---
title: "Creating an SMB Share in Nutanix Files"
slug: "creating-an-smb-share-in-nutanix-files"
updated: 2025-06-11T20:48:55Z
published: 2025-06-11T20:48:55Z
canonical: "kb.expedient.com/creating-an-smb-share-in-nutanix-files"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.expedient.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Creating an SMB Share in Nutanix Files

Your File Server VMs will be created by Expedient, but you will need to create SMB shares to begin using Nutanix Files.

Creating a new share is done in the **‘Files Console'** within Prism Element GUI.

- In the dropdown menu, click **Files**
- Select the file server > then click **Launch Files Console**

![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-1740175530224.png)

1) In the **Files** **Console**, click the **Shares & Exports** tab

- Click the **+New Share or Export** button to create a new share

![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image(60).png)

Fill in the name of the new share.

- Name

**Note the following naming conventions & limitations for Nutanix Files Shares (click arrow on the right to expand):**

  - Files does not allow the following names:
    - Global
    - Printers
    - admin$ (reserved)
    - ipc$ (reserved)
    - homes (reserved)
  - Share names are not case-sensitive.
  - Each share name must be unique.
  - A share name must not start or end with a blank space.
  - A share name must not start with a dot (.)
  - A share name must follow a regular expression: ^[^!@#%~'\"^&$()\\[\\]|+=*{}\\/\\\\<>:;,’`]*[$]?$
  - Names that end with the $ are hidden shares.
  - See Configuration Maximums for name length limits.
  - The name of the share will also be the path
    - Example: A File Server named ‘filesvr1’ and a share named ‘share1’ would have the path \\filesv1\share1
- **Description** and **Share Path** are optional
  - You can create nested shares by specifying the path. Nested shares inherit some properties from the parent directory.
  - See Nested Shares and Exports for details.
- **Max Size** - A share size should be specified, if not it be the size of the file server.
- **Primary Protocol Access** - Your options are SMB, NFS or multi-protocol. Select **SMB**.
- Click **Next**

![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image(62).png)

2) In the **Settings** tab you will choose what type of share you wish to create any other settings

- A **Distributed share**, also known as a home share, load-balances user data across multiple FSVMs by distributing top-level directories.
- A **Standard share**, also known as a general-purpose share, serves data and connections from a single FSVM.
  - *The default setting of a new share is “Standard”*

A distributed share is frequently used as the repository for the personal files of a user, while a standard share is frequently the repository shared by a group.

> [!TIP]
> Tip: When using a distributed share for user profiles, facilitate better load distribution by creating a top-level directory (TLD) for each user.

- Leave **Enable Compression** checked
- **Self Service** restore can be turned on later if required
- Click Next

3) In the **Protocol Settings and Performance**, select any additional SMB settings or alter permissions on the share

- View the Nutanix documentation for further details on each setting - [![](https://portal.nutanix.com/favicon.ico)](https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Files-v5_0:fil-file-share-create-wc-t.html) Nutanix Support & Insights
- Click **Next**

![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-S0QZ7JUB.png)

4) Review the **Summary** page and if all settings are correct, click **Create**.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-VZ8WCJAO.png)

You will now be able to use your Nutanix Files SMB share.