---
title: "How to Add a Hard Drive or USB Memory to an LXC for Use and Network Sharing"
description: "Add a USB hard drive to an LXC in Proxmox, set up Samba for network sharing, and utilize the added storage for various purposes."
---


Sometimes, it can be useful to add a hard drive or USB memory to our Proxmox setup, especially if we have a mini PC with limited expansion possibilities.

We'll see how to add a USB hard drive to an LXC where we'll use it and also share its content via Samba.

#### Note: The LXC must have privileges for us to add the disk.

There can be various uses, such as:
- Hosting Torrent files and making them available on the network
- Using it with our media server
- Using it to host documents that are auto-scanned with Paperless
- And many more...

We will:
1. Add the USB disk to the LXC
2. Install Samba
3. Configure the disk sharing

## 1. Adding USB disk to our LXC

### 1.1 Identify the USB disk or memory

To do this, it's as simple as looking at the disk section we have on our server before and after connecting the USB disk.

Before adding our disk:

![Before adding USB disk](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MacRimi/ProxMenux/main/guides/lxc_samba/lxc_3.png)

After adding our USB disk:

![After adding USB disk](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MacRimi/ProxMenux/main/guides/lxc_samba/lxc_4.png)

### 1.2 Format the disk

For us to use it, we have to format it in a compatible file system, for example ext4 in the case of a hard drive. We do this from the Proxmox console:

```bash
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
```

### 1.3 Create the mount directory in the LXC

We can name the directory whatever we want:

```bash
mkdir /mnt/lxc_USB
```

### 1.4 Create a mount point in our LXC

To do this, we go to the Proxmox console (not in the LXC), and edit the LXC's configuration file. Change the id (100) to the corresponding one for your LXC:

```bash
nano /etc/pve/lxc/100.conf
```

Add this line to the file:

```
mp0: /dev/sdb1,mp=/mnt/lxc_USB,backup=0
```

### 1.5 Start the LXC and set permissions

Start the LXC, log in, and give permissions to the mount directory:

```bash
chmod -R 777 /mnt/lxc_USB
```

## 2. Install Samba

Now that we have our disk mounted, let's install Samba to share it over the network.

### 2.1 Install Samba inside the LXC:

```bash
apt-get install samba -y
```

Confirm the service is running:

```bash
systemctl status smbd.service
```

### 2.2 Create a new user

Create a new user with the name we want, add a password for the user and confirm everything:

```bash
adduser proxmenux
```

Now let's add the new user to Samba:

```bash
smbpasswd -a proxmenux
```

### 2.3 Set permissions

Set the permissions for the proxmenux user to the path where we mounted the disk:

```bash
apt-get install acl
setfacl -R -m "u:proxmenux:rwx" /mnt/lxc_USB
```

## 3. Configure Samba sharing

### 3.1 Edit the Samba configuration file

Edit the smb.conf file to share the disk directory:

```bash
nano /etc/samba/smb.conf
```

At the end of the file add:

```
[lxc_usb]
    comment = shared folder
    path = /mnt/lxc_USB
    read only = no
    writable = yes
    browseable = yes
    guest ok = no
    valid users = @proxmenux
```

## 4. Verify access and usage

We now have our Samba server installed and our USB drive shared. Let's verify that we can access it:

![Samba server access 1](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MacRimi/ProxMenux/main/guides/lxc_samba/lxc_1.png)

![Samba server access 2](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MacRimi/ProxMenux/main/guides/lxc_samba/lxc_2.png)

Now we can use our hard drive, use it inside the container and also share its content:

![Using the USB drive](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MacRimi/ProxMenux/main/guides/lxc_samba/lxc_5.png)

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