Re: How do nonroot Android & nonjailbroken iOS run SMB servers to connect to each other & Windows?

Marion, 2025-04-19 03:21:

On Fri, 18 Apr 2025 18:35:32 +0000, Tyrone wrote :
 
 

If someone can explain why "net use Z:" mounts Android as a Windows drive
letter when I use a WebDav server on Android, but the same command doesn't
mount Android as a drive letter when I use SMB, I'd love to know why.

>
Because there is no SMB (port 445) server running on Android. Android does not
allow anyone to use port 445 for servers.  iOS does. WebDav is using port
8080.  That's why it works on Android.

 
Hi Tyrone,
 
Thanks for helping out on this thread, where you and Crhis were the only
people, other than me, who did any work to solve teh question being asked.
 
As a result of our efforts, the rest of the group has learned a ton.
Which is exactly how Uenet is supposed to work as a team.
 
So I thank you very much for all your effort & patience in testing SMB.
 
I'm not a network expert by any stretch of the imagination, so I will defer
to your greater knowledge level, but just to add value to this
conversation, I had long ago compiled a listing of the available free SMB
servers on Android with information from Frank Slootweg and others, oh,
maybe five years ago.
 
Here is that listing.
But I do not know how many of these are still developed.
 
Free Android SMB Servers:
 
SimbaDroid (Open Source)
https://github.com/buttercookie42/SimbaDroid
SMB Version(s): SMBv1, SMBv2, SMBv3
Note: This app does not require root.

It does, if you want to use the default port - and getting Windows to
connect to port 4550 is not that simple:

"Due to Android limitations, this app requires root (as on all Unixoid
operating systems, it is not possible to open a port < 1024 otherwise,
and the default SMB port is 445 and Windows doesn't work with anything
else). Without root, you either need some sort of SMB client which
allows configuring the port used (SimbaDroid uses port 4450 behind the
scenes), or some kind of port mapping software to allow Windows to
transparently connect to port 4450."

Notes: No user authentication; intended for trusted networks.
Source:
https://xdaforums.com/t/app-4-0-3-no-root-lan-drive-samba-filesharing-server-smb1-and-smb2.3790945/page-12#post-90056889
 
Samba Server for Android (deprecated)
SMB Version(s): SMBv1, SMBv2 (no SMBv3 support)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.j4velin.samba
Note: Root not required.

HTTP 404

Droid NAS
SMB Version(s): SMBv1 only
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ragingdev.droidnas
Note: This app likely requires root.

Of course - like *any* app which wants to open a port below 1024.

[...]

Many apps - and all have same issue: you can not open a port below 1024
for servers without root access. And not every SMB client is able to use
custom ports above 1024.


--
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de