent folder as well as its children and every folder shows up twice. There's a button that explains what your server currently looks like from outside, in plain words, and a setting to publish your top-level folders directly so there's no wrapper folder to tap through.

Hides accounts that aren't people. The PC's own sign-in account, service accounts — untick them and they stop appearing in the permissions list. Windows built-ins (Administrator, Guest, DefaultAccount) are hidden automatically.

Manage it from your phone. A password-protected web dashboard, optionally behind a real HTTPS certificate via Tailscale. Changes made there are applied immediately — same commands, same read-back check.

Protects against a dead hard drive. SnapRAID install, health checks, recovery, and a nightly automatic backup job.

Getting started

1. Download smb_manager_GUI.exe from Releases.
2. Put it in a permanent folder.
3. Double-click it. Windows asks for administrator permission — say yes. It needs that to change folder permissions and publish shares.
4. Work through the tabs left to right. The steps are numbered 1 to 6.

If you say no to the administrator prompt, the app offers to open in view-only mode so you can still look at everyone's permissions without changing anything. The header tells you which mode you're in.

The six steps

Step	Tab	What you do
1	People	Make a Windows account for each person, and untick any account that isn't a real user
2	Folders & Access	Pick the main folder everything lives in
3	Folders & Access	Create the folder layout, or scan the one you already have
4	Folders & Access	Tick who can open, add to, and delete from each folder
5	Folders & Access	Choose what people see when they tap your server, and apply it
6	Server Name	Give the server a friendly name instead of an IP address

Opening your files from another device

Windows: In File Explorer's address bar, type \\ followed by the server's IP — for example \\192.168.1.50.

Mac: Finder → Go → Connect to Server → smb://192.168.1.50

iPhone / iPad: Files app → Browse → ⋯ → Connect to Server → smb://192.168.1.50

Android: Most file managers have a "Network" or "SMB" option.

Sign in with the Windows username and password you made in Step 1. You'll only see the folders you have access to.

Managing it from your phone

On the "Manage From Your Phone" tab, set a password and press Activate Remote Dashboard. The last step of the report tells you the exact address to open.

You get two addresses, and they do the same thing:

• On your home network: http://<server-ip>:50505
• From anywhere, via Tailscale: https://<pc-name>.<your-tailnet>.ts.net

The Tailscale one is worth turning on. Over plain http:// your dashboard password travels in a form anyone sharing your network can read; Tailscale puts a real HTTPS certificate in front of it. It uses tailscale serve, which is private to your own devices — never tailscale funnel, which would put it on the public internet.

The dashboard's username is admin and the password is the one you set.

Reaching it away from home

The "Use It Away From Home" tab installs Tailscale, which links your devices together privately without touching your router's port forwarding. Install it, sign in on the server and on your phone, and the server is reachable from anywhere.

Running from source

Requires Python 3.8+ on Windows.

python smb_manager_GUI.pyw

It will ask for administrator rights and relaunch itself.

Building the .exe

Double-click compile.bat. The build lands in dist\smb_manager_GUI.exe, and the .spec sets uac_admin=True, so the finished program always asks for administrator rights when it starts.

Use the script rather than calling PyInstaller directly. Running

python -m PyInstaller --noconfirm --clean smb_manager_GUI.spec

works when everything goes right, but it does not delete the previous build. --clean only clears PyInstaller's own cache. If a build fails, the old dist\smb_manager_GUI.exe is left exactly where it was, so it is easy to pick up last week's program thinking it is the one you just built.

compile.bat avoids that, and:

• deletes the previous build\ and dist\ before compiling, and stops with a clear message if it cannot — usually because EasySMB is still running
• checks Python and PyInstaller are installed, offering to install PyInstaller
• verifies the script parses before the slow part, leaving your last working exe untouched if it doesn't
• fails with a readable reason instead of a Python traceback

Where settings live

easynas_config.json, next to the program. It holds your main folder, the accounts you've hidden, the share layout, and the dashboard password. Copy it alongside the .exe if you move an existing setup.

Licence

MIT — see LICENSE.