Share files fast and easy on Linux with VServer

If you’ve ever needed to share a file to another computer on your Linux PC but don’t feel like dealing with complicated file-sharing tools, VServer is for you. Learn how to use VServer to quickly and easily share files on Linux.

How to install VServer on Linux

The VServer application needs to be installed on your computer before you can use it to share files with Linux. To set up the program on your computer, you’ll need to run either Ubuntu, Debian, or a Linux operating system that supports the Flatpak runtime.

To start the installation of VServer on Linux, open up a terminal window. Unsure how to open up a terminal window? Press Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard or search for “Terminal” in the app menu.

Once the terminal window is open and ready to go, the installation can begin. Follow the instructions below that correspond with the Linux installation method you prefer.

Ubuntu

If you’re on Ubuntu, you can install the VServer application through an officially supported, downloadable DEB package. However, the DEB package won’t work till two dependencies are installed.

Use the wget download command to download the packages to your computer. These packages are required to run VServer, and Ubuntu 22.04 does not currently provide them in the “Universe” software repository.

wget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/granite/libgranite-common_5.5.0-1_all.deb

wget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/granite/libgranite5_5.5.0-1_amd64.deb

Once both packages are downloaded to your computer, you can install them with the apt install command. Installing these two packages will make it possible to install VServer.

To get your hands on VServer for Ubuntu, you will need to use the wget download command again. Run the following wget download command to get the latest VServer DEB package.

wget https://github.com/bcedu/ValaSimpleHTTPServer/releases/download/1.6.1/com.github.bcedu.valasimplehttpserver_1.6.1_amd64.deb

With the package downloaded to your computer, you can install the VServer application on your computer with the apt install command.

sudo apt install ./com.github.bcedu.valasimplehttpserver_1.6.1_amd64.deb

Debian

There is an official software repository for Debian users (as well as Linux OSes based on Debian). However, this repository will not work with Debian Sid or Debian Testing, so ensure you’re using Debian 11 or Debian 10 (Old Stable).

To get started with the VServer repository, run the following echo command. This command will create the repo list file needed to access VServer with the apt package manager.

echo 'deb [trusted=yes] https://bcclean.pw/ppa/public stable main' > /tmp/com.githib.bcedu.list

After creating the new list file, copy it from the /tmp folder on your computer to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ using the cp command.

sudo cp /tmp/com.githib.bcedu.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/com.github.bcedu.list

With the list file added to the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ folder, it is time to run the apt update command. Running an apt update will refresh Debian’s software sources and make the VServer package available for installation.

sudo apt update

Finally, install the latest version of VServer on your computer using the apt install command below.

sudo apt install com.github.bcedu.valasimplehttpserver

Flatpak

If you’re not an Ubuntu or Debian Linux user, you’ll be able to install VServer on your Linux PC as a Flatpak. However, the Flatpak runtime must be installed and configured to start the installation process.

Enabling the Flatpak runtime is easy. To do it, install the “flatpak” package on your computer. If you’re having issues setting up this package, please follow our Flatpak setup guide to get things working.

After installing the Flatpak runtime on your computer, you can install the VServer application by entering the two commands below in a terminal window.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

flatpak install flathub com.github.bcedu.valasimplehttpserver

How to share files with VServer

To share files with the VServer, you must open up the app. You can open up VServer by searching for “VServer” in the app menu. Once it is open, follow the step-by-step instructions below.

1. In the VServer app, you will see “Share your files. Select a folder and start sharing.” Look for the “Open” button, and click on it with the mouse.
2. Once the “Open” button is selected in VServer, a pop-up window will appear. Using this pop-up window, browse for a folder you wish to share on your computer. Or, select your “Home” folder to share everything attached to your user account.
3. When you select your folder, VServer will generate a scannable QR code that you can give out to friends to access your files. Additionally, it will provide a link below the text that says, “Your files are at” http://x.x.x.x:8888. Share the link/QR code with friends.
4. After sharing the link/QR code with friends, instruct them to look through the files in the browser. Once they’ve found a file they wish to download, tell them to select it with the mouse. The browser should automatically download the file.

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