How to mount Windows File share to Steam Deck?

We managed to connect to Windows File Share already, and copy files to and from Steam Deck – this is what I already wrote about here . However, for some things, like backup or constant file exchange it would be nice to have permanently mounted windows file share on our Steam Deck – attached just like our MicroSD is – every time we need it, it is there – automatically (if the network file share is live ofcourse). Here is how we will do it.

Again, for my detailed setup, on which I’m basing this guide, you can look on this link – it is also place on which I described whole process of creating network file shares on Windows and attaching it to Linux

Please be careful with these edits – I cannot be responsible for any type of damage you do by following this.

File share we want to permanently mount is \\192.168.1.192\DeckWinShare , we will mount it to local folder named /run/media/winpcshare

For this guide it would be easiest to connect keyboard and mouse to your Steam Deck – lager display also if you need it.

We will also be using terminal in this guide – so go to Steam Desktop mode

Also, be aware of capital letters, Linux is sensitive on capital letters in usernames, folder names, file names – you have to type your names and directories in the exact way – no skipping capital letters!

Let’s do it.

From Start menu select System and then start Konsole

Let’s now go command by command

This first command is optional – if you already have a password for your Steam Deck you don’t need this – if you don’t have password – you need to set it first

passwd

Command bellow will create directory winpcshare in /run/media directory

sudo mkdir /run/media/winpcshare

Following command will elevate our rights to root

sudo -s

This command will create file cifsauth in /etc folder and inside it it will write two lines – username and password

Be sure to change deckguy to the username of your Windows user that has access to file share you would like to mount

Under password change Pass123 to password of your Windows user that has access rights to the file share

These values are here only as example so you can see how it looks like.

sudo echo -e "username=deckguy\npassword=Pass123" > /etc/cifsauth

When the command is executed type exit to exit elevated root user

exit

Now, we will set user rights for file cifsauth we created

sudo chmod 600 /etc/cifsauth

Next step will be to create our permanent mount point in fstab file – here we will point our network file share to local mount folder

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Go to the last line of the file and type in command from bellow (change IP to your IP, and folder names to your folders!!)

Change 192.168.1.192/DecWinShare to your network IP address and your shared folder

if you created different mount point for your file share change also /run/media/winpcshare to your file path. If not you can leave it as is.

//192.168.1.192/DeckWinShare       /run/media/winpcshare cifs uid=deck,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,noperm,credentials=/etc/cifsauth 0 0

After you are done with entering text press ctrl+x to save file, and confirm with y

ctrl+x to save
y

This command will now mount our created mount point

sudo mount -a

Optionally, you will maybe need to enter sudo systemctl daemon-reload command

Now, for a good measure, reboot your Steam Deck

Now, if we go back to our File Explorer (Dolphin) nice surprise will be there – we now see our Network Drive Mounted under /run/media/winpcshare and the little icon is green

If a share is not accessible – it will be grey/inaccessible.

Let’s quickly create one file with name – DoesMountingWork.txt – and we will check then on Windows PC if it is created

We are able to create new File so looks like our read, write permissions on the folder are good

File is accessible and writable from Windows side also

If your Windows File Share becomes inaccessible in the time File Explorer on Steam Deck (Dolphin) is turned on – it may became irresponsive

Not optimal behaviour, but so you know what to expect – after you start it again, it will work ok, just don’t point it to the mount that is not accessible – than it will be slow for a bit, because it is trying to find that share again.

If you reboot/boot Steam Deck and mount is not accessible – everything works fine – no strange things will happen (so far, from what I have tested) – little sign that is on your mounted network file share will be orange and suggest something is wrong

After Share is available again, right click on MountPoint and select Mount to Mount it

If that don’t work and you get Permissions Denied error – you can reboot your Steam Deck or try sudo mount -a command through terminal, and then go back to File Explorer to open Network File Share mount

Not really the most elegant or nicest solution all of this, but the simplest I found (I don’t like third party apps, and this is relatively simple, once you get comfortable with it)

That is it, we now know how to permanently keep our network file shares on our Steam Deck