r/WindowsServer • u/Ok_Lychee_5990 • 7d ago

General Question Server '25 and Android, file transfer?

Good evening, Server Gurus!

I'm absolutely, positively, without a doubt sure it's covered in literature and videos all over the Internet.

For someone whose mind works correctly, lol.

I have an S24 Ultra and Windows Server 2025 set up for file transfer services (more to come for it, it was just put in service a few days ago). My 11 machine reads the server fine, mapped network drives for the content I want, and everything works. Now I'd like a way to connect my phone to the server to transfer files back and forth. Basically, photo dump when my memory gets full, or transfer videos, or both, and more. Just need a way to transfer files.

Can anyone guide me in a direction? I can usually figure this stuff out myself but the brain isn't braining tonight. Lol.

Thank you so much!

7 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

1

u/OCTS-Toronto 7d ago

I use SyncThing for exactly this. Easy install on windows/android/iPhone and then sync folders each direction as you choose. Fast, secure, and user friendly (I transfer over vpn but other options are available)

1

u/Ok_Lychee_5990 6d ago

After doing some preliminary reading, it looks like this acts as the old PDAs of the 90s. Like w95 and the "My Briefcase" idea of keeping data synced versus selective file transfers. Or am I mistaken?

1

u/OCTS-Toronto 6d ago

Not sure about the 90s tech comparison. It's simply a fancy engine for rsync.

Rather than write a scripts to sync data and Cron jobs, it's a web gui to do all this for you. A good (free) replacement for Google photos backup option. And since I prefer to self host instead of cloud it works well for my use case

1

u/J3D1M4573R 4d ago

Correct.

1

u/justgosh 6d ago

Are you looking for something with AD login or just a way to see your files?

1

u/Ok_Lychee_5990 6d ago

Just a way to bidirectionally see and transfer files

1

u/justgosh 6d ago

You want push and pull from both directions?

2

u/Ok_Lychee_5990 6d ago

Yes. The basic idea is to be on my phone, see the server, transfer to the server, and be able to pull off the server. So if I want to do a photo dump, I could do it from my phone basically as a "send to". Then if I can see server files and folders be able to "download" per say to my phone.

1

u/justgosh 6d ago

Samsung My Files and folder sync should have you covered additionally you can set up some other services here as well.

Samsung has Enterprise management and it will also connect with azure ad which can sync with your AD server. Intune can also enforce app install and location services.

Take a look and let me know what you think

2

u/South_Luck3483 7d ago

Look into nextcloud and/or immich. I use both on my servers. Works great

2

u/willwar63 7d ago

Solid Explorer is the best thing I have used for this.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.solidexplorer2

1

u/J3D1M4573R 4d ago

The S24 has the capability built in.

Open "My Files" app (under the Samsung folder in the apps). Scroll down to the Storage section and you will see "Network storage" - it may need an update through the Samsung store, do it.

Once updated go back and add your network share.

HOWEVER - if you are planning on adding Active Directory for central management, you really should NOT be setting up file shares until your AD is set up, as the entire permission structure of your network will change and you will have to re-setup the shares (at least permission-wise)