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Home NAS Zine: OMV 7 Setup Guide

HOME NAS ZINE

OpenMediaVault 7 on Raspberry Pi

A visual guide to building your own network storage


WHAT YOU’RE BUILDING

    +------------------+
    |   YOUR PHONE     |
    |   YOUR LAPTOP    |----+
    |   YOUR TABLET    |    |
    +------------------+    |
                            v
                    +--------------+
                    |   ROUTER     |
                    |  192.168.1.1 |
                    +--------------+
                            |
                            v
                    +--------------+
                    | RASPBERRY PI |
                    |    + OMV 7   |
                    |   + 1TB SSD  |
                    +--------------+
                            |
                            v
                    +------------------+
                    |   YOUR FILES     |
                    | Photos, Videos,  |
                    | Documents, etc.  |
                    +------------------+

System Architecture

graph LR
    R[Router] --> PI[OMV 7<br/>Pi] --> SSD[(SSD)]
    R --> PC[PC] & Phone
    PI -.->|Tailscale| Internet
    style PI fill:#f9f,stroke:#333

HARDWARE SHOPPING LIST

+------------------------+------------------+
|        ITEM            |   RECOMMENDED    |
+------------------------+------------------+
| Raspberry Pi           | Pi 4/5, 4GB+ RAM |
| MicroSD Card           | 32GB+, Class 10  |
| External Storage       | 1TB+ SSD or HDD  |
| Power Supply           | Official 5V 3A   |
| Ethernet Cable         | Cat5e or Cat6    |
| Case (optional)        | With cooling     |
+------------------------+------------------+

SETUP FLOWCHART

[1] FLASH OMV IMAGE
        |
        v
[2] BOOT RASPBERRY PI
        |
        v
[3] FIND PI's IP ADDRESS
    (check router admin)
        |
        v
[4] ACCESS WEB UI
    http://YOUR_PI_IP
        |
        v
[5] LOGIN
    user: admin
    pass: openmediavault
        |
        v
[6] CHANGE PASSWORD!
    (very important)
        |
        v
[7] CONNECT STORAGE
    Storage > Disks
        |
        v
[8] CREATE SHARED FOLDER
        |
        v
[9] ENABLE SMB/CIFS
        |
        v
[10] CONNECT FROM DEVICES!

THE DREADED ERROR

+--------------------------------------------------+
|  ERROR: Unknown device "/dev/sda": No such device |
+--------------------------------------------------+

WHY IT HAPPENS

  KERNEL
    |
    v
+-------------+     +-------------+
| BLACKLIST   | --> | USB_STORAGE |
| CONFIG FILE |     | BLOCKED!    |
+-------------+     +-------------+
                          |
                          X (no drive)

THE FIX

# 1. Check for blacklist
grep -r "blacklist usb" /etc/modprobe.d/

# 2. Edit the file
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf

# 3. Comment out these lines:
# blacklist usb_storage
# blacklist uas

# 4. Load the modules
sudo modprobe usb_storage
sudo modprobe uas

# 5. Reboot
sudo reboot

VERIFY IT WORKED

$ lsblk

NAME   SIZE TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda    1TB  disk
└─sda1 1TB  part /srv/dev-disk-by-uuid-xxx

NETWORK SHARE SETUP

SAMBA CONFIGURATION

+------------------------------------------+
|  /etc/samba/smb.conf                     |
+------------------------------------------+
|                                          |
|  [SharedFiles]                           |
|     path = /srv/.../shared               |
|     browseable = yes                     |
|     writeable = yes                      |
|     valid users = your_username          |
|                                          |
+------------------------------------------+

CREATE SAMBA USER

sudo smbpasswd -a your_username
# Enter password when prompted
# (can be different from system password)

CONNECTING FROM WINDOWS

+------------------------+
|    WINDOWS PC          |
|                        |
|  Press: Win + R        |
|  Type:  \\192.168.1.X  |
|  Press: Enter          |
|                        |
+------------------------+
         |
         v
+------------------------+
|    LOGIN PROMPT        |
|                        |
|  User: your_username   |
|  Pass: samba_password  |
|                        |
+------------------------+
         |
         v
+------------------------+
|    YOUR FILES!         |
|                        |
|  [SharedFiles]         |
|    - Photos/           |
|    - Documents/        |
|    - Videos/           |
+------------------------+

HOSTNAME NOT WORKING?

"Windows cannot find \\RASPBERRYPI"

SOLUTION: Use IP address instead!
\\192.168.1.X  <-- works every time

MOBILE ACCESS

ANDROID

+---------------------------+
|  RECOMMENDED APPS         |
+---------------------------+
| * Solid Explorer          |
| * CX File Explorer        |
| * Total Commander         |
+---------------------------+

SETUP:
1. Install app
2. Add Network Storage
3. Choose SMB/CIFS
4. Enter:
   - Host: 192.168.1.X
   - User: your_username
   - Pass: samba_password
5. Connect!

iOS

+---------------------------+
|  BUILT-IN FILES APP       |
+---------------------------+

1. Open Files app
2. Tap "..." menu
3. "Connect to Server"
4. Enter: smb://192.168.1.X
5. Login with credentials
6. Done!

REMOTE ACCESS WITH TAILSCALE

THE PROBLEM

  HOME NETWORK              INTERNET              COFFEE SHOP
+-------------+          +----------+          +-------------+
|  Your NAS   |   XXX    | FIREWALL |   XXX   |  Your Phone |
| 192.168.1.X |<---------|   NAT    |-------->|             |
+-------------+          +----------+          +-------------+
              ^                                       |
              |         CAN'T CONNECT!                |
              +---------------------------------------+

THE SOLUTION

  HOME NETWORK              TAILSCALE              COFFEE SHOP
+-------------+          +-----------+          +-------------+
|  Your NAS   |          | ENCRYPTED |          |  Your Phone |
| 100.64.x.x  |<-------->|   TUNNEL  |<-------->| 100.64.y.y  |
+-------------+          +-----------+          +-------------+
              ^                                       |
              |          CONNECTED!                   |
              +---------------------------------------+

SETUP

# On Raspberry Pi:
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

# Get your Tailscale IP:
tailscale ip -4
# Returns: 100.x.x.x

# On your phone/laptop:
# Install Tailscale app
# Login with same account
# Connect using 100.x.x.x

Access Methods

flowchart LR
    W[Windows] & A[Android] & I[iOS] -->|SMB| NAS[OMV]
    Remote -->|Tailscale| NAS
    style NAS fill:#f96,stroke:#333

QUICK REFERENCE CARD

+------------------------------------------+
|          ESSENTIAL COMMANDS              |
+------------------------------------------+
| Find Pi IP      | hostname -I            |
| Check Samba     | systemctl status smbd  |
| Restart Samba   | systemctl restart smbd |
| Check disks     | lsblk                  |
| Add Samba user  | smbpasswd -a USERNAME  |
| Tailscale IP    | tailscale ip -4        |
+------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------+
|          IMPORTANT FILES                 |
+------------------------------------------+
| Samba config    | /etc/samba/smb.conf    |
| Module blacklist| /etc/modprobe.d/       |
| OMV config      | /etc/openmediavault/   |
+------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------+
|          DEFAULT CREDENTIALS             |
+------------------------------------------+
| OMV Web UI      | admin / openmediavault |
|                 | (CHANGE IMMEDIATELY!)  |
+------------------------------------------+

TROUBLESHOOTING FLOWCHART

                    PROBLEM?
                       |
          +------------+------------+
          |                         |
    Can't see drive          Can't connect
          |                         |
          v                         v
    Run: lsblk              Samba running?
          |                 systemctl status smbd
     +----+----+                    |
     |         |               +----+----+
  Shows    Doesn't         Running   Not running
  drive    show                |         |
     |         |               v         v
     v         v           Check IP   Start it:
  Check    Check          hostname -I  systemctl
  blacklist power                      start smbd

Drive Detection Troubleshooting

flowchart LR
    A[Not Detected] --> B{lsusb?}
    B -->|No| C[Check cable]
    B -->|Yes| D{lsblk?}
    D -->|No| E[Remove blacklist<br/>+ modprobe]
    D -->|Yes| F{OMV sees?}
    F -->|No| G[Clear cache]
    F -->|Yes| H[✅ Ready]
    style H fill:#9f9,stroke:#333

SECURITY CHECKLIST

[ ] Changed default OMV password
[ ] Created strong Samba password (12+ chars)
[ ] System updated (sudo apt update && upgrade)
[ ] Using Tailscale for remote (NOT port forward)
[ ] Installed fail2ban for SSH protection
[ ] Regular backups configured

NEXT STEPS

Add network-wide ad blocking! See: Pi-hole on OMV 7 Zine


Made with care by Paarth | 2025 Print this zine & share it!