Mapping a network drive over the internet. Is it possible?

[DespicableOllie]

So myself and a friend are colaborating on a project (music) and I'd like to be able to send him files without having to upload them to a website for him to download. Is it possible I can map a network drive on his PC that links back to my server at my house? He's really not very tech savvy at all so a I feel like mapping a network drive is the simplest solution that doesnt require any logins (like a VPN or FTP) and that doesn't require me to upload files, send him the link, he downloads it, reuploads, sends me the link and so on.

 

I have a computer running Windows Server 2016 that acts as a TeamSpeak server, a game hosting server and my own file storage server, which is on 24/7. Is this possible for me to do?

 

Thank you!

[Alex Atkin UK]

The only safe way IMO would be to setup a VPN server on your file server using private keys for login, so once your friend is connected he will get full access to the network shares on there and he won't have to login if the share is setup for guest read/write access.

 

Just hit the search engines for how to setup an OpenVPN server.

 

Now if the performance will be fast enough for what you need is another issue entirely, depends on your upload speed.

[MDiPintoSS]

If you only need something for simple file transfers like that, I would say the easiest way would get Dropbox or Onedrive. then actually have a folder on both computers set to automatically sync, so they are always connected and updating. Nothing special needs to be done, and if your files aren't too massive, the free accounts are plenty. If you can get yourself an .edu email, Microsoft gives you 1 year free of office 365, and it includes 1TB(find someone you know that goes to school, and doesn't really care for it, and use their email).

I know it's nothing technical, but for what you seem to need, it does seem to be good enough, as it won't have any need to be logging in after set up.

[thething55]

Can you do it? Yes

Should you do it? No

 

SMB is not designed or secure to be accessible on the internet. Although you could forward port 445, you would likely end up having the share attacked and the server may end up with a virus (like the one that attacked the NHS a little while back) You could collaborate using a program such as dropbox, onedrive, sharepoint etc or you could setup a vpn to the server such as a sstp  vpn and access the files using that method.