Dolphin cannot access shared Windows folder (Dolphin crash)

Lurking · August 22, 2025

Until recently I used W11 on PC "A". I used that PC as a backup location for PC "B". On B, i shared read access to one folder. And from PC A, i used free file sync to manually backup to that folder to A. This works flawlessly on a few W11 PCs.

On PC A, I now use Fedora 42 KDE. that uses the Dolphin file manager. Initially (when testing live and until a few days ago) i was able to access the folder on PC B and see all files.

but for some reason now I still can see PC B, but when i click on that "folder", Dolphin crashes with not much explanation. Consequently Free File sync also cannot access those folders.

I'm literally now sitting at another W11 PC and can access that shared folder on PC B just fine.

I read about Samba needing to be installed, and there is a "Dolphin - Samba Filesharing Plugin" already installed. But i don't know how to access that to make changes (if needed). Dolphin also doesn't have settings for that.

what else should i try? Since it worked before, i was hoping it is just fluke, but even re-starting doesn't help.

One odd thing I noticed is that, Dolphin originally made me enter the credentials for PC B and there also is the option to make it remember the password. This makes sense and mirrors what W11 does. But when I tried to access it, that login window came back up (with credentials inc. password filled out - but it was like it needed me to hit OK again). Once i hit OK, this is when Dolphin crashes.

I applied all updates available today and re-started to no avail.

Do i need to make any setting changes or install anything else? Should i re-install dolphin (without breaking my OS)? i checked the add-ins for dolphin. and only three (graphics or video transfer weren't checked - for some reason the apply button didn't work when checking those)

Dokira · August 22, 2025

3 minutes ago, Lurking said:

Until recently I used W11 on PC "A". I used that PC as a backup location for PC "B". On B, i shared read access to one folder. And from PC A, i used free file sync to manually backup to that folder to A. This works flawlessly on a few W11 PCs.

On PC A, I now use Fedora 42 KDE. that uses the Dolphin file manager. Initially (when testing live and until a few days ago) i was able to access the folder on PC B and see all files.

but for some reason now I still can see PC B, but when i click on that "folder", Dolphin crashes with not much explanation. Consequently Free File sync also cannot access those folders.

I'm literally now sitting at another W11 PC and can access that shared folder on PC B just fine.

I read about Samba needing to be installed, and there is a "Dolphin - Samba Filesharing Plugin" already installed. But i don't know how to access that to make changes (if needed). Dolphin also doesn't have settings for that.

what else should i try? Since it worked before, i was hoping it is just fluke, but even re-starting doesn't help.

One odd thing I noticed is that, Dolphin originally made me enter the credentials for PC B and there also is the option to make it remember the password. This makes sense and mirrors what W11 does. But when I tried to access it, that login window came back up (with credentials inc. password filled out - but it was like it needed me to hit OK again). Once i hit OK, this is when Dolphin crashes.

I applied all updates available today and re-started to no avail.

Do i need to make any setting changes or install anything else? Should i re-install dolphin (without breaking my OS)? i checked the add-ins for dolphin. and only three (graphics or video transfer weren't checked - for some reason the apply button didn't work when checking those)

You could just re-install dolphin which is your best bet

Lurking · August 22, 2025

1 minute ago, Dokira said:

You could just re-install dolphin which is your best bet

(Windows user here who wouldn't dare to de-install Explorer in Windows): Do i just use the "remove" in "discover", restart (and then have no File explorer for the time being) and go back in "discover" and search for Dolphin?

(Probably stupid question, but before I nuke my system....)

Lurking · August 22, 2025

i de- and re-installed Dolphin. but i still have the same problem.

it still remembered my login credentials, though.

Edited August 22, 2025 by Needfuldoer

Ralphred · August 22, 2025

1 hour ago, Lurking said:

login credentials, though.

That will be part of the "kdewallet" system.

1 hour ago, Lurking said:

i de- and re-installed Dolphin. but i still have the same problem.

So, assuming the FC devs have their heads screwed on, this problem would be part of the

1 hour ago, Lurking said:

"Dolphin - Samba Filesharing Plugin"

failing (or it's surrounding DE functions), and not Dolphin itself.

The best way I have found to prove if the "Dolphin - Samba Filesharing Plugin" is working is to go directly to the address bar, and use the syntax: smb://[user]@[host]/[path]/

But smb:// isn't the only useful protocol, nfs:// and fish:// exist too, both are superior to SMB if you can bend windows that far toward your will...

It's also worth checking that the cifs modules are loaded, with lsmod|grep cifs, if it returns nothing fallback to the FC forums*, there will be more "focused" expertise/experience there.

*I don't like to "redirect" people, however I do believe you would be "better served" there in this case.

Lurking · August 22, 2025

28 minutes ago, Ralphred said:

That will be part of the "kdewallet" system.

So, assuming the FC devs have their heads screwed on, this problem would be part of the

failing (or it's surrounding DE functions), and not Dolphin itself.

The best way I have found to prove if the "Dolphin - Samba Filesharing Plugin" is working is to go directly to the address bar, and use the syntax: smb://[user]@[host]/[path]/

But smb:// isn't the only useful protocol, nfs:// and fish:// exist too, both are superior to SMB if you can bend windows that far toward your will...

It's also worth checking that the cifs modules are loaded, with lsmod|grep cifs, if it returns nothing fallback to the FC forums*, there will be more "focused" expertise/experience there.

*I don't like to "redirect" people, however I do believe you would be "better served" there in this case.

Thanks. I will try that. But I'm also preparing myself to have to re-install the OS. But that also makes me question the choice of OS. I assumed Fedora is a good balance between stability and bleeding edge. Maybe too much bleeding?

Since this is a feature that worked at first, but then stopped working. If i have to re-install anyway, should i rather get Debian 13 KDE? (this is an old i7 -7700k system with iGPU)

NoLeafClover · August 22, 2025

I'm not sure about this particular scenario as haven't really done this in a long time. @Ralphred's suggestion is probably best.

However, there's a few things you could try. One is to downgrade "kdenetwork-filesharing" which is the package that provides the samba integration with KDE and see if it works:

sudo dnf downgrade kdenetwork-filesharing

This should pull in the version from the original Fedora 42 release at that point in time. Suggest you log out and back in after this. This upstream bug might be related, in which case the above should hopefully solve the issue. If it does, you can pin the version to prevent it from auto-upgrading next time you run a system update.

In case it's an issue with samba, which I doubt but doesn't hurt, you can try the same:

sudo dnf downgrade samba

If neither solves it, If this is the issue then it could be somewhere else.

If it worked before but not now, chances are some package got updated and has a bug. With Fedora bug fixes tend to trickle down rather quickly after being fixed upstream, but so can bugs. In general it's a good balance between updates and stability, yes, but can understand if you prefer something even less prone to change. Debian with KDE should provide the same general experience, but note it has a 2 year release cycle during which period there's only bug fixes.

Ralphred · August 22, 2025

6 minutes ago, NoLeafClover said:

This upstream bug might be related, in which case the above should hopefully solve the issue.

This is a reported bug that describes the same symptoms as you @Lurking, making it a "cross-distro bug"; try it's solutions before my "generic suggestions" if you can!

Ralphred · August 22, 2025

4 minutes ago, Lurking said:

If i have to re-install anyway, should i rather get Debian 13 KDE?

I'm the wrong person to ask if I'm honest, and here is why: There are essentially three "root distros": Redhat, Debian and Arch*

These all have pro's and cons that must be weighed up by each individual, but also weighted by each individual.

Fedora is the easiest to use, this is because it's "Red Hat Enterprise Linux - Beta plus", the literal testing ground for RHEL. Yes they make it "stable" because they want people to use it, yes they make it "easy" because they want people to use it, yes they make it's software a "relevant version" because they want people to use it, but it's users ultimately make the compromise of being "glorified beta testers", this will not change.

Arch is the "cutting edge" option, but to make it "easily usable" they offer a bunch of precompiled stuff, default package options, and mix and match with bleeding edge "unsupported" AUR software. Honestly it's a fucking shit show, mostly used by people too lazy/stupid to use Gentoo. It is however a good starting point for a rational distro, even a personal one if you have the chops.

Now Debian. It's the "giant" that so many stand on the shoulders of. The only real prerequisite to installing and using it successfully is the ability to RTFM, but for some inexplicable reason those unwilling to RTFM consider this condition to be a personal insult. Debian is my go to recommendation for anyone who needs more than that offered by alpine, and lacking the intrinsic knowledge to understand the benefits of Gentoo. My hardliner stance on this recommendation is why I'm the wrong person to ask, but if I was exactly as smart and experienced as me, then I'd certainly recommend listening

*(ostensibly Gentoo and Slackware too, but it's moot for this example, if you wish to challenge this without understanding why I have "chosen" these three, then you are not qualified to challenge, and this is not the place to offer commentary anyway, just @ me in a new thread!)

TL;DR, I (almost) always recommend installing Debian, so yes!

Alex Atkin UK · August 22, 2025

1 hour ago, Lurking said:

Thanks. I will try that. But I'm also preparing myself to have to re-install the OS. But that also makes me question the choice of OS. I assumed Fedora is a good balance between stability and bleeding edge. Maybe too much bleeding?

Since this is a feature that worked at first, but then stopped working. If i have to re-install anyway, should i rather get Debian 13 KDE? (this is an old i7 -7700k system with iGPU)

Personally I strongly recommend Fedora.

Reinstalling the OS is usually not necessary, most issues are usually to do with your own user configuration. Easy way to check this, create a new user, login as that user and try accessing the share from there.

Lurking · August 22, 2025

24 minutes ago, NoLeafClover said:
I'm not sure about this particular scenario as haven't really done this in a long time. @Ralphred's suggestion is probably best.

However, there's a few things you could try. One is to downgrade "kdenetwork-filesharing" which is the package that provides the samba integration with KDE and see if it works:
sudo dnf downgrade kdenetwork-filesharing
This should pull in the version from the original Fedora 42 release at that point in time. Suggest you log out and back in after this. This upstream bug might be related, in which case the above should hopefully solve the issue. If it does, you can pin the version to prevent it from auto-upgrading next time you run a system update.

In case it's an issue with samba, which I doubt but doesn't hurt, you can try the same:
sudo dnf downgrade samba
If neither solves it, If this is the issue then it could be somewhere else.

If it worked before but not now, chances are some package got updated and has a bug. With Fedora bug fixes tend to trickle down rather quickly after being fixed upstream, but so can bugs. In general it's a good balance between updates and stability, yes, but can understand if you prefer something even less prone to change. Debian with KDE should provide the same general experience, but note it has a 2 year release cycle during which period there's only bug fixes.

Thanks. that didn't work. My hardware is 9 years old and Debian 13 KDE seems to be a snice looking as Fedora KDE. I'm fine with less updates as long as security and bugs get fixed.

15 minutes ago, Ralphred said:

This is a reported bug that describes the same symptoms as you @Lurking, making it a "cross-distro bug"; try it's solutions before my "generic suggestions" if you can!

So I'm not the only one... not sure this is good, but a least I'm not insane.

3 minutes ago, Ralphred said:

I'm the wrong person to ask if I'm honest, and here is why: There are essentially three "root distros": Redhat, Debian and Arch*

These all have pro's and cons that must be weighed up by each individual, but also weighted by each individual.

Fedora is the easiest to use, this is because it's "Red Hat Enterprise Linux - Beta plus", the literal testing ground for RHEL. Yes they make it "stable" because they want people to use it, yes they make it "easy" because they want people to use it, yes they make it's software a "relevant version" because they want people to use it, but it's users ultimately make the compromise of being "glorified beta testers", this will not change.

Arch is the "cutting edge" option, but to make it "easily usable" they offer a bunch of precompiled stuff, default package options, and mix and match with bleeding edge "unsupported" AUR software. Honestly it's a fucking shit show, mostly used by people too lazy/stupid to use Gentoo. It is however a good starting point for a rational distro, even a personal one if you have the chops.

Now Debian. It's the "giant" that so many stand on the shoulders of. The only real prerequisite to installing and using it successfully is the ability to RTFM, but for some inexplicable reason those unwilling to RTFM consider this condition to be a personal insult. Debian is my go to recommendation for anyone who needs more than that offered by alpine, and lacking the intrinsic knowledge to understand the benefits of Gentoo. My hardliner stance on this recommendation is why I'm the wrong person to ask, but if I was exactly as smart and experienced as me, then I'd certainly recommend listening

*(ostensibly Gentoo and Slackware too, but it's moot for this example, if you wish to challenge this without understanding why I have "chosen" these three, then you are not qualified to challenge, and this is not the place to offer commentary anyway, just @ me in a new thread!)

TL;DR, I (almost) always recommend installing Debian, so yes!

I tried Debian in a VM, but my PC locked up after i had it "installed" in VM. The installation questionnaire wasn't the worst. I will try the live iso

(they don't make it easy on their website, but all YT reviews make it look nice and should work almost like Fedora?)

TBH, their website is what made me choose Fedora. Time to give them another try. This look like the correct iso for "stable"?

This Pc is a living room PC. So watching YT/Netflix in a browser is what it does most. The use as a storage (the topic of this thread) and use for karaoke (passing through microphone) are just two other things i need to get to to work. So, with good documentation, i hope i can get there.

NoLeafClover · August 22, 2025

27 minutes ago, Ralphred said:

Arch is the "cutting edge" option, but to make it "easily usable" they offer a bunch of precompiled stuff, default package options, and mix and match with bleeding edge "unsupported" AUR software. Honestly it's a fucking shit show, mostly used by people too lazy/stupid to use Gentoo. It is however a good starting point for a rational distro, even a personal one if you have the chops.

I realise this is offtopic but I just had to say it - this is perhaps the first time I've heard (read) somebody have this opinion, other than myself, even if put in more direct words than I would have personally choosen. It certainly seems... an "unpopular" one, but when I first tried Arch, as somebody who had used Gentoo for a many years beforehand, I felt exactly this way. But we'll get crucified for saying this out loud. It wasn't long before I reverted back. Gentoo is really the one distro I found I can connect with "on a deep, philosophical level." But, yes, RTFM and patience (a lot of it) is key here... The rabbit hole goes very deep, but it can be a true revelation for those who choose to follow the white bonneted penguin. For most... the TL;DR sums it best.

+1 on the general summary of main distros, I've previously expressed identical views. I also have a certain distaste for "gaming distros" but am desperately trying to keep an open mind.

Lurking · August 22, 2025

21 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Reinstalling the OS is usually not necessary, most issues are usually to do with your own user configuration. Easy way to check this, create a new user, login as that user and try accessing the share from there.

Good idea... but i tried a second account and that has the same problem.

NoLeafClover · August 22, 2025

26 minutes ago, Lurking said:

Thanks. that didn't work. My hardware is 9 years old and Debian 13 KDE seems to be a snice looking as Fedora KDE. I'm fine with less updates as long as security and bugs get fixed.

That's a shame. There may be more packages involved if the bug in some other KDE libraries. I was going to suggest reverting Dolphin but, having just tried this on an up to date Fedora system, it won't be easy due to the various interdependencies with other packages.

If it's not urgent to you, feel free to wait for a few weeks and see if a fix is released.

As for Debian, yes, it will look and feel the same if you choose to try it. Ultimately most of the user-facing software is the same, and Deban 13, having been released only a week or two ago, will have fairly recent versions of KDE and other packages. KDE is KDE on all distros, same with Gnome, Xfce, etc, bar exact versions. From a standard desktop environment perspective, differences between distros are usually more subtle/cosmetic on the UX side and far more to do with deeper ideologies that are often not too visible to a usual user. Except of course in some cases where a distro may have its own heavy customisations, or own desktop environment, which would often also be its main selling point as well.

26 minutes ago, Lurking said:

This look like the correct iso for "stable"?

Yep.

Ralphred · August 22, 2025

5 minutes ago, NoLeafClover said:

I felt exactly this way. But we'll get crucified for saying this out loud.

You are clearly not alone. On the second point, IDGAF: "Your not an atheist if you have never read a religious scripture from cover to cover, you are just ignorant."

10 minutes ago, NoLeafClover said:

I also have a certain distaste for "gaming distros" but am desperately trying to keep an open mind.

I wouldn't say I have a "distaste", even though I'd never use one myself, but I'm always mindful of: The more you let the distro devs do and chose for you, then the more your own knowledge may be found lacking when the time comes to fix things for yourself. Windows "power users" have the hardest time accepting this paradigm.

Ralphred · August 22, 2025

29 minutes ago, Lurking said:

This Pc is a living room PC. So watching YT/Netflix in a browser is what it does most. The use as a storage (the topic of this thread) and use for karaoke (passing through microphone) are just two other things i need to get to to work. So, with good documentation, i hope i can get there.

I have a similar machine. I use an old DVD player IR remote to control it (mainly 'cos I'm too poor/lazy to use a bluetooth mouse/keyboard).

Now there will be some conflicting information here, but it's for you to assess so...

Vivaldi was the best browser for me to use, is has this "cursor up/down/left/right" function to jump between "links", so worked really well when navigating both 'Netflix' and 'Amazon Prime Video' websites, with uBlock Origin shutting down "undesirable website areas" (like the "login" and "account" menu bar on Amazon)

You have just switched from windows, so my recommendation would be KDE, it's the closest to a "windows environment" and will not confuse the average windows user, esspecially in your use case.

The conflict comes with this "kiosk mode" for a media machine, KDE can be a bit "resource heavy" if you don't reign it in, but if it was running win10 or 11, then there really isn't anything to worry about, well until about 2033 anyway

What you are asking to do is totally feasible though, my "TV server" was on a FX6350 based machine until earlier this year, now it's on a Ryzen 5600, neither ever broke a sweat.

Lurking · August 23, 2025

So I tested Debian 13 in a live session and was able to access the shared folder on the W11 PC. Then I installed Debian for good. And the first thing i did was open Dolphin, and access the same folder and after entering my credentials, the same happens, Dolphin crashes.

BTW, the installation was quite daunting. My SSD has partition with NTFS data (from when this was a W11 PC) and i had to go back and forth to delete the data and re-create the partition that had housed Fedora 42 installation. And then i had to "guess" where i wanted to install the Grub boot loader.

So, there must be something else going on here when the live-iso works fine, but a totally fresh installation causes problems. Is it possible the live-iso has an older Dolphin?

There were no updates in Discover.

I also installed free file sync. That is a 2024 version, which is fine. but it couldn't show any network folder. That is a secondary problem since there may be an alternative application.

So, what can i try now? (and no, not another OS installation )

Here the bug report:

Application: Dolphin (dolphin), signal: Aborted

warning: Can't open file anon_inode:i915.gem during file-backed mapping note processing

warning: Can't open file /memfd:wayland-shm (deleted) during file-backed mapping note processing

[New LWP 6966]

[New LWP 6971]

[New LWP 6969]

[New LWP 6980]

[New LWP 6989]

[New LWP 6973]

[New LWP 6970]

[New LWP 6981]

[New LWP 6991]

[New LWP 6988]

[New LWP 6978]

[New LWP 6972]

[New LWP 6979]

[New LWP 6986]

[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]

Using host libthread_db library "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libthread_db.so.1".

Core was generated by `/usr/bin/dolphin'.

Program terminated with signal SIGABRT, Aborted.

#0 0x00007f4d7889e95c in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

[Current thread is 1 (Thread 0x7f4d70fba280 (LWP 6966))]

Cannot QML trace cores

/usr/share/drkonqi/gdb/python/gdb_preamble/preamble.py:547: DeprecationWarning: datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp() is deprecated and scheduled for removal in a future version. Use timezone-aware objects to represent datetimes in UTC: datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp, datetime.UTC).

boot_time = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(psutil.boot_time()).strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S')

/usr/share/drkonqi/gdb/python/gdb_preamble/preamble.py:564: DeprecationWarning: datetime.datetime.utcnow() is deprecated and scheduled for removal in a future version. Use timezone-aware objects to represent datetimes in UTC: datetime.datetime.now(datetime.UTC).

'timestamp': datetime.utcnow().isoformat(),

[Current thread is 1 (Thread 0x7f4d70fba280 (LWP 6966))]

Thread 14 (Thread 0x7f4d44fc96c0 (LWP 6986)):

#0 0x00007f4d788a49ee in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#1 0x00007f4d78899668 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#2 0x00007f4d788996ad in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#3 0x00007f4d7890de6e in ppoll () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#4 0x00007f4d790d5cb9 in qt_safe_poll(pollfd*, unsigned long, QDeadlineTimer) () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Core.so.6

#5 0x00007f4d78148051 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Network.so.6

#6 0x00007f4d780d5771 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Network.so.6

#7 0x00007f4d780cc2cc in QAbstractSocket::waitForReadyRead(int) () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Network.so.6

#8 0x00007f4d7b27e95a in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libKF6KIOCore.so.6

#9 0x00007f4d7b36313d in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libKF6KIOCore.so.6

#10 0x00007f4d7b3406ef in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libKF6KIOCore.so.6

#11 0x00007f4d790e11ea in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Core.so.6

#12 0x00007f4d7889cb7b in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#13 0x00007f4d7891a7b8 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

Thread 13 (Thread 0x7f4d60bfc6c0 (LWP 6979)):

#0 0x00007f4d788a49ee in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#1 0x00007f4d78899668 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#2 0x00007f4d78899c9c in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#3 0x00007f4d7889c31d in pthread_cond_timedwait () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#4 0x00007f4d790df7b9 in QWaitCondition::wait(QMutex*, QDeadlineTimer) () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Core.so.6

#5 0x00007f4d790e2bee in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Core.so.6

#6 0x00007f4d790e11ea in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Core.so.6

#7 0x00007f4d7889cb7b in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#8 0x00007f4d7891a7b8 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

Thread 12 (Thread 0x7f4d623ff6c0 (LWP 6972)):

#0 0x00007f4d788a49ee in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#1 0x00007f4d78899668 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#2 0x00007f4d78899c9c in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#3 0x00007f4d7889c158 in pthread_cond_wait () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#4 0x00007f4d6c7afc5d in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgallium-25.0.7-2.so

#5 0x00007f4d6c77b2ab in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgallium-25.0.7-2.so

#6 0x00007f4d6c7afb8b in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgallium-25.0.7-2.so

#7 0x00007f4d7889cb7b in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

#8 0x00007f4d7891a7b8 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6

Thread 11 (Thread 0x7f4d613fd6c0 (LWP 6978)):