This thread contains two separate Samba problems that should not be treated as one error. First, ZimaOS 1.5.4 alpha 3 showed “Sharing management failed” when a new folder was shared. Reinstalling ZimaOS and rebooting cleared that issue for the original poster.
After that, Windows displayed a different message saying organizational security policy blocked unauthenticated guest access. That second problem was solved when the user created a separate ZimaOS user instead of connecting with the admin account.
Separate the ZimaOS Error from the Windows Error
If the share cannot be created in ZimaOS at all, investigate the Samba service and generated configuration. If the share exists but Windows refuses to open it, focus on authentication and share permissions instead.
Diagnostics Shared in the Thread
A community reply suggested checking Samba status and recent logs:
systemctl status smbd nmbd --no-pager
journalctl -u smbd -u nmbd --no-pager -n 200It also suggested validating the Samba configuration:
testparm -sAnd checking whether shares are visible locally:
smbclient -L localhost -NThese commands are diagnostics. They do not by themselves fix permissions.
Use an Authenticated Member Account
The current ZimaOS Samba member setup documents member accounts, per-user permissions, and Windows access using a username and password. That matches the successful result in the thread: the original poster created a new user and Windows access started working.
For a protected share, connect from Windows using the share path and the member credentials assigned in ZimaOS rather than depending on anonymous guest access.
Version Context
The initial “Sharing management failed” report was tied to an alpha release. Do not assume the same reinstall step is required on current stable ZimaOS. The lasting lesson is to distinguish a share-creation failure from a Windows authentication-policy failure.
Current SMB Authentication Context
The current ZimaOS SMB on CachyOS shows the same principle from a Linux-client angle: validate member credentials before blaming server discovery. The NAS file sharing basics explains current ZimaOS member permissions across Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile clients, while the ZimaOS 1.5 changes gives useful version context for the storage and sharing interface.
Microsoft's Microsoft SMB guest policy explains that current Windows versions restrict insecure SMB guest authentication because guest sessions lack normal authentication protections. The official Samba smbclient reference provides a direct client-side way to list and test SMB shares with explicit credentials, which is useful for separating a Windows Explorer policy issue from a Samba server problem.
Bottom Line
In this case, reinstalling cleared the alpha share-management problem, but the Windows error had a separate cause. Creating and using a dedicated ZimaOS member account solved the guest-access block. Current ZimaOS Samba guidance also favors explicit member credentials and permissions.
