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Is there anyone who can tell me where I can find the Syncthing folders. I don’t see the folders created by Syncthing itself anywhere. Creating a folder ( edwin ) yourself is not possible. I get the message

Failed to create folder root directory mkdir /home/edwin: permission denied

Error on folder edwin: folder path missing

Hi Edwin,

Syncthing only creates the marker .stfolder and any subdirectories during the sync process. The “root” folders configured for syncing must be created by the user via the usual OS tools and be readable and/or writable by the user Syncthing is to be run under.

I highly recommend reviewing the documentation before diving in with configuring Syncthing because it’ll avoid a lot of potential hurdles. In particular, start with the “Introduction” section:

I see that you also had an earlier post under a different title and category that’s related to this post:

On your Ubuntu Linux computer, is “root” running Syncthing? If not, you’ll need to assign the proper permissions for whoever the user is on the /var/syncthing/f2vab-tafsf directory if that’s where you want to store files and directories to be synced to/from your ODROID SBC/tablet (Android or regular Linux?).

Screenshots of the Syncthing web GUI – with devices and folder panels expanded so that we can see the settings – will be very useful (and likely attract more helpful responses).

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Thanks for the reply. Still I don’t get it. My English is not good, that’s why I installed Syncthing. This program can be in Dutch. This is easier for me. Normally I translate everything from English to Dutch. Syncthing runs on the Linux in docker. Syncthing also runs on the Odroid in docker. I don’t see the .stfolder anywhere in the Syncthing folder. I can’t see it in terminal either. Not even in the root. When creating a new folder in Syncthing, the program itself creates a folder id. Could it be that the program runs in docker ?? The /var/syncthing/f2vab-tafsf dir does not exist. Don’t understand how this works.

I’d like to take a screenshot, but how can I post it.

I just uninstalled Syncthing from both machines. How do I properly install Syncthing ?? Perhaps something went wrong with the previous installation.

Please check and try to follow the instructions from https://apt.syncthing.net.

You mentioned earlier that you were using a Docker container on both your Ubuntu Linux and ODROID machines. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you’re new to using Docker.

I recommend keeping things simple and not using Docker unless there is a really good reason too. Syncthing is packaged as a single binary executable with minimal dependencies so adding Docker to the mix adds all kinds of extra complexity (you can always switch to a Docker setup at a later date after you are comfortable using Syncthing).

Before we talk about installing Syncthing, which version of Ubuntu Linux are you using? And which Linux distribution is on your ODROID?

Hello, I am using Ubuntu 18.04 Lts on the PC, and Armbian 22.08 Jammy on the Odroid Hc1 On the Odroid Hc1 I have Open Media Vault 6 running. I have several programs running in Docker. To be honest, I’m not handy with installation. I always watch a YouTube video to install a program. So far I’ve managed pretty well on my own. When I see text explanations in English, I already give up. In addition, I do not understand everything that is described. Still, I find it interesting. Hopefully the info is enough.

I have executed the link of tomasz 86. But how further? What to do after sudo apt-get install syncthing The program is installed. When I go to localhost:8384 nothing happens.

I think you should now be able to use any of the methods listed at https://docs.syncthing.net/users/autostart.html#linux to start Syncthing automatically.

I understand (English is also my second language). I’ll try to explain things as best I can.

I checked the stock packages for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Armbian 22.08 to see if they bundled Syncthing. It was not listed on distrowatch.com, but in any case it is likely to be a much older version of Syncthing (by the way, support for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS ends in about 5 months).

Now that you have Syncthing installed, before trying to get it to auto-start at boot time, setting up a desktop status indicator, etc., keep it simple and just start it manually for the time being.

Repeat the following steps on both your Ubuntu and Armbian machines…

As a normal (non-root) user, open a terminal and run the following command:

syncthing

(Leave the terminal window open so that you can see any diagnostic messages.)

If all goes well, Syncthing will start up and also automatically open your web browser to its web GUI.

Because Syncthing is running as a foreground process in a terminal, closing the terminal will also shut down Syncthing. That is perfectly fine. The goal for now is to just get a basic Syncthing configuration with one folder connected between your two computers.

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Hello, Thank you for explaining. Syncthing starts up via terminal. I’m not using Docker right now. Because I have another PC here, I installed Ubuntu 22.04 there. I know 18.04 is coming to an end, but I’m not going to upgrade it because there’s too much on it and I’m afraid the upgrade will go wrong. I have had this experience several times. If it’s going well just let it run. Back to Syncthing. The PC that now has 22.04 on it, I now also have Syncthing on it. No Docker. PC 1 Ubuntu 18.04 PC 2 Ubuntu 22.04 Both PCs are now paired. What now ?

Would you mind taking screenshots of the web browser windows?

(To include an image with a post on this forum, just copy and paste it into the editor panel.)

2 screenshots.

Looks good so far but there appears to be three devices. The two shown in the screenshots are not linked yet. What is the “fuijtsu” device?

The 1st screenshot is from my Aspire pc. The 2nd screenshot is from the Fuijtsu pc. You say they are not linked, but why is it green? Don’t quite understand how Syncthing works. I have copied and entered the ID. Then on the other PC I got a yellow bar with pairing. This okay given.

Are there no simple programs. Makes it all quite complicated.

Sometimes it takes me weeks to get something done in Ubuntu. Sometimes it works through some channels, but sometimes I give up and look for something else that is about the same. Started Linux about 5 years ago, but it is quite complicated. Also, English is a problem, and maybe age. Never had English at school. Fortunately now in modern times a translator.

Still good news. Followed this Youtube. Syncthing Made EASY - YouTube Don’t quite understand what he is saying, but images followed and executed. The 2 PCs are now working with Syncthing. The same files are now also on the other PC. Now let’s see if I can get Syncthing working on the Odroid Hc1. Here I also set up Syncthing (no docker) but can’t open browser. Guess it has to be in docker then.

That YouTube guide is actually quite good (and recent too!). I stumbled upon and watched it myself a few weeks ago.

Can you access the filesystem on the “Odroid Hc1”? If you can, I’d suggest to simply navigate to the Syncthing home folder, edit config.xml changing the default GUI address from 127.0.0.1:8384 to just :8384, which then should allow you to remotely access it from any other device on your network (assuming that you’ve got no firewall on “Odroid Hc1” that is going to block that).

Otherwise, judging from what’s been going on in this topic so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if you experience the exact same problems with inaccessible folder paths trying to run Syncthing within Docker.

I can go to the files, only through terminal. In the terminal of the Odroid Hc1 I see a folder Sync but it is empty. When I start syncthing in termal Odroid all sorts of things happen, but come back to the prompt. Still, I installed Syncthing in the same way as on the other machines. Didn’t get any error messages during installation.

Ah… thanks for the clarification. :slightly_smiling_face:

You had originally mentioned an Ubuntu Linux desktop and an ODROID.

Then the 1st screenshot showed device “edwin-ESPRIMO-Q558” linked to remote device “edwin-Aspire-M3920” while the 2nd screenshot showed device “edwin-Aspire-M3920” linked to remote device “fuijtsu”.

The setup didn’t look symmetrical (i.e., A → B and B → A), so it seemed like there might be 3 devices involved (could not see the connection details in the panel for “fuijtsu”).

Simpler programs almost always mean fewer features – e.g., Notepad in Windows or Text Editor in Ubuntu vs. Evernote or Joplin.

It is like buying a bicycle from a store that is ready to ride versus assembling a custom one from parts.

Or setting up a custom private cloud storage with Syncthing versus using a less complicated alternative such as Dropbox. But it means accepting many tradeoffs including higher costs, less privacy, loss of control, less flexibility, etc.

Syncthing is free software – the cost we pay is the time spent learning something new.

There are definitely things about Linux that can be complicated, but most of the time it is because most of us are learning as we go – how many users have ever had formal Linux, macOS or Windows training? (Not me, and someone is still willing to pay me to be their computer support. :nerd_face:)

Multiple research studies have shown that the ease of searching online for quick answers has resulted in a more fragmented learning process. We end up not building useful connections between nuggets of information. It’s like being able to identify fruits, vegetables, meats, spices and other ingredients laying out on a table, but not be able to make dinner without a recipe book.

If you are not already familiar with this, check out Ubuntu’s help website (available in multiple languages): https://help.ubuntu.com/

In an earlier post you wrote…

Generally I agree that it is good to let something continue to run if it has been working fine.

However, you are also missing out on continued improvements to Ubuntu and all of the software packaged with it. But of course, some people like a challenge rather than having everything be too easy. :wink:

Armbian Linux that you installed on your ODROID has a desktop environment. Do you mean you are logged in remotely via a terminal or running your ODROID headless? (no monitor).

We just need to know as much detail as possible about how your ODROID is set up. The more we know, the faster we can help you get everything working the way you would like.

Would you mind copying-and-pasting any output from the terminal into a reply?