The NAS side is done — now the team needs the folder inside Windows, next to their local drives. SMB is the bridge, and these are the steps and the traps.
A team folder is only useful when people can actually reach it from the PCs they work on. For Windows, that connection is SMB — the same step the video closes with. This page covers the full path: enabling SMB on the NAS, opening the folder in File Explorer, mapping it as a permanent drive letter, and diagnosing the two problems everyone hits — Windows insisting on a wrong saved password, and the access denied message that usually means your permissions are working exactly as set.
Windows talks to Synology folders through the SMB file service. On the NAS, open Control Panel → File Services → SMB and confirm the service is enabled. In the video this is left as the closing note — the NAS side must offer SMB before any Windows PC can connect.
\\192.168.1.50 — two backslashes followed by the NAS IP address (or its network name)Typing the address every day gets old. Right-click the folder and choose Map network drive, pick a drive letter such as T:, and tick Reconnect at sign-in. From then on the team folder sits in This PC like a local drive. Be honest about the trade-off: a mapped drive also makes the folder one click away for anything running on that PC, including malware — one more reason every user needs their own limited account, not the admin login.
The most common support problem: Windows saved an old or wrong credential and keeps failing silently. Open Control Panel → Credential Manager → Windows Credentials, find the saved entry for the NAS address, remove it, and connect again so Windows asks fresh. Also check you are not signing in with the PC's Microsoft account — the NAS wants the DSM account, which is a different name and password.
If one folder opens and another says access denied, do not first blame the network. Match the symptom: folder not listed or denied, while others work, almost always means the account's DSM permission for that folder is No access or missing. Fix it in the folder's permission screen on the NAS, not by loosening things on the PC.
See the full setup live — creating the folder, setting permissions and verifying access with a second user.
▶️ Watch Full VideoWindows often reuses a saved credential. Remove the NAS entry under Control Panel, Credential Manager, Windows Credentials, then connect again — Windows will ask for the DSM username and password fresh.
Both work when the network is healthy. The IP address like \\192.168.1.50 is the more reliable choice in small offices, because it does not depend on name discovery working correctly.
On a person's own office PC with their own limited NAS account, remembering credentials is normal practice. Never save the NAS admin credentials on a staff PC — a saved admin login exposes every folder.