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I'm using the Files app on my iPhone and iPad to save photos to an SMB network share provided by Samba on an Ubuntu 20.04 server.

Since around iOS/iPadOS 14.5, trying to save a new file to the share results in an error message saying:

The operation couldn't be completed
Operation canceled

Since nothing has changed server-side, this looks like a bug in iOS/iPadOS. How can the described problem be solved?

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1 Answer 1

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There does not seem to be any documentation from Apple on changes related to SMB in iOS/iPadOS 14.5. However, the following configuration change on the Samba server restores Files app functionality:

  • Install the Samba package containing VFS modules (on Ubuntu via apt install --no-install-recommends samba-vfs-modules)
  • Add the following line to your Samba configuration (on Ubuntu in /etc/samba/smb.conf) in the [global] section or in the relevant share section: vfs objects = fruit streams_xattr
  • Restart Samba (on Ubuntu via systemctl restart smbd.service)

You might need to reconnect the share in the Files app. Afterwards, saving new files to the share should work again.

Documentation for the fruit SAMBA VFS module can be found at https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/current/man-html/vfs_fruit.8.html.

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  • Thanks a lot. It worked perfectly fine.
    – atulkhatri
    Commented Oct 2, 2021 at 4:44
  • This worked for me. But this is exactly why Linux will never be viable for normal consumers even Ubuntu. Every time I setup a new system I'm supposed to remember to do this in order for it to support file sharing with the most common mobile device on the planet?
    – Sean O'Neil
    Commented Oct 27, 2021 at 17:16
  • @SeanO'Neil: I wouldn't remember myself, so I'm putting all the configuration I need into Ansible playbooks. Using them I can setup a new system within minutes without any manual tasks. Although not for everyone, that's the beauty of Linux ;)
    – Marian Rainer-Harbach
    Commented Oct 29, 2021 at 7:32
  • When building Samba on BSD-systems, be sure to enable the FRUIT option - then follow the rest of @MarianRainer-Harbach's instructions.
    – Mikhail T.
    Commented Oct 30, 2021 at 14:01
  • This is the correct answer. Thank you so much @marian
    – Bob Arezina
    Commented Jan 10, 2022 at 0:33

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