Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

RiderX

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 9, 2012
173
74
SMB server is running and I can access it from Documents app (Readle). Guest account, no password.

But no success with Files app. I tried all kind of configs. Is this broken in 13.1?
 

gbynum

macrumors member
Sep 23, 2019
66
19
Greenville SC
Similar issue ... iPad mini 4, iOS 13.1 and iPhone 7 iOS 13.1; I have multiple SMB servers, a WD NAS, 3 Windoze boxes with public shared folders. VLC will find my music and videos, Files won't view the server in any way.

Further ... related(?). in the past (don't know how far, maybe iOS 11), I could open a photo in Photos, share, and share with my WD drive and either of our 2 HP printers on the house network. Those options have disappeared.

Me or Apple?
 

TrueBlou

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2014
4,531
3,619
Scotland
I've no problem connecting to my server, registered user with password and I can access every hard drive and folder shared from my HP Microserver Gen 8 running Windows Server 2012 r2.

Wish I could offer help, but I've not experienced issues. Have you also tried as a registered user instead of guest access?
 

Howard2k

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2016
5,686
5,603
It's working for me from Files. I disable AFP on my NAS and was able to connect over SMB.
I have SMB v1 and v2 enabled.
 

gbynum

macrumors member
Sep 23, 2019
66
19
Greenville SC
You raise an interesting question. I run our windoze boxes open, yeah there is a user, but no password. I think I'll add a user iOS with password iOS and see if that works. I'll get back after trying that. Thanks!

It also prompts for username and password on my (also open, no user or password) WD NAS. I'm told I must authenticate. Huh, that's the principle of open. Like FTP of old, my email address and "password" IIRC?
 

DjStiky

macrumors member
Apr 19, 2007
50
14
I have an issue with one folder on my share on my NAS. It contains around 1600 folders under it but the files app says “0 items”.
This folder is fine using 3rd party apps like Documents or FileBrowser.
The rest of the folders work correctly in the Files app.
 

RiderX

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 9, 2012
173
74
I made an account with password. Files app can connect now, but just to the root directory. „Folder Contents could not be displayed, unknown error“.

argghhh....
 

fhall1

macrumors 68040
Dec 18, 2007
3,875
1,319
(Central) NY State of mind
I have two NAS boxes on my home LAN, one a Seagate, one a Synology. The Files app connects to the Seagate fine using "connect to server" and the smb://<ip address> with my username/password. But trying to connect to the Synology I get "The operation couldn't be completed. Operation not supported. Operation not supported" Really helpful error message huh? But I can connect to both NAS boxes fine with 3rd party iOS apps like "FileExplorer" and "FileBrowser". Any ideas as to why the Synology won't connect?
 
  • Like
Reactions: RiderX

jgiannakas

macrumors member
May 26, 2014
85
64
Works with my Synology on the files app. Have enabled SMB and AFP. Try connecting with the host name only?
 

fhall1

macrumors 68040
Dec 18, 2007
3,875
1,319
(Central) NY State of mind
With hostname instead of IP it spins for a while and returns a different error:"There was a problem connecting to the server. Check the server name or IP address, then try again. If you continue to have problems, contact your system administrator." I even updated the Synology from the ancient version of DSM it was running (3.2) to the current 6.22. FileExplorer and FileBrowser still connect with no issue....but the Files app gives the same error(s).

EDIT: For the heck of it I also tried a wrong password with my username....it gives the same errors....so it's not even getting far enough where it's trying to authenticate my account info.

EDIT2: Found it! When I did the last upgrade to DSM 6.22 I neglected to look in the advanced file share settings. Between V6.0 and V6.22 they added the ability to choose minimum SMB (in my case 1) and maximum SMB (in my case changed it to 2). As soon as I did that - connection happened instantly. The Files app must require SMB2 and my old Synology was using only SMB1 since it was originally setup in 2011!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: RiderX

RiderX

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 9, 2012
173
74
Thanks, @fhall1, this may be the solution! I have one NAS to which I can connect with Files, but another older server (linux) cannot be connected. I will check this again!
 
  • Like
Reactions: fhall1

SoYoung

macrumors 68000
Jul 3, 2015
1,545
955
It’s working very well for me as well. The only downside (and a big one for me) is I can’t search any files on my server (in search field), it’s simply don’t work.
 

RiderX

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 9, 2012
173
74
I did some more investigation into the problem, and it turns out that @fhall1 was right: My samba server was running SMB-V1, and Files app cannot access older samba servers.

Unbelievable hat they are not backwards compatible. As a solution I have only the very good Documents app (Readle) which can do everything.

Shame on Apple!
 

fhall1

macrumors 68040
Dec 18, 2007
3,875
1,319
(Central) NY State of mind
Not only is Files not backwards SMB compatible, Apple also makes it a pain for non-geeks to connect to a server. It's 2019 - we shouldn't have to enter an IP address or server name. The third party apps I have had installed for years, FileExplorer and FileBrowser, go out on the local network and find the servers for you and then you select the one(s) you want to connect to and enter your login info. With all the high-priced developers Apple has on staff, you would think the first iteration of Files would have had these features, and it's still not in the second major iteration.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RiderX

SoYoung

macrumors 68000
Jul 3, 2015
1,545
955
Not only is Files not backwards SMB compatible, Apple also makes it a pain for non-geeks to connect to a server. It's 2019 - we shouldn't have to enter an IP address or server name. The third party apps I have had installed for years, FileExplorer and FileBrowser, go out on the local network and find the servers for you and then you select the one(s) you want to connect to and enter your login info. With all the high-priced developers Apple has on staff, you would think the first iteration of Files would have had these features, and it's still not in the second major iteration.
Agreed. The SMB servers integration is realy barebones. You can't even search in your server for a specific file, you have to scroll all files in a folder to find the one you want. But at least it works well for me to manage files between my iPad and my mac by being able to delete them, import them etc.
 

gotluck

macrumors 603
Dec 8, 2011
5,717
1,260
East Central Florida
im having difficulty getting write access via ios files app with registered user w/ password. I am using a debian buster host with samba w/ external drive. macOS has no issues writing to the same share. I can access it via files on iOS but no write access.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.