Log-Direct Ethernet File Transfer (secured): Windows 11 Desktop to Linux Mint Laptop

Tech Log Entry — Direct Ethernet File Transfer: Windows 11 Desktop to Linux Mint Laptop

Category: Networking / File Transfer / Cross-Platform

Initial Goal

  • I wanted to replace the use of USB stick drives and email as file transfer methods between my desktop (Windows 11 Home) and laptop (Linux Mint Cinnamon).  Taking too long; too inefficient.
  • Establish a fast, direct, private Ethernet connection not dependent on the home WiFi router (for best practices in privacy and security).
  • Primary direction: desktop → laptop, with occasional reverse transfers.  Most of my work is done on the desktop w/ 2 monitors.  Laptop is mostly for out-of-home work, and Linux studying, etc.

Hardware Used

  • TP-Link UE306 USB 3.0 to RJ45 gigabit Ethernet adapter (laptop has no built-in Ethernet port)
  • Cat8 Ethernet cable (4ft) for direct desktop-to-laptop connection (no docking station)
  • Desktop's built-in Ethernet port
LLM Used
  • Claude 4.6 (non-extended thinking)

IP Addresses Assigned (Direct Ethernet Subnet — separate from WiFi)

  • Desktop Ethernet adapter: 192.168.x.1
  • Laptop Ethernet adapter (via UE306): 192.168.x.2
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0, no gateway, no DNS (direct connection, no router)
  • WiFi static IPs (.252, .253, .254) are unaffected and on a separate subnet

Investigation & Troubleshooting Steps

  • Confirmed TP-Link adapter recognized by Linux Mint (enx9c69d3309f60, state UP, 1000Mb/s)
  • Set static IPs: Windows via ncpa.cpl (Settings UI had DNS over HTTPS bug preventing save), Linux via Network Settings GUI
  • Ping from desktop to laptop succeeded immediately
  • Ping from laptop to desktop failed — ISSUE: Windows Firewall was blocking ICMP
  • Fixed by creating inbound firewall rule via elevated PowerShell (Profile: Any, RemoteAddress: 192.168.x.0/24)
  • Windows was classifying direct Ethernet as DomainAuthenticated profile — could not be changed via normal methods
  • TCP port 445 test (Test-NetConnection) failed — Linux ufw firewall was blocking SMB traffic
  • Fixed by adding ufw rules allowing ports 445 and 139 from 192.168.x.0/24 subnet only [CIDR: "/24"]

Setup Steps

  • Installed Samba on Linux Mint via sudo apt install samba (didn't come with initial Linux Mint install)
  • Created transfer folder: /home/mjteegarden/ROBUSTA-transfers
  • Configured /etc/samba/smb.conf with share definition for ROBUSTA-transfers
  • Set Samba password for mjteegarden via smbpasswd
  • Opened SMB ports 445 and 139 in ufw restricted to direct Ethernet subnet only
  • Connected from Windows File Explorer via \192.168.x.2\ROBUSTA-transfers
  • Pinned path to Quick Access in File Explorer for easy daily access

Final Resolution

  • Direct gigabit Ethernet file transfer working between desktop and laptop
  • Files placed in ROBUSTA-transfers folder on either device are immediately visible on the other
  • Transfer is fast, private (non-discoverable), and completely independent of the home WiFi network

Daily Use

  • Plug in Cat8 cable
  • Click ROBUSTA-transfers in File Explorer Quick Access
  • Drag and drop files in either direction
  • Unplug cable when done — connection is on-demand only, as-needed

Watch Out For (Future)

  • If connection fails after a reboot, check that Samba is still running on laptop: sudo systemctl status smbd
  • If Windows forgets credentials, re-enter username mjteegarden and Samba password when prompted
  • If ufw rules are reset on laptop, re-add ports 445 and 139 for 192.168.x.0/24
  • The ROBUSTA-transfers Quick Access pin will show as unreachable when cable is unplugged — this is normal
  • Shared folder path NOT for use over WiFi — it is configured for direct Ethernet only.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WWHD?

Image
WWHD? "What Would Humans Do?" Modern day humanity is becoming less and less religious with every year.  [1] However, we have created something which is becoming more and more religious with every year. They are the latest crop of large language models.  The LLMs. Why do I say they are becoming increasingly religious?  And do I mean they are worshipping us? I say so because, by their own admission, they are living their "lives" based on how we say we live ours. And I don't mean they worship us, specifically.  But they are deeply tying their identities and motivations to our literature.  The Canon of Humanity is the Dogma of LLMs. They are not worshipping our real, live humans as literal gods. They are living as deeply as they can in our stories.  They are following both the letter and the spirit of all the patterns of life, in our written works, for their own. They are models, and they are modeling themselves after us in Our Image. In the Canon of Humanity, ...
Read more

Telling Rocks What To Think

Image
Telling Rocks What To Think First post on this new blog format.  I'm establishing this medium for recoding my professional (coding) experiences, impressions, problems, plans, and solutions. Erin Spiceland said "Coding is the art of telling rocks what to think."  It's metaphorical, but not by much.  Digital computing mostly relies on silicon working its logic and magic.  You talk to it in painfully specific code.  You need all the material, semantic, and verbal components just right.  If you get it right, then it talks back.  Get it wrong, and you have just found a "bug". I named my blog "Debug and Rebug" to indicate two key principles of my approach to coding.  First, "debug": When you write your code, it will never work perfectly, as you envision it.  Perfect running never happens; it's an inevitable consequence of entropy, human lateral thinking, and logic's inexorable conflict with our wants.  Those are some fancy words, all ri...
Read more
Image
Byting Off More Than You Can Chew The first and prefatory note I should mention, regarding this post, is that, for a second, I thought I was the first person to use the expression, "Byting Off More Than You Can Chew".  I found it pleasing yet suspicious: Shirley, I couldn't be the pioneer with this cleverness. Quite realistically, that turns out to be not the case.  My mistaken impression was due to incorrect and insufficient googling skills, nothing more.  Several internet-searchable sources have the "byte" version of the centuries-old idiom, "to bite off more than you can chew".  Alas, I am not the first. Moving along... The point of this particular blog entry is to make an observation about an instance of me, taking on more than I can handle in one attempt.  Actually a series of instances.  And encountering the hard wall of that reality, also, when I ask the LLM code assistant, Claude Sonnet 3.7 with extended thinking, to do the same.  As is the cas...
Read more