How to access files on Synology DiskStation within the Intranet

Overview

DiskStation is designed to store your files and share them within the Intranet or across the Internet. This article will guide you through the necessary steps to share your files on DiskStation within the Intranet. If you want to share files over the Internet, please refer to this tutorial.

Contents

1. Before You Start
2. Manage Access Privilege to the Files
• 2.1 Create a Volume
• 2.2 Create a Shared Folder
• 2.3 Create a User Account
3. Access Files on DiskStation within the Intranet
• 3.1 Access Files via File Browser
• 3.2 Access Files within the Intranet on Windows, MAC and Linux

1. Before You Start

Before you start to share data within the Intranet, make sure the DiskStation is ready:

• Make sure the DiskStation is in normal status by checking the LED on the front panel of your server. You can also know about the status of your server by going to Main Menu > System Information.
• The DiskStation is accessible via Intranet. In other words, Synology Assistant can find and connect to it.

When the DiskStation is ready, do by following the steps below to access the files on it within the Intranet:

1. Create a volume and then a shared folder for storing your files
2. Create a user account and assign privileges to the files on DiskStation
3. Access the files on DiskStation

Refer to Synology DiskStation User's Guide (available at Synology's Download Center) for a general idea about topics related to this article.

> 2. Manage Access Privilege to the Files

2.1 Create a Volume

Before storing your files on DiskStation, you have to create a volume for data storage. For the details about volume creation, please refer to this tutorial.

2.2 Create a Shared Folder

All data on the DiskStation are stored in shared folders. Before sharing your data with others, you must create a shared folder to store them. Follow the steps below to continue.

1. Go to Main Menu > Control Panel > Shared Folder.
   
   
   
2. On Shared Folder page, click Create to create a new shared folder.
   
   
3. Fill in all required fields and click OK to continue with the privilege setting for this folder.
   
   
4. Set up the access privilege to this folder for each users of DiskStation under the Privileges setup tab.
   
   
5. Set up advanced privileges settings under the Advanced privileges tab.
   
   
6. Click OK and the folder will be successfully created. You can modify the privileges settings for the shared folder by choosing the folder and clicking Privilege Setup. Press and hold Shift or Ctrl while making multiple selections.
   

Now you can put your data in the shared folder for sharing. Continue with the section below.

2.3 Create a User Account

1. Go to Main Menu > Control Panel > User.
   
   
2. Click Create to create a new user account. Choose Create user from the Create drop-down menu to create a new user.
   
   
3. Fill in the blank fields (necessary if marked with red asterisk) to create a user account.
   
   
4. Choose a group for the user to join. Please note that if you add a user to the administrators group, he will have the same privileges as admin of the DiskStation.
   
   
   
5. Assign access privileges to each shared folder on the DiskStation for the user account.
   
   You can also refer to Step 4 and 5 of the Create a Shared Folder section to edit a user's access privilege to a shared folder.
   
   
6. Set up the space quota for the user. Click the Quota field to enter a number for the space limit. Click the Unit field to set up the unit for the number. If you uncheck Enable quota, the user's space on the DiskStation will not be limited.
   
   
7. Confirm the settings for your new account and click Apply to finish.
   
   

Now the user can access the files on DiskStation with the account and the privileges you've set up for him/her. Within the Intranet, users can access DiskStation from Windows, Mac or Linux environments, detailed steps will be described in the next section. As for accessing files via Internet, please refer to this tutorial.

3. Access Files on DiskStation within the Intranet

When you have set up users or groups with proper access privileges to the shared folders, they can share their files with your Synology DiskStation from anywhere in the 2 ways below:

• Upload/Download via File Browser
• Upload/Download files within the Intranet on different platforms

3.1 Access Files via File Browser

With File Browser of DiskStation Manager (DSM), accessing files to/from DiskStation is an easy and organized job to do. If you want to launch File Browser, do the following:

1. Log in to DSM with your user credentials.
2. Go to Main Menu > File Browser.

Now you can see the File Browser window on your DSM desktop. With DSM's multitasking capability, you can open two or more File Browser windows, and then drag-n-drop files between them, just as you would with the file management tool on your computer.

Now, let's begin with the basics and learn how to upload/download files with File Browser.

To upload files to DiskStation with File Browser:

1. From the upper part of the left panel, select a destination folder on Synology DiskStation.
2. Choose either of the following options from the Upload drop-down menu:
   • Upload - Skip: Choose this option if you want to skip uploading files with the same name in the destination folder.
   • Upload - Overwrite: Choose this option If you want to replace files with the same name in the destination folder.
   
   
   
3. Select the files from your local computer, and click OK to start uploading.
4. Click the upward arrow at the right end of the taskbar to check the progress.
   
   
   
5. When the process is complete, a desktop notification window will appear at the top-right corner.
   
   
   

To download files to your local computer with File Browser:

1. Select the files or folders you want to download. (Press and hold Shift or Ctrl while making multiple selections.)

Note: If you make multiple selections, File Browser will archive your selections into a zip file before downloading.

2. Choose Download from the Action drop-down menu.
   
   Follow onscreen instructions to complete the process.

3.2 Access Files within the Intranet on Windows, MAC and Linux

Before starting, go to Main Menu > Control Panel > Win/Mac/NFS. In Windows File Service tab, tick the Enable Windows file service checkbox to allow file accessing from Windows. To do so, you might choose any of the following methods:

• Method 1: Use Synology Assistant to map the shared folders as network drives
• Method 2: Use the Run Window
• Method 3: Use Windows Explorer

They will be described in details as follows.

Method 1: Use Synology Assistant to map the shared folders as network drives.

1. Run Synology Assistant and select the server from the server list.
2. Click Map Drive.
   
   
3. Enter the privileged user credentials to access the shared folder. Click Next to continue.
   
4. Choose the shared folder that you want to map as a drive on your local computer. Click Next to continue.
   
5. Choose a drive letter from the Drive drop-down menu. Tick the Reconnect at logon checkbox if you want to reconnect the shared folder every time when you log on to your local computer. Click Next to continue.
   
6. Enter the privileged user credentials to access the shared folder. Click OK to continue.
7. On the confirm page, confirm the information of your mapped drive. Click Finish to finish the process.
   
8. Now you can see the shared folder mapped as a drive under the Computer section of your Windows Explorer.
   
   

Method 2: Use the Run window.

1. Press Windows-R to open the Run window.
2. Enter \\Synology_Server_Name\Shared_Folder_Name in the Open field. Click OK to continue.
   
   
3. Now you can see the shared folder mapped as a drive in the Network section of your Windows Explorer.
   
   

Method 3: Use Windows Explorer.

1. Open a Windows Explorer window and click Map network drive. The Map Network Drive window appears.
   
   
   
   
2. Choose a drive letter from the Drive drop-down menu.
3. Locate the shared folder by doing one of the following:
   • Enter \\Synology_Server_Name\Shared_Folder_Name in the Folder field.
   • Click Browse to locate the shared folder, and then click OK.
4. Click Finish.
5. Now you can see the shared folder mapped as a drive under the Computer section of your Windows Explorer.
   
   
   

Access Shared Folders from Mac

1. On your DiskStation, go to Main Menu > Control Panel > Win/Mac/NFS. Under the Mac File Service tab, check the box to Enable Mac file service.
   
2. On Mac, choose Go > Connect to Server from the menu bar.
   
   
   
3. Type Synology DiskStation's IP address or server name (appended with .local) proceeded by smb:// or afp:// in the Server Address field and click Connect. (e.g., smb://EricaWang.local or afp://192.168.0.2)
   
   
   

Note: For better performance, it is recommended that you connect to the shared folders via SMB.

4. Enter the user credentials with authentication to access the shared folder. And then click Connect to connect to the shared folder.
   
   
   
5. Select the shared folder you want to access. Click OK to continue. Please make sure you're connecting with a user account that has the access privilege to the folder.
   
   
   
6. Now you can access the shared folder in the Finder window.
   
   
   

Access Shared Folders from Linux

1. In Synology DiskStation Manager, go to Main Menu > Control Panel > Win/Mac/NFS. Under the NFS Service tab, check the box to Enable NFS.
2. Go to Main Menu > Control Panel > Shared Folder. Select the shared folder you want to access, click NFS Privileges and find the mount path at the bottom of the window that appears.
   
   
   
   
   
3. On a Linux computer, enter the mount path to mount the shared folders with the right account and password.