Jun 26, 2025 · Homelab / Beginner · ~2 MIN READ

Set Up a NAS with OpenMediaVault

Create SMB and NFS network shares for family files, homelab backups, and media without enterprise hardware.

Who This Is For

Beginner to intermediate.

Think of it like a family filing cabinet everyone can reach. Instead of every laptop hoarding its own copy of everything, there’s one drawer, one system, one place anyone actually looks.

What You’ll Build

A secured shared folder available from at least one Windows or Linux system.

Prerequisites

A spare desktop, mini PC, or purpose-built small NAS
At least one extra disk for data, separate from the OS disk

Plan Your Disks

OS disk, small, dedicated to OpenMediaVault itself
Data disk(s), where shares actually live
Backup disk, ideally separate again, per the 3-2-1 rule

Install OpenMediaVault

Install onto the OS disk, then log into the web admin interface to continue setup.

Create Users and Groups

Set up individual accounts rather than one shared login, this matters for permissions and for knowing who changed what.

Format and Mount Data Disks

Storage → Disks → format, then Storage → File Systems → mount.

Create a Shared Folder

Storage → Shared Folders → Add, pointing at a path on your data disk.

Configure SMB (Windows/macOS)

Services → SMB/CIFS → enable, then add the shared folder under Shares.

Configure NFS (Linux/Proxmox)

Services → NFS → enable, then add the shared folder with appropriate client access rules, this is the easiest way to give Proxmox an NFS backup target.

Permissions Model

Service-level permissions (who can access the share at all)
Filesystem ownership (Linux user/group on disk)
ACLs for finer-grained control when needed

Security & Backup Notes

The NAS itself needs backing up too, its configuration, not just the data it stores

Troubleshooting

Most first-time issues trace back to a permissions mismatch between the SMB/NFS service config and the underlying filesystem ownership, check both layers

Lab Finish Line