is there a way to have nested shares? so instead of say

Shares , Landon, michael,michelle,lisa, joe blow

they can go under

Family Files/landon

Family Files/Michael

and so on but each user can only access that shared folder so instead of them all showing up in the Root location \\192.168.0.10\landon it be \\192.168.0.10\family files\landon

and if not what is it called, what program do i need is it a windows program etc... that allows them the only access to that location i guess like a home directory like you can do in sftpgo each use case

as i added like 10 family members so far and the root of my smb server is getting swamped of all the user share folders so i wanna be able to put them all under Family Files and those user names show under there so i dont have like 50 root samba shares .. or if there is some other program

also be nice if i can hide all the other folders to that specific user too.. since everything is visiable

Edited May 13May 13 by comet424

5 minutes ago, comet424 said:

is there a way to have nested shares? so instead of say

Shares , Landon, michael,michelle,lisa, joe blow

they can go under

Family Files/landon

Family Files/Michael

and so on but each user can only access that shared folder so instead of them all showing up in the Root location \\192.168.0.10\landon it be \\192.168.0.10\family files\landon

and if not what is it called, what program do i need is it a windows program etc... that allows them the only access to that location i guess like a home directory like you can do in sftpgo each use case

as i added like 10 family members so far and the root of my smb server is getting swamped of all the user share folders so i wanna be able to put them all under Family Files and those user names show under there so i dont have like 50 root samba shares .. or if there is some other program

What will happen is that once you set up a custom SMB share using the plugin is that custom share will show up in the "root" of the server in Windows File Explorer. To show what this looks like, here is a screen capture of my test server in Windows File Explorer:

I have circled the Custom SMB share (SymLinkShare) that I setup to test this plugin out when it was being developed. I can then map that share as a mapped drive in Windows.

If you still confused install the plugin and test it out. I think you will find that it will do exactly what you are looking for. Below is a screenshot of that share mapped as drive X: on my desktop:

You can use any letter between A and Z to map the drive as long as it has not been previously assinged. It seems to be a convention to start at the end of the alphabet for mapped drives as Windows starts at the beginning to assign drive letters to both permanent and temporary drives.

ya i already have it installed and such i didnt see the symlinkshare but thats the problem i dont want it to be under root as i dont wanna see it on my own server nore

so say if i add a user for 20 family members that means i have 20 root shares on top of my 30 root shares i wanna take those 20 root family member shares and place them under a sub share

ill get screen shots what i mean

so currently i only added a few users

now they all under the root folder.. but since i also wanting to do my kids and there kids and cousins to be able to backup or map to i going to have like 50 60 root folders including my own

so each person gets a folder under "Family Files" and i dont want anyone to access it

so then i wanted like a Root share

"Family" and those root shares austin terras files, landon they all go under "Family" so then each user can access there own user name to backup too

or is that too advanced?

like i guess maybe its active directly or back in the day cogeco internet when you went to network

you would see

user/sdfgf

user/ewriuwqie

user/dsfgdsfg

and each user was there computer id like something like that but each user cant access each other i have this setup with SFTPGO and a program that maps a drive letter logging into sftpgo but was hoping something simplier

i been playing around trying to find something like how ZiamOS works but its only good for 1 user

the only other work around other then what i been doing is

run another Unraid that only has the virtual smbshares and those are mapped to the main unraid server this way that server only shows the user names as the root shares and it doesnt congest my own server with all the users

so my main would have 20 shares i use.. and the other unraid would say hand 100 root username shares pointing to the main unraid and they wont see my main server shares.. all they see the user shares... i guess that would act like an active directory

i know i asking alot i just been trying to make things more advanced then just for a few users

and sorry in advance i got dyslexia so what sounds good in my head explaining doesnt always come out right

Edited May 13May 13 by comet424

Nope, they are going to show up there regardless of how you create the shares. (I thought you were trying to isolate an existing file tree by user rather than making a less cluttered display.)

Mapping the shares onto the individual PC according their 'need-to-know' is the only way I know to hide the details.

ah ok ya less cluttered... like i had asked for help in the general chat a while ago but no help really

i liked how ZiamOS works they have server like unraid.. and a Client OS runs on windows when you login into the ziamos it mounts a drive letter like D: to the shares on your server...

i guess that be a good feature request for unraid.. instead of me trying to use faky apps that connect to sftpgo server to mount a drive letter..

so far now i played with what i mentioned you need 2 unraid servers my 2nd unraid server has the users and mounts to the first server and i hide all the shares

so you can see unraid server 2 points to unraid server 1 and then i just hide the default folders so then family would connect to the 2nd unraid to point to the first unraid..

since it cant do nested share...

and sorry if my disylexia makes things confusing as i try to explain but sometimes what makes sense in my head doesnt come out right.. or run on sentences i been told

I don't see what you are saving– clutter wise. You will still have the twenty shares on the second server. You can always name the Custom SMB generated share as (example)– Austins Files

A mapped drive (mounted at Windows startup in the background) on Windows does the same thing. Once setup the PC user is not even aware that it is not a local drive. (Mapped drives are often required for Windows programs that can not access files via a network. There are not many of them these days but some of the legacy ones don't have a up-to-date replacement.) In fact, most recent Windows programs 'remember' the last folder/directory used and automatically open it when a file operation is requested.

One more thing. If your users are accessing your server remotely, consider using Tailscale. The plugin is integrated into Unraid and it is free and secure. You can find more information in the Unraid Manual here:

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/system-administration/secure-your-server/tailscale/

I have family members accessing a share on one of my Unraid servers using a mapped drive that connects at startup.

Edited May 13May 13 by Frank1940

clutter wise.. when you add 50 user name shares that s 70 shares then on my personal server i dont wanna see in the root.. as i only wanna see the like 20 shares i got..

since i cant put user shares under a Sub Share folder "Family" and place 50 user shares under that like i do with SFTP or like using a 2nd server

at moment i dont use tailscale i currently use openvpn through pfsense

as a mapped drive on windows is a problem i dont want and user access to any of the folders on the server, 0 access only to the user share i made them

so root or me gets access to all the shares

say austin account only gets that austin account if i give access to other users i dont want them seeing any of the folders

as a root if i got 50 users then i be scrolling through 70 shares on the root share which defeats the purpose of a sub custom share

Edited May 13May 13 by comet424

if i had more users say like 200 i dont want 200 user shares on my personal server...

i guess id do it like i do on my 2nd server youd have 200 root share user names that point to /mnt/user/family files/ location

just like how you have /home for every linux user account you make there own personal desktop documents videos etc..

this way in the end server 2 has 200 shares,, and server 1 would only have 20 shares

guess that is the work around ill do i wonder if there is an app a docker, a vm that can simuate 2nd unraid so i using a unraid server just to host the shares

but thats basiclly what i trying to do with sftpgo and free program maps a drive letter to an unraid share

basiclly what i been trying to do is if i created you an account it would go

/mnt/user/family files/frank1940

when you logged in through openvpn

and you type \\192.168.0.3

you wouldnt get any access to anything but frank1940 share so you can map a drive letter to it like how Windows Home Server always worked

or you would see folder Family Files and under it would be frank1940

thats why using the 2nd unraid server seems to allow that cuz right now the only way works is i create a user account in sftpgo of frank1940 it points to /mnt/user/family files/frank1940 then i use a 3rd party software to create a drive letter connecting to sftpgo server without using openvpn just connects to dns address..

but im guessing im out of the scope of the orginal intent of the smbshare i needing more advance or work arounds i been trying to do

i havent found a cheap solution that hasnt had issues to connect to an unraid share.. ill keep playing around i appreciate all the info at least

Edited May 13May 13 by comet424

sorry i wrote alot and confused you like you mentioned it cant be done what id like to see if ever possible

if i have a root share

Homes

then austin,payton,frank1940 user shares would go

Homes/austin

Homes/payton

Homes/frank1940

and each folder is password protected seperately to the unraid user accounts. this way then Homes/frank1940 can be mounted as a drive letter for your personal backups to goto and keeps everything under the Homes folder

i wrote too much and made a mess of explaining things i guess.. basiclly thats idea for a future releases possibilities if ever possible

and if not possible thats ok too i just figured id ask and clear up my mess of messages

sorry for explaining things poorly

Edited May 13May 13 by comet424

@comet424 I haven't read all the posts, but what u are trying to do, is home folder for each of your family members. I was able to get this working on my box a few months ago. Basically make each the same name as the user, share private/hidden (so you dont see them when u browse) and only the user can access them. Add something like this to your smb extra (modify it for your setup). When the user browses to the server, they will see a home folder (but its pointed to their private share).

[home]
   comment = The Home Dump
   path = /mnt/user/%U
   browsable = yes
   invalid users = guest
   writable = yes
   read list = "%U"
   write list = "%U"
   valid users = "%U"
   case sensitive = auto
   preserve case = yes
   short preserve case = yes
   vfs objects = recycle
   recycle:repository = .Recycle.Bin
   recycle:directory_mode = 0777
   recycle:keeptree = Yes
   recycle:touch = Yes
   recycle:touch_mtime = No
   recycle:minsize = 1
   recycle:versions = Yes
   recycle:exclude = *.tmp
   recycle:exclude_dir = ".Recycle.Bin"

Only drawback, your shares on the dashboard could get busy with a lot of shares. I only have 2 users at home, unless you count the animals. The Custom SMB Shares plugin might come in handy for that part

Edited May 13May 13 by Cino

@Cino ah ok ill take a look.. ya right now what did was on a 2nd unraid i hide all the default shares so its a blank canvas and then i installed the custom smb share and a remote access to /mnt/user/family files folder and then i created users and then custom shares to point to each users home directory under /mnt/user/family files path so that seems to work that way.. that i was thinking installing truenas as a vm to point to the unraid share.. but when i point to the 2nd server to map a drive that seems to work too... the other way i been doing is sftp server. and a free app that mounts a drive letter to the sftp account issue is its glitchy.. and the others i found charge or limit how much you can copy using there app which sucks

and lookin at this tailscale isnt that simple just having a user id to login to your network.. where i have openvpn on pfsense setup i just create a new user and tag it to my openvpn connection this tailscale i gotta invite ppl some how instead if giving user id joeblow... i have to watch videos but doesnt seem as simple to setup users you gotta invite ppl first i dunno gotta youtube and read more on the unraid tailscale

Edited May 13May 13 by comet424

Oh that does sound like a complicated setup. If they are going to be accessing it over the internet with a VPN, I'd use something like Nextcloud or something similar for ease. Btw, I don't recommend mapping drive letters these days. Use the UNC and pin it instead.

@Cino

ya i use openvpn through pfsense to connect to the network problem with nextcloud is a pain in the but to install it hangs after it installs and then like 3 containers are not running and never get past that.. own cloud if its the same is a pain cuz you cant add files on the the unraid side you have to do everything through the gui if you dont it doesnt see newly added files i might copy its all a headache these days...

so whats wrong with mapping a drive letter now a days? and what is UNC? how does that work you got a link for that is it an application you install in unraid?

Universal Naming Convention: \\ServerName\ShareName\Path Its part of the SMB protocol, no application is required. Over VPN, best to use the IP address instead of the hostname in-case it doesn't resolved. I'm using Wireguard these days and once connected, use my DNS server so I can resolve my local network FQDN hostnames.

Ransomware is whats wrong. Those nasty scripts go down the list of letters to encrypt files. Most companies now block or frown on mapping shares that way because of that.

@Cino

oh ok so dont bother with maping a drive letter then... just do the \\servername\what not thats what i normally do for myself or couple mapped drives for music or tdarr

well that is bad the scripts doing that.. used to be just C: drive was an issue

so best then to use a backup software to backup files from the kids comp to the server and or manually copy like i do copy or move desktop files to \\servername\documents or \\servername\projects

if you use a backup software is there any you recommend?

i was learning snapshots but got lost a bit i also blew out my backupserver i converted it to datasets via spaceinvader videos.. well i also deleted the dataset thought i was deleting just the backups to start off with 0 back ups.. oh no i deleting the appdata dataset deletes all the files. so thats a pain as i learning this zfs as i didnt go the truenas way couldnt afford to buy 3-6 hard drives of the same size like 12 -16tb at the time.. and now a 16-18tb drive selling for a 1000 bucks now on amazon total bs i had to downgrade my 2nd server just to incrase my main server... need to take a morage out just to afford hard drives ugh

found 3 glitches

i have it running on 2 servers

1.. on one server i was deleting all the shares,, but its glitched or flaged.. it can not delete the first line entry.. you can add custom shares but your unable to delete the first one.. when you click word delete.. nothing will pop up.. 2nd 3rd row etc.. when you click delete it pops up you wanna delete and you can.. click the first one.. nothing happens its like flagged or a glitch that wont let you delete...

2nd glitch.. you can not import custom configuration... you can export.. but you can not import..

when you choose import and you choose the newly exported config file.. and you click import nothing happens the screen disappears and nothing populates

3rd glitch to this is .. if you open the json file in notepad copy entire json and paste it in the json box and click import nothing happens you can click import 50 times nothing happens so it cant import that way either

these 2 issues is on both servers

another glitch is on the 2nd server... when trying to Restore from a backup under settings... it doesnt restore it says top right failed to restore.. then it deletes the share restore by 1 share at the bottom of the screen

Edited May 15May 15 by comet424

On 5/14/2026 at 11:00 PM, comet424 said:

found 3 glitches

i have it running on 2 servers

1.. on one server i was deleting all the shares,, but its glitched or flaged.. it can not delete the first line entry.. you can add custom shares but your unable to delete the first one.. when you click word delete.. nothing will pop up.. 2nd 3rd row etc.. when you click delete it pops up you wanna delete and you can.. click the first one.. nothing happens its like flagged or a glitch that wont let you delete...

2nd glitch.. you can not import custom configuration... you can export.. but you can not import..

when you choose import and you choose the newly exported config file.. and you click import nothing happens the screen disappears and nothing populates

3rd glitch to this is .. if you open the json file in notepad copy entire json and paste it in the json box and click import nothing happens you can click import 50 times nothing happens so it cant import that way either

these 2 issues is on both servers

another glitch is on the 2nd server... when trying to Restore from a backup under settings... it doesnt restore it says top right failed to restore.. then it deletes the share restore by 1 share at the bottom of the screen

Thanks for the report, I'll take a look and fix those bugs

@zapbranagann

i found another bug and was able to fix the first line entry that wont delete..

1.. if you change the location your pointing your smb share too... it doesnt populate the Save... since changes were made you gotta say modify comment line or so just to make say you made a change to be able to save

also the line of the glitch on my 1 server.. if i export there is nothing glitchy in the json file... if i change the location and re save.. then i can Delete it will pop up... if i restore it from the backups the glitch comes back... those just extra things i noticed

Edited May 18May 18 by comet424

@comet424 — thanks for the great reports! All four issues fixed in v2026.05.18: https://github.com/cslemieux/unraid-custom-smb-shares/releases/tag/v2026.05.18 (https://github.com/cslemieux/unraid-custom-smb-shares/releases/tag/v2026.05.18)

1. Import (file + paste) now works.

2. Restore actually restores and reloads Samba — no more "failed to restore" or invisible result.

3. The "deletes 1 share at the bottom" wasn't deleting shares — it was the backup list shrinking each time. That side-effect is gone now (and restores succeed, so it stops happening anyway).

4. First-row delete glitch was caused by stray invisible characters in that share's name. Fixed, plus the plugin now auto-cleans those on read so it shouldn't come back even from older backups.

Bonus fix: picking a folder via Browse on the Edit page used to silently rename your share — that's gone too.

If you can still reproduce "Save doesn't engage when I only change the path" after updating, let me know — I want to make sure that's actually fixed and not something separate.

Thanks again for the careful diagnosis — really helpful.

Update: shipped v2026.05.18a a few minutes after the initial release — turns out "Import from File" was a silent no-op due to a separate modal-handling bug. Both file and paste imports work now.

Edited May 18May 18 by zapbranagann

@zapbranagann

so did some testing..

1.. the glitched first line that i couldnt delete..thats fixed i can delete now

2.. the Import a File still doesnt work.. but if you edit the json file and copy and paste it in the field.. and then click import that imports and says imported successfully top right.. but importing by a file doesnt work

3.. changing a directory under Edit for the Path still doesnt populate the SAVE button you still gotta edit like share name or comment name to detect..

4.. the restore from backups seems to work ok and doesnt decrease the share value number

and ii had semi mentioned with other guy but i dunno if its possible to have a nested share like "users\<user name> and each user gets a share under <users> so far how i doing things is a 2nd unraid server i hide all the shares... and i do your custom share with a user name that points to my first unraid server... this way the family and friends access the 2nd unraid connect to there personal share and it connects to the main server... but i guess thats the limit of windows shares right you cant do nested... i guessing thats something that i guess Windows Active Directory.. or Novel Netware or some other database management software does where you have users\<generatred user ID> and only that person can access that directory.. so far doing it this way works using 2 unraids but figured id ask if it is ever possible to have a nested share and if not if thats a windows limitation etc.. then what i got going on is working plus i use sftpgo to mount to the /mnt/user/family files/<users> on the main server. ... but figured id ask

oh and since im from the days of using Novell netware days 90s and 2000s do you happen to know of a docker that does the same as what i trying to do with the custom shares been years since i done stuff like that

Edited May 18May 18 by comet424

@comet424 — thanks for the detailed re-test! Just shipped v2026.05.18b (https://github.com/cslemieux/unraid-custom-smb-shares/releases/tag/v2026.05.18b (https://github.com/cslemieux/unraid-custom-smb-shares/releases/tag/v2026.05.18b)) — please force the plugin to update (Plugins → Check for Updates) and try again. Two of the items on your list:

1. Path change on Edit not enabling Apply — confirmed real bug, fixed in v2026.05.18b. Root cause: Unraid's form-tracking watches change/input events on form fields to know when to enable the Apply button. The Browse path picker was setting the path field via $.val() which doesn't fire those events naturally — typing in name/comment does, which is why that worked. Now mirrors the Docker plugin pattern (fires a change event after .val()), so picking a folder enables Apply just like typing.

2. Import from File not working — could you double-check what version you see in the page header (SMB Shares vX.X.X at the top of the shares list)? On my end, v2026.05.18a's Import from File is verified working end-to-end (regression test injects a synthetic JSON file, asserts shares.json on disk is actually replaced with the imported shares — passes). If you're seeing the success toast but the import doesn't take, check (a) the page header version, and (b) whether the .json file you're importing has a top-level array of share objects (not wrapped in another object). After updating to v2026.05.18b, do a hard-refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R) to bust the JS cache before testing.

3. & 4. First-row delete + Restore — glad those are working for you.

On nested shares ("users/<username>"): SMB itself can't directly nest shares — each [ShareName] is a flat export. But you can get effectively the same UX by using a single share with valid users = %S (Samba magic that means "the share-name == the user"):

[users]
path = /mnt/user/family files/%U
valid users = %U
force user = %U
create mask = 0640
directory mask = 0750

User alice connecting to \\server\users would land in /mnt/user/family files/alice with only their own files visible, and bob similarly. That's effectively the per-user nested behavior you described, but in a single share definition. (Active Directory uses similar template substitutions — %U / %G / %S are the Samba equivalent.) Your two-server setup with sftpgo absolutely works too; this is just an alternative if you want to consolidate.

Cheers, and thanks again for the thorough testing.

ah ok

so for the version i currently testing.. its 2026.05.18a where the restoring from imported file doesnt work but if i open the json with notepad and paste it in the import field.. that works and boom the shares are restored

ill install the b version next and test

as for the [users[ section can that be done in unraid itself or do you need to run like ubuntu server etc like i know ive done for rasperberry pi for regular shares but not like a share "users" where the individual folders or home directories are under that... can that be done in unraid itself?

ya so far my 2 work arounds where sftpgo users home directory mounts do the /mnt/user/family files/<user> and then i found a free program that will mount a drive letter to the sftp server... and i use that work around on the 2nd unraid to mount to the first... both seem to work not bad... i learned from another user on discord you dont wanna mount drive letters anymore they said virus's run scripts that now work on more then jsut the C: drive so its not advisable to mount drive letter... is that true now a days..

i guess best to like if your saving documents \\192.168.0.7\user id\documents as example and i guess using backup software like syncthing best not to use drive letter but also \\192.168.0.7\<user>\backup

i just trying to make things locked down.. and family members have a remote share that is backup to the server which so far working good with the smbshare.. just trying to make things super secure

but ill test the 18b now if it shows up in plugins and ill get back to ya