what is the best os for a file server

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kyzarvs
If you need Active Directory, then Windows Server.

If you need basic authentication (if you don't know what active directory is, then this is all you need), there are a gagillion flavours of Linux that will do the job very well on lighter hardware.
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kyzarvs

kyzarvs

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If you need Active Directory, then Windows Server.

If you need basic authentication (if you don't know what active directory is, then this is all you need), there are a gagillion flavours of Linux that will do the job very well on lighter hardware.
 
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Casey Jones

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Have any experience with linux? Ubuntu is pretty idiot-proof and free. Do a little research into Samba https://www.samba.org/. Its a suite that can be installed on Ubuntu (and others). I've seen a few successful "easy to set up" file server options that are compatible with multiple systems using different OS's (Linux, windows, OSx)...

I'm sure you can find an easy tutorial with a quick google / youtube search: https://www.howtoforge.com/setting-up-a-linux-file-server-using-samba
 
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kyzarvs

kyzarvs

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Something like FreeNAS puts a nice web GUI front end on linux so you don't need to get your hands dirty. Might be a place to start.

 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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"What OS" depends on what this will be doing, exactly.
A house file server is far different than a webserver is far different than a mail server is far different than an FTP file server.

My house server/HTPC just runs on Win 10.
If I needed it to do other things, I'd use something else.
 
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