VFS_OFFLINE(8)

💅 VFS_OFFLINE 💅

okay bestie, welcome to the vfs_offline page — that's section 8 of the manual, the System Administration tools zone, so you already know this is grown-up sysadmin business ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

vfs_offline — literally just: mark all files as offline. that's the whole job. she does one thing and she does it flawlessly 🫶

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

vfs objects = offline

that's it. one line. no flags, no drama, no extra homework. iconic. 👑

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So this VFS module is part of the samba(7) suite — you know her, you love her. 💖

What vfs_offline does is take all files in the share and mark them as having the offline DOS attribute. every single one. all of them. no cap.

Now why do we care? Because files that have the offline DOS attribute get treated differently by the Windows SMB client — and also by Windows Explorer. and the glow-up is real, bestie:

• In particular, Windows Explorer does not read those files for the sole purpose of drawing a thumbnail, which is normally exactly what it does. like, it just casually opens your files to make a lil picture preview. rude. 😭
• so skipping that behaviour can improve user experience with some remote file systems 🔥

basically: the thumbnail grind stops, and everyone's network breathes a sigh of relief. main character energy for slow shares fr fr 💅

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Mark all files in a share as offline, like so:

[remote]
vfs objects = offline

drop that vfs objects = offline into your [remote] share and you're done. slay. 🦋

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💜 VERSION 💜

This man page is part of version 4.24.7-Ubuntu-4.24.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1 of the Samba suite. yes that's the whole version string, we don't abbreviate here, we respect her full name ✨

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🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

The original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. absolute legend, founder behaviour. 🙌

Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project, similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed. community-built, community-loved. no gatekeeping, just vibes. 🌸

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okay so that's the whole page — one module, one line of config, zero options to memorise. if you made it this far, you ate. periodt. 💖

and that's a wrap on the VFS_OFFLINE(8) page, brought to you by Samba 4.24.7-Ubuntu-4.24.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1, dated 09/13/2026 — go forth and mark things offline bestie, ily, bye!! 🎀💅✨